After the perfect start in the 2024/25 Premier League campaign, Mikel Arteta‘s side came across their first hurdle over the weekend.
Despite taking the lead through Kai Havertz, Arsenal were forced to settle for a point against Brighton & Hove Albion.
And their struggles began with the second yellow card being shown to Declan Rice for the controversial incident with Joel Veltman.
Having been shown a red card, Rice is now going to miss the North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur.
Prior to his red card, the midfielder had been able to do something which no other Premier League player had been able to match.
What Declan Rice has done that can’t be matched in the Premier League
Losing Rice ahead of what is going to be the biggest game of the season is far from how Arteta will have wanted to prepare for the North London Derby.
As expected, the 25-year-old had played almost every minute of Premier League action up until that point where he was sent off.
The decision to send Rice off is one which has been debated considerably over recent days with the midfielder being sent off by the letter of the law.
Prior to Rice being sent off, Arsenal were yet to concede a single goal in their opening two and a half games in the Premier League.
But that soon changed once the England international was dismissed as the Gunners lost control over the game.
That can be highlighted through Rice’s impressive statistic of having the highest pass success rate of any Premier League midfielder this season.
Givoing to be missing from the game against Spurs, Arsenal are going to have to be smart with how they replace his ability to retain possession through his passing.
Mikel Merino injury latest
And to pile the bad news on the Gunners, summer signing Mikel Merino is also going to be missing from the game against Tottenham.
Regardless of Rice’s suspension, this is the worst possible news for the Spain international who will have been looking to make a quick start to life in north London
Had Merino have been fit, the Spaniard would have been the perfect potential replacement for Arteta to bring into the fold for Rice
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