Arsenal dealt surprise injury blow as real reason behind Declan Rice setback now revealed

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal’s season has been plagued by relentless injury issues across the pitch.

Gabriel Jesus tore his ACL in January, while the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Ben White and Kai Havertz have also missed huge chunks of the season with fitness issues.

The Gunners have had to call upon some unconventional ploys to deal with all these injury setbacks, including using Mikel Merino as a makeshift centre-forward.

While Mikel Arteta has certainly made mistakes, the fitness problems he’s had to contend with have no doubt derailed Arsenal’s season, and these have been mostly out of his control.

• READ MORE: Arsenal have just done something for the first time in over 100 years with spirited Liverpool comeback

Declan Rice injury confirmed as hamstring issue

Arsenal were held by Liverpool on the weekend, with the Gunners coming back from two goals down to salvage a point on Merseyside.

They achieved this impressive comeback without key player Declan Rice.

Rice missed the trip to Liverpool after not training following the Paris Saint-Germain clash, with Arteta delivering a coy response when asked about the player’s absence.

However, BBC Sport have now reported that the reason for Rice’s non-appearance was a suspected hamstring issue.

While the North London club don’t believe the problem to be serious, the medics aren’t willing to take any ‘unnecessary risks’ with the Englishman.

It’s unclear whether the former West Ham man will feature in either of Arsenal’s remaining two league games, at home to Newcastle and away to Southampton.

How should Arsenal replace Declan Rice against Newcastle?

If Rice is unavailable for the game against the Magpies, Arsenal will encounter a problem in midfield.

Merino will miss the clash due to suspension, after the Spaniard was sent off for two yellow card offences at Anfield.

This leaves Arteta with just Thomas Partey, Jorginho and Odegaard as senior options available to him in the middle of the park.

Either Jorginho or Ethan Nwaneri could come into the side, although both would require the Spanish manager to make adjustments to his system.

However, for the most like-for-like switch, Arteta should consider deploying Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield and starting Riccardo Calafiori at left-back.

The teenager was raised as a midfielder and has all the attributes to thrive in the role – it’s time Arteta experiments with it.