Arteta was reluctant to discuss specifics, emphasising the need to monitor how Rice responds over the next 24 hours.
"Well, let's see," Arteta told reporters on Friday. "I think with all the questions I'm going to get, the answer, unfortunately, is going to be the same. We have another training session in the afternoon. Every hour is going to be very important to see the availability of the players. After that, we'll decide who travels."
Arteta’s uncertainty was not limited to Rice. The manager admitted that defender Cristhian Mosquera faces a particularly difficult race against time to feature this weekend. The prospect of being without Mosquera is a fresh headache for the Arsenal head coach, who is already navigating a defensive shortage with William Saliba and Gabriel also in the treatment room.
"That's the more complicated one, but again, we have another test today to see where we are with them," he said. "We need to know, because the feeling that we had after the game and yesterday, we need to corroborate with what happens with all the testing that we do today."
While speaking on the fitness of William Saliba and Leandro Trossard, Arsenal said: "It is a matter of days with those two, for sure. After the training session, we'll know more."
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