Mikel Arteta has called for help following the loss of Declan Rice and Cristhian Mosquera to injury in Arsenal's win over Brentford
06:00, 04 Dec 2025
Mikel Arteta lost two key players after Arsenal win over Brentford and ahead of clash with Aston Villa
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Mikel Arteta lost two key players after Arsenal win over Brentford and ahead of clash with Aston Villa(Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Arsenal’s win over Brentford was supposed to be a game that allowed Mikel Arteta to rest and rotate members of his squad, but it turned into something else. The victory was secured, but the question remains: At what cost?
Both Declan Rice and Cristhian Mosquera have to be removed from the field of play before the end of the game; the Spaniard taken off even before the half-time whistle. Arteta made three changes from the side that drew at Chelsea, offering some respite to Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Jurrien Timber, however the the latter replaced Mosquera and had to play more than a half of the match.
Arteta was coy on the details after the game, unable to give clarity of the specificity of the problems. It seemed even Mosquera wasn’t entirely sure what he’d done.
“Yes, obviously it's never good news,” Arteta replied. “Declan had to come off. We don't know.
“We have to see tomorrow what he's got. And Mosquera is the other one that is out.
“Obviously we have big Gabi and Willy out as well. So we have to adapt. It's been a theme of this season. But when I look at the players, they haven't been playing much."
Regarding Mosquera, Arteta added: “Yeah, we have to wait and see. It's probably part of the knee or ankle, we don't know. He could not really tell us exactly how it was, but he wasn't able to continue.”
The story of the night belonged to Ben White who had come in to allow Timber the rest he certainly had earned. Yet the England international remained at right back even after Timber had entered the game to replace Mosquera.
His time playing in the centre of defence for Ajax proving a valuable experience when this surprise task was pushed upon him. The Dutchman coped with it extremely well.
White’s involvement in the opening goal meant there was a particular focus on his contributions in the final third. Arteta was even asked afterwards whether he had been reminded of what perhaps he had missed with White out of the side for so long, but the Arsenal manager disagreed.
“No,” Arteta replied. “The first thing is a defender defends and defends with that purpose and with that determination and efficiency and he's done that today.
“And then if he can add the value that he can add with the ball through his passing, through his movement and through the deliveries that he can put with the quality that he has, so be it. Today I think he's done both very well.”
This is something Arteta has spoken about before, the desire for any player he signs to unequivocally love the focus on their role. Defenders who love to defend is a cornerstone of this Arsenal team’s evolution from the days where it seemed an error at the back was almost a guarantee each game.
If Mosquera is to miss the weekend and William Saliba is still not yet ready to rejoin the group, the performance of White and Timber is this setup will have brought encouragement and confidence the pair can replicate it against an in-form Villa side. A side which takes on Arsenal in less than 72 hours after the full-time whistle at the Emirates Stadium.
Arteta again called on the Premier League to better schedule their games. The quick turnaround for their trip to Villa Park is being viewed as a very difficult test, one that did not need to be made so tricky.
“Probably it's not one thing, but we can help the players and everybody, the league and everybody, to do what we have to do,” Arteta said. “Give us another day, especially the teams that are playing so much in Europe.
“To everybody in general, I think we can do that because we're going to benefit from that.”
He added: “It's not an argument, I think it's common sense. I think it's not at some point this becomes too much, you know, and the players are not machines. But we have to try to do that when we can.”
When it comes to that Villa game, there will be an expectation that Eze and Martin Odegaard could again come back into the team. Some might have been earmarking Viktor Gyokeres to return to the starting line-up.
However, the form of Mikel Merino has arguably made him undroppable. Arteta could not have lauded the Spaniard’s contribution more in the role.
“He was immense again, I think, today,” he said.” The way he scored the goal, super smart. His timing, the way he wins the possession and the execution.
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“But after his overall performance, with the ball, without the ball. I remember an action that he passed the ball to Martin [Odegaard] in behind. Martin doesn't chase it.
“He makes 40 metres to chase it to the corner flag and goes back, wins the ball back. He's everywhere, and he's got that really good momentum at the moment, and he makes the team much better.”
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