‘We don’t know’ – Declan Rice gives Arsenal more injury fears after another centre-back limps off

Declan Rice was taken off during Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Brentford as the Gunners’ injury problems threatened to worsen.

Mikel Arteta’s side restored their five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table – but the win may have come at a price.

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With first-choice centre-back pairing Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba already out injured, defender Cristhian Mosquera limped off in the first-half after an awkward landing.

Jurrien Timber came on at centre-back and Arsenal kept yet another clean sheet as goals from Mikel Merino and substitute Bukayo Saka sealed all three points.

But moments before Saka doubled the hosts’ lead in the dying moments, another talisman was substituted with an apparent injury.

Rice – who has arguably been Arsenal’s best player this season on their charge towards the Premier League title – needed treatment on his calf.

The England star was then removed from the action with Arteta not ready to take any unnecessary risks.

Arteta admits injury concerns

When asked about the injuries after the game, Arteta said: “Obviously it’s never good news. Declan had to come off. We don’t know.

“We have to see tomorrow what he’s got. And Mosquera is the other one that is out.

“Obviously we have big Gabi and Willy out as well. So we have to adapt. It’s been a theme of this season.”

On Rice, Arteta added: “He could not carry on playing, so we have to wait and see tomorrow what happens.

“He’s moving alright. He can walk but he cannot play.”

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The Arsenal boss also took the opportunity to hit out at the fixture schedule with his treatment room getting increasingly crowded.

He said: “The thing is [Rice] has played a lot of minutes, but as well, when? Now we play Wednesday night and we have to play Saturday morning as well.

“So we can play minutes, but if they can please give us just a little bit more time to recover and to make the wellbeing of these players a little bit easier, that would be great.”

As for Mosquera, Arteta stated: “We have to wait and see. It’s probably part of the knee or ankle, we don’t know. He could not really tell us exactly how it was but he wasn’t able to continue.”

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What next for Arsenal?

Next up for Arsenal is a huge trip to third-place Aston Villa on Saturday – live on talkSPORT.

Villa moved to within six points of the Gunners with a dramatic 4-3 win at Brighton on Wednesday night.

Man City, meanwhile, kept pace on Tuesday with a spectacular 5-4 victory at Fulham, having almost thrown away a four-goal lead.

Arsenal were given a boost in the title race as Chelsea, who held the Gunners to a 1-1 draw on Sunday, slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Leeds.

Speaking about the victory over Brentford, Arteta told talkSPORT: “Big win. We come from a very demanding week, emotionally, physically, at every level.

“And we have to play three days later, one day less than Brentford again.

“And I think the way we dominated the game, the way we played, performed, win and clean sheet after four games with not a clean sheet, I think we have to be very pleased.”