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Sam Allardyce says Mikel Arteta has taken a major ‘risk’ with Declan Rice at Arsenal recently
Arsenal are in the middle of what has been a very difficult run.
The Gunners have failed to win any of their last four league games, and there’s an ongoing inquest as to what the problem is at the Emirates right now.
A number of players have been criticised as of late. Kai Havertz’s form has been questioned, while Leandro Trossard has also been under fire.
However, Arsenal’s biggest problem right now may have nothing to do with their players’ form.
Indeed, Arsenal have had a number of injury problems this season.
| Arsenal injuries this season | Injury | Games missed |
| Takehiro Tomiyasu* | Knee injury | 16 |
| Kieran Tierney* | Hamstring injury | 17 |
| Martin Odegaard | Ankle injury | 12 |
| Riccardo Calafiori* | Calf/Knee injuries | 6 |
| Mikel Merino | Shoulder injury | 6 |
| Jurrien Timber | Muscle injury | 4 |
| Bukayo Saka | Leg injury | 2 |
| Ben White | Knee injury | 4 |
| Oleksandr Zinchenko | Calf injury | 7 |
| Declan Rice | Foot injury | 1 |
The Gunners have really been struggling with injuries as of late, and Declan Rice apparently played against Chelsea with an injury.
Speaking on the Seaman Says Podcast, Sam Allardyce has been discussing the fact that Rice has played through injury, and he says that this is a massive risk from Mikel Arteta.
Declan Rice injury is a risk
Allardyce spoke with David Seaman about Rice’s situation.
Allardyce noted that it is a risk to play any player through injury, pointing towards Jack Wilshere as an example of a player who struggled with the same issue.
“We had Declan playing with injury,’ Seaman said.
“That’s so risky that though. You don’t know how long that will put him out for, look at what happened with Jack Wilshere,” Allardyce said.
Other Arsenal players have played through injury
Rice played through injury against Chelsea at the weekend, but this isn’t a new trend for Arsenal.
Indeed, Jorginho played through a number of knocks towards the end of last season, while Ben White has been playing through injury for most of 2024.
In fact, White has just undergone minor surgery to clear up an issue he’s had for a while.
Injuries are often simply down to bad luck, but Arteta isn’t doing his players any favours by playing them when they’re hurt.
Martin Odegaard returned to action for Arsenal after just two days of training, and even that seems like something of a risk.
Arteta needs to work on perfecting his squad rotation, because these fitness and injury issues have been seriously piling up this season.