Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice will miss their clash with Inter Milan on Wednesday and is a doubt for Sunday’s showdown at Chelsea.
Rice injured his foot during Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle on Saturday and he was absent from training on Tuesday morning.
The England star is not part of the Arsenal squad for their match at Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday night and has instead stayed in England to work on his recovery.
Arsenal will hope Rice is back fit for this weekend’s London derby at Stamford Bridge as Mikel Arteta side’s could be 10 points off Premier League leaders Liverpool by the time they kick off, if the Reds beat Aston Villa on Saturday night.
“Declan unfortunately has picked up an injury against Newcastle,” said Arteta. “He was able to finish the game but he wasn’t feeling good in the last few days so we have to assess him on Thursday to understand whether he will be fit or not for the weekend.
“It was a knock so it’s a problem with his foot. He wasn’t comfortable with it so at the moment he’s not fit.”
Arsenal have been boosted by the return of captain Martin Odegaard, who took part in training on Tuesday morning.
The midfielder has been out of action since the start of September after injuring his ankle playing for Norway.
Odegaard has missed 12 games for Arsenal in that time, but he has travelled to Italy with the rest of the squad and could make his comeback against Inter Milan at San Siro.
“The positive news is it’s great to have Martin back,” said Arteta. “Obviously he’s trained with us for the first time, a full session today.
“He felt good, it’s a bit earlier than we expected, but he wanted to be with the team, so we’ll decide tomorrow whether we use him, but at least it’s a big step that he’s travelled with us and is part of the team.”
