Declan Rice breaks silence after Arsenal injury scare amid worrying update

Declan Rice has started every Premier League game since joining Arsenal in the summer but that could change over the coming weeks. Following his £105million transfer from West Ham, Rice has immediately become an integral member of Mikel Arteta's squad with 17 out of the 21 league games seeing him complete 90 minutes.

Of those four occasions, twice he has been subbed off because of an injury concern with the first coming in the 2-2 North London Derby draw against Tottenham. The other early withdrawal came this past weekend in the 5-0 victory against Crystal Palace.

Earlier in the clash, Rice picked up the assist for Arsenal's opening goal with his corner headed home by Gabriel Magalhaes, however he was also unable to complete the full game. Rice was replaced by Jorginho on 73 minutes after signalling it was a hamstring issue to Emile Smith Rowe while Gabriel received treatment eight minutes later with no chances taken as he was swiftly taken off with Jakub Kiwior coming on.

After the game, Arteta offered an immediate update on the duo with perhaps more concern to be present surrounding Rice. "He [Rice] was feeling some tightness," the Arsenal boss said in his post-match press conference. "I don’t know what muscle it was. But when he says that at 3-0 then obviously we don’t want to take any risks.

The same with big Gabi. He had some discomfort from a tackle in the first half and he was struggling a bit so it was the right moment to take him off the field." Thankfully, Arsenal are not back in action for another nine days in a clash against Nottingham Forest away from home before then welcoming Liverpool to Emirates Stadium the following weekend.

While Rice will likely be monitored throughout next week to determine his availability to face Forest, the 24-year-old has offered his first public comment since being withdrawn through injury. On Ivan Toney's Instagram post following his goal for Brentford, Rice replied ,"yesssir [flame emoji]."

Arteta will be hoping that Rice is back for the Liverpool game in early February at the very least with Jorginho available to fill at the City Ground. Meanwhile, the options to replace Gabriel if he is injured is certainly clear with Kiwior able to come in and the Poland international will certainly be hoping for a prolonged run in the team, similar to the one he was handed in the late stages of the 2022/23 season in the absence of William Saliba.