3 days ago
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Manchester City dropped back to five points behind leaders Arsenal in the Premier League, but Mikel Arteta has fresh injury concerns to contend with
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted he is concerned after Declan Rice and Cristhian Mosquera after both players were forced off with injuries in their victory over Brentford. Manchester City cut the gap to the leaders to a mere two points after a thrilling 5-4 victory at Fulham on Tuesday night.
However, this gap has grown again after the Gunners won 2-0 thanks to goals from Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka. Arsenal's joy was threatened, though, as their injury worries expanded. Mosquera was the first to be forced off after landing awkwardly in the first half.
Then, with just seven minutes remaining in the game, Rice was substituted with what appeared to be tightness in his calf. Both injuries offer different problems to Arteta and Arsenal.
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba are both currently out in the Arsenal defence which makes Mosquera's injury even more of a concern for them. As for Rice, he has largely been credited as being fundamental to the manner in which Arsenal's midfield operates.
Speaking after the game, Arteta explained what would happen next with the two injured men. He said: "Yes, 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. Obviously we have big Gabi and Willy out as well. So we have to adapt.
"It's been a theme of this season. But when I look at the players, they haven't been playing much.
"For example, Ben White, the performance that he had on Martin [Odegaard] that he's been out and he puts 96 minutes under his belt straight away. Noni [Madueke], the same. Viktor [Gyokeres] is coming and now he's getting some minutes as well. So I'm very pleased to see that."
Arsenal have already seen key players like Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard miss several matches through injury this season, and the bad luck continuing will no doubt be a source of frustration for Arteta.
While City would not want to win the Premier League based on the injuries at Arsenal, fitness concerns at the Emirates Stadium offer the Blues a chance to put the pressure firmly on their rivals.
This weekend, Pep Guardiola's side host Sunderland on Saturday afternoon while Arsenal face a trick away test at second-place Aston Villa a couple of hours before.
The Blues have been managing to find ways to win in the past two matches despite performances not being exceptional. Against Leeds, City suffered a second half collapse only for Phil Foden to win the game late on.
Then on Tuesday night, City were cruising to victory when they went 5-1 up at Craven Cottage thanks to Jeremy Doku's deflected strike. However the game ended very nervy for Guardiola's men.
Three goals in just over 20 minutes from Fulham set up a grandstand finish. Eventually, City managed to hold out for what was an important victory.
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