Mikel Arteta will hope and pray that all his Arsenal players return fit and healthy from the international break to help him through a daunting period of fixtures. And Declan Rice’s suspension has only cranked up the pressure on him.
The Gunners’ midfield general was shown a second yellow card on Saturday for nudging the ball away when Brighton’s Joel Veltman looked to take a quick free-kick. Rice will therefore be unavailable for the trip to Tottenham on September 15 – Arsenal’s first game back.
While the north Londoners have made an unbeaten start to the season, they are already two points behind title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool, who have each won all three of their matches.
It’s far too early in the campaign for the north London derby to be a ‘must win’ for Arsenal. But with City and Liverpool playing some scintillating stuff, Arteta will desperately want to avoid defeat.
And that will be no simple task without Rice in the middle of the park, though the manager tried to remain optimistic after drawing 1-1 with Brighton last time out. “We have other players that can fulfil and we can give an opportunity to someone else,” he said.
Even when discounting the emotions and grudges involved in a north London derby, the pressure on Arteta to take something from the game will only be heightened by a huge showdown at Manchester City the following weekend.
Arsenal have not won at the Etihad Stadium since 2015, losing nine of their last ten trips to face the Sky Blues. If the Gunners are defeated by Spurs without Rice and continue their poor record at City with another loss, they could conceivably be eight points behind Pep Guardiola’s men by September 22.
Another factor set to complicate life for Arteta is that games will start coming thick and fast after the international break. Sandwiched between the clashes with Spurs and City is Arsenal’s Champions League opener against Atalanta, which requires a taxing trip to Italy.
A Carabao Cup third-round meeting at home to Bolton Wanderers will also put extra strain on the squad if Arteta is keen to fight on all fronts. Though Rice will be absent from the next game, the Gunners could be buoyed by the introduction of deadline-day signing Raheem Sterling.
“We’ll have to see and speak to him on what he’s been doing and how he’s feeling about it,” said Arteta. “We have to try to find quick wins to get him up to speed as quickly as possible and him understanding what we are looking for from him and the dynamics of the team. We will use this time to do that and as soon as possible, get him involved.”
Arsenal fixture list
September 15: Tottenham (A)
September 19: Atalanta (A)
September 22: Manchester City (A)
Date TBC: Bolton (H)
