Arsenal stars Saka, Rice, Trossard doubtful for Bournemouth clash

Tottenham came from behind twice to rescue a pulsating 2-2 draw against Arsenal thanks to Son Heung-min's brace in the north London derby. But there was worse news at the Emirates Stadium than the draw.

Declan Rice, who joined the Gunners in the summer transfer window for £100m from West Ham, had to be replaced in the 46th minute by Jorginho. 

"Declan wasn’t available for Brentford and he hasn’t trained yet. We have another session in an hour or two so we’ll have more news about him today," Mikel Arteta said in a pre-match press conference ahead of the Premier League clash with Bournemouth.

The Spanish manager was also asked about Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, who are also out of action due to injury. "We want them back, we need them back, but at the moment, they have not been available."

Arteta also spoke about Bukayo Saka's condition. The 22-year-old has been out of training since he picked up an injury after scoring a brace against Tottenham.

"The assessment is 'okay, is he fit enough and good enough to be able to be selected tomorrow?' That’s the question mark and so far he hasn’t trained with the team."

"We have adapt to the situation because that’s a big number [of injuries]. My hope is that everybody's fit and available because we need them with what is coming in the next seven to 10 days. We need them so hopefully today, we get some good news."

"It’s been for different reasons. Some of them happened in training, and some of them had knocks and small muscular niggles. But load played a part. Going to their national teams and coming back from their national teams meant the physical load went through the roof. 

"The demands continue to be really high and the fact that we had three or four out already meant that they didn't have enough time to recover."

 

September 29, 2023