Arsenal Injury Update: Declan Rice, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, Thomas Partey

Arsenal seem to be on the verge of an injury crisis, but the updates from today’s reports are positive. The Gunners should have most of their big guns back for the critical Manchester City match. The Gunners play 4 times in the next 13 days: at Brentford on September 27th in the Carabao Cup, at Bournemouth on September 30th, at Lens on October 3rd, and home to Manchester City on October 8th.

Declan Rice’s back injury is not a serious one. Rice asked to come off at halftime of the North London Derby, and Mikel Arteta expressed his surprise afterwards, saying it was strange for a player of Rice’s durability to request a sub. Rice reportedly experienced a back spasm, which I can say from experience is not a fun thing to have happen. Arsenal hope he’ll be fit for the match against Bournemouth at the weekend.

Both Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard are expected to return from their respective injuries in time to face Manchester City, too. Martinelli picked up a hamstring problem against Everton. While it’s never good for a player who relies on his pace to sustain muscular injuries, Martinelli seems to have avoided anything serious. Trossard felt tightness in the back of his leg towards the bottom of his hamstring / knee area in the final training session ahead of the North London Derby. Scans apparently revealed nothing serious because the Gunners expect to have him back in action within two weeks.

Thomas Partey is not likely to be back for the Manchester City match, despite reports that he “hopes” to be available in time. His groin injury had a 6-8 week recovery timetable, which puts his probable return after the October international break. There are suggestions, however, that he is recovering ahead of schedule.

Bukayo Saka was limping heavily and substituted off after Destiny Udogie fell on his leg towards the end of the North London Derby. There haven’t been any reports on his status, which I’m taking to mean that he didn’t pick up an injury. Saka is reportedly dealing with some kind of Achilles issue that has been periodically bothering him since last season. When specifically asked about Saka’s Achilles, Mikel Arteta said “he’s fine...there is nothing to report.”

Mikel Arteta is expected to rotate his squad heavily for the midweek Carabao Cup match at Brentford. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the two centerbacks (William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes), Fabio Vieira, and Eddie Nketiah are the only players who started against Tottenham to get the nod against the Bees.