Latest Arsenal injury news as Declan Rice update given for Brighton clash

Declan Rice looked to suffer a minor issue during the weekend win over Chelsea with Mikel Arteta offering an update before Arsenal face Brighton

Mikel Arteta has issued an Arsenal injury update on Declan Rice ahead of the Premier League clash against Brighton. The Gunners boss admitted he asked to be substituted late into Sunday's win over Chelsea after appearing to tweak his knee making a recovery run.

Given the quick turnaround to Wednesday's trip to Amex Stadium, Rice became a major fitness doubt, with concerns over David Raya also emerging from the 2-1 victory at Emirates Stadium. Arteta was able to offer a hopeful on both of those players, however.

He said at a Tuesday press conference: "[Rice] I hope so [will be okay], he was much better today. David is good, good to go."

Arsenal were without Martin Odegaard for their latest London derby, with the Norway international plagued by issues over the last few weeks.

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He returned from a slight knee problem against Tottenham last month but was absent from Sunday's matchday squad with Arteta stating he was still feeling pain and thus it was decided a risk would not be taken. Kai Havertz was back in the squad and played 15 minutes however, with Arteta offering new updates on the duo.

In the latest update, he said: "Yeah, especially Kai, he's done a part of the session, so we'll wait and see if he is okay. Martin is the other one, we'll see." Arteta later confirmed that Ben White is still unavailable.

As for other injury news, Max Dowman stepped up his recovery from an ankle issue on Friday evening as he played 45 minutes for the under-21s.

If Rice cannot return against the Seagulls, Mikel Merino would have been the perfect replacement but he is currently out with a foot injury that required surgery.

One positive for Arsenal was Arteta confirming that no fresh fitness problems were suffered with games against Brighton, Mansfield Town, Bayer Leverkusen (x2) and Everton to come.

Fabian Hurzeler has a similarly short injury list with only two players completely ruled out as the Brighton boss hinted Yasin Ayari could be back.

Hurzeler said: "He trained yesterday, so hopefully he reacts fine to the first training session, and then we have another one today, and I'm quite confident that he will be an option for tomorrow."

Adam Webster and Stefanos Tzimas are the two long-term absentees for Brighton with both having undergone knee surgeries.

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