Declan Rice is expected to play for Arsenal against Chelsea on Sunday, despite managing a toe injury.
Rice was not included in Arsenal’s squad for Wednesday’s Champions League defeat to Inter Milan with Mikel Arteta revealing he picked up the issue during the loss to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday.
The 25-year-old played the full 90 minutes at St James’ Park but missed training on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, he picked (up) an injury in the match against Newcastle,” Arteta said ahead of the trip to Italy. “He was able to finish the game but he wasn’t feeling good in the last few days so we’ll have to assess him on Thursday and understand whether he’s going to be fit or not for the weekend.”
Following that assessment Rice, who had started all but one of Arsenal’s games this season prior to Wednesday night, is expected to be ready to feature at Stamford Bridge on Sunday after resting following the weekend.
His only previous absence, the win at Tottenham Hotspur in September, came via suspension after being sent off against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The midfielder has also been included in Lee Carsley’s final squad as England’s interim head coach for the side’s upcoming Nations League games against the Republic of Ireland and Greece.
Arsenal did have Martin Odegaard return to full training on Tuesday and the midfielder came off the bench during the latter stages of the 1-0 defeat to Inter.
Defenders Takehiro Tomiyasu and Riccardo Calafiori were also missing at San Siro with separate knee issues. Calafiori has not featured since limping out of Arsenal’s Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk on October 22, while Tomiyasu has been limited to one, six-minute appearance so far this term.
(Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
