Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has suggested that Declan Rice was missing from training on Tuesday for load management reasons, as opposed to a worrying injury issue.
The England international was an unexpected absentee from the Gunners' open practice session at London Colney, ahead of Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Sporting Lisbon.
Rice captained Arsenal and played the full 90 minutes in Saturday's 2-1 Premier League loss to Bournemouth, prior to which he also saw out the 1-0 first-leg victory over Sporting at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
The former West Ham United skipper has played the second-most outfield minutes for Arsenal this season with 3,642 - only trailing Martin Zubimendi's 3,752 - making 46 appearances in all tournaments and registering five goals and 11 assists.
Speaking to reporters in his pre-game press conference, Arteta was customarily vague when giving a team news updates, but he did hint that Rice's absence was down to overload and was more precautionary than anything else.
Mikel Arteta drops Declan Rice injury hint for Arsenal vs. Sporting
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"We have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how a few of the boys are and make the right decision with them," the Spaniard said, before being asked for the exact nature of Rice's issue.
"I don't want to do that, obviously he wasn't available to train," Arteta added. "He's played a lot of games and that's part of the issue, but he's going to do everything he can to be with us tomorrow."
Rice was one of several notable omissions from Arsenal training on Tuesday, as Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber were not spotted by the media either.
Neither Saka nor Timber have featured since withdrawing from their national teams during the international break, but Arteta did not rule either of them out of the second leg, adding: "Maybe one of them [will be back], let's see.
The Arsenal boss also disclosed a bit more about Saka's problem, saying: "It was something he was carrying for a while, it was an Achilles issue. No [setback], there is progression, will hopefully be a matter of days, not weeks."
Arsenal could be facing midfield crisis for Sporting second leg
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While there is nothing to suggest that Rice has picked up a moderate or severe injury, it was only a matter of time before the £105m man started to feel the effects of a long and gruelling season.
The same goes for Martin Zubimendi, who was able to train on Tuesday but was lambasted for a shoddy display against Bournemouth - another sign that the summer signing's body is slowly beginning to fail him.
With Mikel Merino still several weeks away from returning from a foot operation, and none of Rice, Odegaard or Zubimendi in peak condition, Arsenal could be facing a midfield crisis for the visit of Sporting.
At least one of the trio should still start and be pushed through the pain barrier, but if it is optimum fitness levels that Arteta is after, an Eberechi Eze-Christian Norgaard-Myles Lewis-Skelly trident may be the way to go, even though the former is only just back from a calf issue.