In addition to the insult that was the 2-2 draw against Tottenham, Mikel Arteta had some injury news to report ahead of tomorrow’s Carabao Cup Third Round clash with Brentford. Arsenal had moments in the match against Spurs were they could have gained a stronghold of the game, but Ange Postecoglou’s side showed no fear and came at the Gunners.

Both Tottenham goals were attributed to errors from the home side, especially with Jorginho dallying on the ball instead of passing to an unmarked teammate, but the game was marred by a plethora of injuries suffered by the Arsenal players. Leandro Trossard was the first to get crocked in the warmup to the match, which was a big shame, as he was in a rich vein of form. Declan Rice was the next to get injured, playing only 45 minutes before he was eventually substituted for Jorginho. In the tail end of the encounter, Bukayo Saka, a player usually on the end of nasty tackles all game long, walked gingerly and was clearly in discomfort before he was replaced by Emile Smith Rowe.

With the Carabao Cup clash against Brentford tomorrow, as well as half an eye on the Premier League clash against Bournemouth, Arteta faced the journos and gave injury updates on his players

Declan Rice

The gaffer confirmed that Rice had not still trained and was hopeful it’s not something big. He’s certainly going to miss the match against Brentford and the club will be sweating over his fitness ahead of the Bournemouth game. 

When I think this Rice situation, I remember what happened with William Saliba last season regarding a back injury. He suffered the knock in March in the Europa League Round of 16 loss to Sporting CP and didn’t play till the campaign ended. 

I am hopeful Rice’s ordeal will not be like Saliba, because Thomas Partey is also injured, Mo Elneny is nowhere close to match fitness, leaving us with only Jorginho as the viable option in holding midfield. Hopefully, he recovers mentally from his weekend gaffe and focus on being the Jorginho that bossed St. James Park last season.

Bukayo Saka

The manager didn’t sound confident when discussing about Saka, stating that there is a strong possibility that he would miss the Bournemouth game, which automatically rules him out of the Brentford game. 

Saka is a player that’s always on the end of nasty tackles and he still finds a way to soldier on. However, he didn’t look good in the closing stages of the game and clearly needed to be subbed. Fabio Vieira has come of age this season and can deputize for Saka on the right, instead of Reiss Nelson. 

Leandro Trossard

Arteta also confirmed that Trossard will not be available for the Brentford game, and stated that he will have to be accessed on a day by day basis. I feel really sad for Trossard, because his quality was on show in the last two games and the club would have benefitted from his availability, as it would have afforded Gabriel Jesus to play in his favored center forward position. 

There were no changes to the long term absentees, Jurrien Timber, Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli.

We will preview the Brentford game tomorrow.

Sayonara.

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