Declan Rice injury boost allows Arsenal to avoid repeating Man City scenario

Against Spurs, in Rice's place was Jorginho and he was at fault for their second equaliser, which came about barely a minute after Bukayo Saka had restored the lead. Usually so calm when being pressed by the opposition, this time the Italian conceded possession in a dangerous area and it allowed for James Maddison to play in Son Heung-min to score.

A rather unfortunate sequence of events as in the ideal scenario, Thomas Partey would have stepped into midfield. Problem is, he was sidelined too with a groin problem whilst Mohamed Elneny has only just been made available for selection following knee surgery in January.

Jorginho, usually a reliable customer, simply wasn't able to get up to speed of the game and that might be the consequence of his lack of minutes so far this season as he's been used to coming on as a substitute much later to help the Gunners see out a result.

Amid the prospect of Rice and Partey both being sidelined for the north London outfit's remaining four fixtures before the October international break, there had been the scenario of the Italy international being drafted in to start against Manchester City - just like he did in the fixture back in February.

But with news of Rice being in contention for the visit of the champions in addition to Partey recovering well to potentially make his return for that game too, Arsenal are very much on course to avoid a repeat scenario from the last time they hosted Pep Guardiola's side at the Emirates.Arsenal got a first glimpse of life without Declan Rice since his record-breaking £105million summer transfer and it wasn't pretty. Luckily for the Gunners, though, football.london understands the injury that forced him off against Tottenham Hotspur is not a serious one.

The England international has been ever-present so far this season, but Sunday afternoon in the North London Derby was the first time he failed to complete until at least stoppage time of a Premier League fixture as he was taken off at half-time with a back complaint.

"Yeah, he had some discomfort in his back," Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters in the pre-match press conference. "He was telling us during the first half that he was uncomfortable. When we assessed him at half-time he could not continue so we had to change him."

One look at Rice's injury record, as per transfermarkt, and it's spotless. Throughout his career to date, he's only ever missed seven games and that was because of illness towards the end of the 2018/19 season. This type of durability is, perhaps, one of the key reasons why Arsenal went all out to secure his signature in the summer.

"Hopefully not. We have to assess him," the Spaniard added when asked if there's any danger the midfielder could be out for a while. "It's strange that a player like him asked to come off because he was uncomfortable. Hopefully not, but let's see."

And Arteta's prayers appear to have been answered with football.london revealing that following an assessment, Rice's injury is not too serious - so much so that whilst he's unlikely to be risked for Wednesday night's Carabao Cup clash with Brentford, he could return to the squad for Saturday's Premier League trip to Bournemouth.