24 September 2023 , 15:43
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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed that Declan Rice was feeling some discomfort in his back and that is why the midfielder was withdrawn from the north London derby at half-time.
The contest against Tottenham ended in a 2-2 draw, but it will be Spurs who come away the happier of the two sides. From Arteta's perspective, his main headache will be the status of Rice's fitness.
For Gunners fans fretting over their midfielder with key games on the horizon, Arteta had this to say when asked about his £105million man: "Yeah he had some discomfort in his back and he was telling us during the first half he wasn’t comfortable and when we assessed him at half time he couldn’t continue."
Pressed for comment on whether Rice will face a spell on the sidelines, he added: "Hopefully not. We have to assess him because it’s strange that a player like him asks to come off because he wasn’t comfortable so hopefully not but let’s see."
Arsenal were frustrated by their north London neighbours during the draw, but they arguably had themselves to blame for the two goals conceded. Things got off to a decent enough start when Bukayo Saka's strike deflected off of Cristian Romero and into the back of the net to give the hosts the lead.
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David Raya then pulled off a sensational stop to prevent Brennan Johnson from scoring his first Spurs goal, but the Spaniard could do nothing about Heung-Min Son's equaliser. The South Korea international managed to ghost inside the penalty area to convert from James Maddison's cut-back.
Fabio Vieira and Rice were both withdrawn from the game at the interval, with the latter emerging with his left-calf bandaged up. Within five minutes of the restart, Arsenal were back in front thanks to a Saka penalty following Romero handling the ball inside the area.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Was Rice's withdrawal the reson behind Spurs' second? Comment below
Declan Rice came off injured at half-time against Tottenham28 seconds after Spurs kicked off as a result of falling behind, they were level once again. Jorginho had his pocket picked by Maddison, who then calmly sent Son through on goal and he made no mistake, notching his second of the game. Arteta could barely watch as the visitors equalised once again.
Amid all the emotion and end to end drama that came with this particular north London derby, both sides come away from the clash in an identical position to the one they started in. Both are level on points, having both won four and drawn two from their opening six games.
The fixture list isn't exactly kind to either side in the coming weeks. Next up for Spurs in the league is the visit of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, who currently sit second and are also undefeated so far.
Arsenal are away at Bournemouth next weekend, before welcoming reigning champions Manchester City to the Emirates eight days later. Arteta did praise the effort of his players, while also complimenting Tottenham's performance. “The energy the boys put in, the attitude was phenomenal," he claimed.
"But we lacked composure on the ball against a really good Spurs side. Credit to them, they have the quality and chances to do that. We have simple giveaways and we didn't do enough in certain areas to spread out in certain areas."