Having been dumped out of both domestic cup competitions, Arsenal find themselves with some extended time off. And all of this provides an added opportunity for all their walking wounded, the likes of Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhaes, Thomas Partey and Fabio Vieira, to rest and heal up. We’ll go through the latest updates on all four members of this quartet here.
While the Gunners did thrash Crystal Palace 5-0 over the weekend, the win came with a cost, as two starters had to be taken off early due to injury.
Declan Rice
The most expensive English-born player of all-time ($133m/£105m/€122m paid to West Ham, the team that knocked Arsenal out of the League Cup) had to be subbed off after 73 minutes due to a hamstring problem. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said the following regarding Declan Rice:
“He [Rice] was feeling some tightness. I don’t know what muscle it was. But when he says that at 3-0 then obviously we don’t want to take any risks.”
Arsenal are off until a week from tomorrow, when they’ll battle Nottingham Forest in the league. Then comes a massive match against Liverpool (the team that knocked them out of the FA Cup earlier this month) on February 4.
Rice needs rest, as he’s gone the full 90 minutes in 17 of 21 league fixtures thus far.
Gabriel Magalhaes
Arteta continued, in the reference to the Brazilian central defender: “The same with big Gabi (Gabriel Magalhães). He had some discomfort from a tackle in the first half and he was struggling a bit so it was the right moment to take him off the field.”
Gabriel has an unspecified knock, and his timeline for return is unknown, but right now, it doesn’t sound too serious.
Fabio Vieira and Thomas Partey
Both Vieira and Partey seem to be encountering a slight delay in their rehabilitation. It had initially been thought that they’d be back by now, but both could be in contention for the next match. Meanwhile Jurrien Timber continues rehabbing from his knee injury, and he’ll be out until late spring at best, miss the remainder of the season at worst.
However, the warm weather training trip to Dubai seems to have done him well.
aul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.