Declan Rice is set to miss Arsenal’s clash against Aston Villa with a knee injury that he sustained against Brighton over the weekend.
Rice will not be risked against Aston Villa and has been ruled out of the Gunners’ clash with the Premier League third-placed team.
It has now emerged that the midfielder suffered the issue in the 62nd minute against the Seagulls and even warned the bench about the pain.
Fill in the blank: I blame ___________________ for Declan Rice’s latest injury!
He ended up completing the full 90 minutes at the Emirates Stadium with Mikel Arteta’s team looking to see out the win against the South Coast club.
That has left the Gunners’ supporters fuming with the coaching staff for allowing Rice to remain on the pitch for over half an hour with an injury.
Declan Rice ran 1.3km against Brighton with an injury
Data shows that Declan Rice completed 1.3km of ‘high-intensity’ running against Brighton, despite carrying a knee injury, according to Sam Blitz.
The Arsenal star informed the bench that he could feel an issue, but the coaching staff opted to keep him on the pitch.
Rice impressed at right-back against Brighton since 16-year-old Marli Salmon was the only other option to play there instead.
Jurrien Timber and Ben White both missed the match with injuries, leaving the England international to fill in at full-back.
After the news broke about Rice’s injury, Arsenal supporters have taken to social media to vent their anger towards the fact that he was allowed to continue playing.
Imagine this: You are Andrea Berta, Arsenal have given you £50m to spend in January, where is that money going? 👀
One fan said: “This is what you get when you don’t finish off games. If we were 3-0 up, he could rotate. We always take games to the end, and that’s one of the reasons for this injury crisis.”
“Arsenal fans will call it a curse, but it’s really just poor squad management,” stated another fan.
A third supporter added: “Ok, now this is a bit annoying to find out… He should have been taken off!”
There was yet more anger aimed at Arteta: “There are some managers who don’t like to risk players and take them off as early as possible as a precaution. Then there are those who play them on when injured.”
Finally, another fan stated: “So irresponsible from Arteta. Could have thrown away the season for this game. Just play Norgaard, we have paid 15 million for him.”
Hopefully, one of Timber or White should be available against Villa to replace him at right-back at the Emirates Stadium.
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