William Saliba and Declan Rice decisions as huge Arsenal injury blow confirmed vs Brighton

• Arsenal
• Arsenal News
• Declan Rice

Arsenal face Brighton in the Premier League this evening, with Mikel Arteta making big decisions on Declan Rice and William Saliba

Mikel Arteta has named Declan Rice in his Arsenal starting XI to face Brighton but William Saliba has been left out of the squad. Cristhian Mosquera coming in for the Frenchman is one of two changes with Gabriel Martinelli also replacing Leandro Trossard.

Saliba's absence comes as quite the surprise despite his absence from the squad against Brentford last month due to illness. While no Saliba is a blow, Rice featuring comes as big plus for Arteta after he was forced off against Chelsea last Sunday.

After the 2-1 win, Arteta said: "Declan asked to be substituted so he is going to have to get checked and see if he is available for Wednesday, unfortunately."

When asked if he was OK in his press conference on Tuesday, Arteta stated: "I hope so. He was much better today. Obviously, we haven't really trained because we have only two days to prepare for the game, so hopefully he's going to be better tomorrow."

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Arteta's promising update earlier this week was proven to be the case with Rice in midfield alongside Martin Zubimendi and Eberechi Eze again.

That has resulted in Kai Havertz being named on the bench again with Martin Odegaard still absent from the squad due to a knee issue.

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