Declan Rice delivers two-word update after Arsenal star's injury scare in Chelsea win

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice posted a two-word message after being substituted in the 76th minute of the Gunners' 2-1 win over Chelsea on Sunday

Declan Rice has suggested he hasn't picked up an injury with an encouraging social media post following his substitution during Arsenal's victory over Chelsea on Sunday. The Gunners defeated their London rivals 2-1 to restore their five-point advantage at the Premier League summit - though a potential injury concern over Rice dampened the mood.

Goals from William Saliba and Jurrien Timber from set pieces proved sufficient for Arsenal to overcome Chelsea, who responded through their own corner as Piero Hincapie headed beyond David Raya. It proved a battling victory for the hosts, despite Pedro Neto's dismissal leaving Chelsea a man down in the 70th minute.

Rice seemed to pull up after racing back to address a Chelsea counter-attack during the second period. Television cameras captured him wincing and attempting to stretch, prompting Mikel Arteta to exercise caution by introducing Christian Norgaard as Rice's replacement in the 76th minute.

When questioned about injuries following the match, Arteta said: "I don't know. Declan had to be substituted, so he's going to have to get checked and see if he's available for Wednesday, unfortunately.

"And the rest hopefully OK. But we don't know."

FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

Rice made no reference to any injury on Instagram, where he shared an image of himself celebrating a goal with the caption 'keep pushing', accompanied by a smiley face and a heart emoji.

Arsenal return to Premier League duties against Brighton on Wednesday evening before an FA Cup fifth-round visit to Mansfield Town on Saturday. The Gunners then head to Germany for the opening leg of their Champions League last-16 encounter with Bayer Leverkusen on March 11.

It's a relentless fixture list, with Arsenal remaining active across all four competitions whilst pursuing a potential quadruple. Arteta acknowledged that alterations will be necessary to his starting line-up for the Brighton fixture, considering the brief recovery period.

"We're going to have to make changes and give opportunities to everybody to be fresh," he said.

Raya produced several vital stops to deny Chelsea and, similar to Rice, also seemed to have potentially picked up a knock towards the end.

"I don't know what happened in that action," Arteta said. "He had some niggles this week so I don't know if he's related to that but overall, very happy."

Arteta praised his goalkeeper, who needed to remain sharp to secure all three points and maintain his team's momentum following Manchester City's 1-0 victory over Leeds on Saturday evening.

"David is one of our leaders without a doubt," Arteta said. "He's a keeper who knows how to maintain his focus and decide a football match when you need him.

"Because sometimes he doesn't participate at all and then in one action you have to be there, and that's very, very difficult to do. And the save that he made in the last action - it's a cross, it's not a shot, but it ended up being an unbelievable shot.

"I got the right angle and my heart almost stopped, but David's hand was there to get it back to life."

Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings