Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Declan Rice will be among the list of players missing for the Gunners’ Champions League clash against Club Brugge on Wednesday.
Arteta’s side currently top the 36-team table and remain the only team in the competition to have a 100% record so far this season, beating teams like Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid.
They will, however, be without Rice for tomorrow’s match, with the influential England midfielder suffering from illness and among several players who have not made the trip to Belgium.
Although he scored against Aston Villa at the weekend, Leandro Trossard will play no part either, having experienced a recurrence of the calf problem he picked up two weeks ago against Bayern.
William Saliba, for his part, remains on the sidelines following the blow received in training at the end of November.
“Declan [Rice] was ill. He was very ill after the match [against Aston Villa] already and he hasn’t traveled with us,” Arteta said on Tuesday.
“He wasn’t feeling well at all. So he will have a few days to rest and recover his body, but today he was already really wanting to be able to play – but unfortunately he can’t.
“Guillaume [Saliba] is still not available and Léo [Trossard]again, took another hit in an area where he had the previous problem.
“I don’t expect it to last long, but unfortunately he can’t be with us.”
The trio join a growing Gunners injury list which includes Cristhian Mosquera, Gabriel, Kai Havertz and also teenager Max Dowman, who suffered an ankle injury last weekend.
Dowman’s absence, however, has allowed Arteta to add Gabriel Jesus to his Champions League squad and the Brazilian could feature for the first time in 11 months after recovering from an ACL injury.
Despite the injuries, the Arsenal manager dismissed suggestions it was down to players overtraining.
“We don’t train,” Arteta said. “Today we played 20 minutes, so surely it’s not because we overtrain the players?
“We don’t have time to train, but the fact that you are missing players, you put more burden on the other players.
“It’s a consequence of that and it’s really a dangerous circle. It’s a test for the team and, so far, we’ve responded very well to that.”
