Arsenal dropped points at home to Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend but it was Declan Rice’s red card which dominated all of the post match talk.
Referee Chris Kavanagh showed the central midfielder a second yellow card in the second half on Saturday after the England international subtly kicked away the ball from a Brighton free-kick by the corner flag to delay the restart. No caution was given to Joel Veltman, who caught Rice in his follow through, and Arsenal failed to hold on with 10-men as Joao Pedro equalised with 58 minutes played and it ended 1-1 in front of a fired up Emirates Stadium crowd.
Rice will now miss the Gunners’ next fixture, which happens to be the North London Derby on Sunday, September 15. It is a huge blow to Mikel Arteta, who now must plan for the game at Tottenham without the former West Ham man.
Arsenal will also be without new signing Mikel Merino, who injured his shoulder during his first training session with the club last week. “We have to adapt to that context. That’s why we have other players that can fulfil that [role] and [I can] give that opportunity to somebody else,” Arteta said on Saturday when asked how big a blow it was not having Rice or Merino for the North London Derby.
Arteta, however, may just have the perfect replacement for Rice at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. That player is Jorginho.
The 32-year-old has offered quality and experience in the Arsenal midfield since joining from Chelsea in a deal worth £12million in January 2023. While not a guaranteed starter given the quality at Arteta’s disposal, Jorginho still featured 36 times for the Gunners last season and even contributed to three goals.
Jorginho has often been called upon in some of Arsenal’s biggest games over the past 18 months and it’s fair to say the North London Derby later this month is a huge match for both sides. The Italian has not featured in any of Arsenal’s three Premier League matches this season, however, with the Italian an unused substitute in all of them.
Arteta, though, may not be too bothered about that given what happened in the 3-1 win over Liverpool at Emirates Stadium last season. Jorginho had barely featured for the Gunners in the weeks beforehand but was handed a start by Arteta against the Reds, operating alongside Martin Odegaard and Rice. Jorginho was given player of the match by Gary Neville after playing the full 90 minutes.
Asked why he chose to start Jorginho, Arteta said: “It’s a game that I had in my mind, that I was imagining how much we were going to need him. They’re a team that don’t really allow you to put the fifth player in the frontline, the way they play. He’s a really intelligent player, his biggest quality is that he makes the people around him better. He connects everybody. I think he was man of the match.”
The Spaniard added: “Unbelievable. I always say that he’s an example, a role model. He’s been in a lot of pain because he’s had an issue he’s been carrying for months. He didn’t want to stop, he’s been playing with that.
“He’s been training, always the first one in and the last one out. For all the kids at the club, if you want to look at somebody, just look at him. He’s won everything but you ask him not to play or play one minute last week he’s happy to go there. Ask him to play 90 minutes at that rhythm and he’s able to do that. I’m really lucky to have players like this.”
Jorginho could very well start against Tottenham alongside Odegaard and Party, with the Italian and Ghanaian offering some defensive stability to the Gunners side. The North London Derby is another 12 days away, though, and a lot can happen in that period.
