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Sam Allardyce says Mikel Arteta has taken a major ‘risk’ with Declan Rice at Arsenal recently

Charles Jones

Wed 13 November 2024 17:15, UK

Arsenal are in the middle of what has been a very difficult run.

The Gunners have failed to win any of their la💝st four league games, and there’s an ongoing inquest as to what the problem is at t🅠he 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 inj💫ury problems t༺his season.

The Gunners have really been struggling with injuries as of late, and Declan Rice apparently played against Chelsea with a🍨n 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.

• READ MORE: Champions League winner says he ꦕalmost joined Liverpool b🌳efore signing for Man Utd

Declan Rice injury is a risk

Allardyce spoke with Da🔯vid Seaman about Rice’s situation.

Allardyce noted that it is a risk to play any player through injury, pointing towards Jack 𓃲Wilshere 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,”🎶 Al✨lardyce said.

Other Arsenal players have played through injury

Rice played through injury against Chelsea at the weekend, but this is🍸n’t a new trend for Arsenal.

Indeed, Jor👍ginho played through a number of knocks towards the end of last season, while Ben White has been pla𒐪ying through inj💦ury for most of 2024.

In fact, Whit▨e 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 hꦯis players any favours by playing them when they’re hurt.

Martin Odegaard returned to action for Ars𓃲enal after just two days of training, and even that se𝕴ems like something of a risk.

Arteta needs to work on perfecting his squad rotation, because these fitness and injury issues have been seri♛ously piling up t💜his season.