Double Injury Scare: Arteta Sweats on Rice and Mosquera Ahead of Crucial Villa Clash
Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Brentford on Wednesday night was overshadowed by new injury concerns for key midfielder Declan Rice and defender Cristhian Mosquera, leaving manager Mikel Arteta facing further selection headaches ahead of Saturday’s crunch trip to Aston Villa.
Mosquera was forced off just before half-time after landing awkwardly, while Rice limped off late in the second half with a calf issue, adding to an already stretched injury list that includes first-choice centre-backs Gabriel and William Saliba.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, a frustrated Arteta confirmed the immediate uncertainty surrounding both players:
“Obviously it’s never good news. 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.”
He highlighted the mounting demands on his squad, particularly the quick turnaround before the early Saturday kick-off against Villa.
“He could not carry on playing, so we have to wait and see tomorrow what happens… The thing is he’s played a lot of minutes, but as well, now we play Wednesday night and we have to play Saturday morning as well.”
While Arteta maintained a cautious tone, there is a degree of internal confidence regarding Rice. The England international was able to walk off the pitch and reportedly told Sky Sports News after the game that he was “fine.” However, the manager reiterated the need for time:
“He can walk but he cannot play [the next game without recovery]. If they can please give us just a little bit more time to recover and to make the well-being of these players a little bit easier, that would be great.”
The situation for defender Cristhian Mosquera is less clear, with Arteta unable to specify the exact nature of the injury:
“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.”
Both players are scheduled for assessment on Thursday, with their availability for the difficult Premier League clash against Unai Emery’s in-form Aston Villa team remaining highly doubtful.
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