Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has revealed fresh injury concerns following the Gunners’ 2-0 victory over Brentford, as both Cristhian Mosquera and Declan Rice were forced off the pitch.
Mosquera was substituted in the 44th minute after landing awkwardly while challenging Kevin Schade for a header, with Jurrien Timber coming on to replace him. Rice, on the other hand, left the field in the 83rd minute after picking up a calf issue.
“Yes, obviously it’s never good news,” Arteta told reporters (via The Standard) after the game. “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 Gabriel and Willy are out as well. So we have to adapt.”
Mosquera’s injury adds to Arteta’s defensive headache, with William Saliba and Gabriel also sidelined.
When asked for clarification on the injuries, Arteta explained: “[Rice] can walk. He cannot play.
“The thing is playing a lot of minutes, but as well when. Now we play Wednesday night and we have to play Saturday morning as well.
“We can play minutes, but if they can please give us just a little bit more time to recover and to make the well-being of these players a little bit easier, that would be great.
“We have to wait and see [with Mosquera]. 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.”
With Arsenal now five points clear at the top of the Premier League, the timing of these injuries could prove tricky as they juggle a busy fixture schedule in the title run-in.
