Mikel Arteta makes Arsenal injury claim after hinting at three-player blow for Bournemouth

Arsenal take on Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday night

Mikel Arteta believes that Arsenal’s injury situation has improved over the last three seasons after confirming two players will miss the trip to Bournemouth.

Declan Rice also remains a doubt for the Gunners and could join Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera in missing the clash. The Gunners saw the gap to Manchester City widen to four points as a result of their win over Aston Villa and Pep Guardiola’s side failing to beat Sunderland.

Arteta was adamant that his players are ready to continue fighting for the Premier League title, perhaps emboldened by this week’s results.

“You can see their desire,” he said. “You can see the energy that they put in, how much they want it and that's what we need. There's still five months to go and take it day by day. Enjoy that process of being where we are and go for it.”

Beating Villa without Rice received high praise and brought encouragement for the depth available to the Spaniard. However, Arteta confirmed the England international’s swelling in his knee had not yet gone down.

“Well, not yet, and we have another session (on Friday). Let's see how he goes and how that's feeling, but it was too early that game for him.”

Rice received a “bad kick” in the game against Brighton Arteta confirmed but played on and completed the game.

When asked whether he had regrets about keeping him on throughout the match, the Arsenal manager was quick to suggest that the damage he had suffered had come as a surprise despite knowing about the problem.

“No, no, no,” he retorted. “He managed to do it. That's normal sometimes. You get a hit, and throughout the game, you are able with adrenaline, and because you are warm, you are able to sustain that. And then the body reacts, and it reacted probably more than we expected, unfortunately.”

Many have called on Arteta to more effectively rotate his side with the size of squad available to him. However, he believes there is something that ranks above the idea of changing out pieces of the team.

“At the end, I think we have to talk about performance, not rotation,” Arteta explained. “We want performance, the highest performance every three days or throughout the game, and that's what we have to look at.

“And in order to achieve that, what are the best players, in the best condition, with the best relationship, to fulfil that.”

Arteta stated that the injury situation had actually improved at the club in recent years, and reiterated that they are always monitoring what can be done to improve the situation.

“Well, first thing, what we can do better, and the second thing, that is the reality of the sport that we played in,” Arteta said. “But looking back in the last three seasons, we have less days of injuries than before. So, yeah, it's how you look at it.

“We had injuries that you have to separate, the traumatic ones, and the ones that are minor injuries. And we have to improve, but we are better than some other years.”

Whilst compared to last season, Arsenal’s players who have suffered problems have missed slightly more matches per injury, the number is down considerably more when assessed against the 2023/24 campaign, supporting the Spaniard’s statement.