Mikel Arteta has a fresh issue at Arsenal
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed Declan Rice asked to be taken off the pitch during the weekend's draw with Everton.
The Gunners were held to a 0-0 stalemate by the Merseysiders on Saturday. It leaves them six points behind current leaders Liverpool.
There was even more bad news for the Gunners during the game with midfielder Rice taken off just after the hour mark. He was replaced by Jorginho.
And Arteta has since explained that the decision to come off came from the England man himself after picking up a slight issue. Speaking during his post-match press conference, the Arsenal head coach said: "With Declan I had to take him off because he was feeling something."
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He added: "He’s been with a little niggle for the last week or so and he asked to be taken off." Rice has been a near ever-present for Arsenal this season before his withdrawal vs Everton.
The 25-year-old has made 20 appearances for the Gunners this term in all competitions - only missing games against Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, Preston North End and Inter Milan. Arteta will certainly be hoping he can recover in time for Wednesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with Crystal Palace.
Arsenal already have a host of names restricted to the sidelines including Ben White, Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Rice's substitution against Everton was not the only change that Arteta was forced to explain at the weekend.
Some fans were also left baffled after captain Martin Odegaard was replaced by youngster Ethan Nwaneri at the same time. And Arteta has since claimed that the decision was tactical.
Declan Rice appears to have picked up an injury issue vs Everton
What went wrong for Arsenal vs Everton? Share your thoughts in the comments below
Explaining the decision, he said: "I understand. If Ethan comes in and scores it’s a great sub. If he doesn’t you’ve taken your captain off. It’s football."
Away from his substitutions, Arteta was also left ruing his side's failure to get what would have been a valuable three points. Victory would have seen Arsenal reduce the gap to Liverpool - the Reds being held by Fulham at Anfield.
Arteta said: "Very disappointing not to win the game. We fully deserved to win the game. We conceded no shots. We dominated play. When we generated big chances we didn’t score a goal."
And he also denied that Everton had an advantage with more rest following the decision to postpone the Merseyside derby. "No. It doesn’t matter," he responded. "Look at the intensity of what we generated in the second half. [Frustrating] especially when we concede zero [chances] and dominate the game so much."
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