Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta claims that Declan Rice went off with a back injury despite claims of a calf problem against Tottenham Hotspur.
Declan Rice was complaining of a back problem as the Arsenal midfielder went off against Tottenham Hotspur.
That is according to boss Mikel Arteta, who has cleared up Rice’s injury amid claims he could have a calf problem.
Arsenal went into the break drawing 1-1 as Son Heung-min cancelled out Cristian Romero’s own goal.
Mikel Arteta then made two changes at the break as Rice and Fabio Vieira were taken off for Jorginho and Kai Havertz.
That decision raised more than a few eyebrows with Rice’s departure from the game slightly perplexing at the time.
Declan Rice injury cleared up
Shortly after play got back underway for the second half, Sky commentator Peter Drury shared his information on Rice.
Drury stated that Rice had returned with ‘strapping’ on his calf, which was then stated on the Sky Sports website too.
“That is a potentially expensive ailment,” said Drury, acknowledging that a calf problem could be serious for Rice.
Arsenal boss Arteta claims something quite different though, telling Football London that it was actually a back injury for Rice.
Arteta admits that the injury situation is ‘strange’ as it’s not often somebody like Rice has to come off, but he was indicating that he couldn’t continue.
“Hopefully not,” said Arteta when asked if this could be a long-term injury. “It’s strange that a player like him has to come off. So we’ll see,” he added.
Rice calf problems have been going on for a while
The Arsenal midfielder may well have had a back problem, but he has also been battling through a calf issue for some time now.
The Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel reports that Rice has actually been battling a calf issue since pre-season.
It may well be that Rice was having issues with both injury problems against Tottenham and just couldn’t play on.
Thomas Partey, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard are already out of action, so the last thing Arsenal need is another injury.
Rice will no doubt have a scan in the coming days, with Arsenal fans hoping his substitution was precautionary rather than a major injury woe.
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