Arsenal: Mikel Arteta issues 'never good' Declan Rice and Cristhian Mosquera injury updates | OneFootball

Gunners boss bemoans ‘never good news’ on injury front

Mikel Arteta has provided an injury update following Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Brentford.

After undergoing treatment on the pitch, the Colombian was replaced by Jurrien Timber.

Rice, meanwhile, was also withdrawn in the 83rd minute after receiving treatment on his calf.

"Yes, obviously it's never good news,” Arteta told reporters after the game.

“Declan had to come off, we don't know. We have to see tomorrow what he's got. And Mosquera is the other one that is out.

"Obviously we have Gabriel and Willy are out as well. So we have to adapt."

Mosquera’s injury comes with Mikel Arteta already sweating over his defensive options following injuries to William Saliba and Gabriel.

Asked for clarity over the pair’s injuries, Arteta said: "[Rice] can walk. He cannot play.

"The thing is playing a lot of minutes, but as well when. Now we play Wednesday night and we have to play Saturday morning as well.

"We can play minutes, but if they can please give us just a little bit more time to recover and to make the well-being of these players a little bit easier, that would be great.

“We have to wait and see [with Mosquera]. It's probably part of the knee or ankle, we don't know. He could not really tell us exactly how it was, but he wasn't able to continue.”

Arteta said in his pre-match comments that he expected to have Saliba back in a “matter of days” and he will be hoping that the Frenchman can return to fitness in time for Arsenal’s game against Aston Villa on Saturday.

Despite losing Mosquera before the break, Arsenal’s defence were not made to work hard by Brentford as they coasted to victory at the Emirates.

Mikel Merino gave the Gunners an early lead, heading in from Ben White’s delivery before Bukayo Saka sealed the three points in second half injury time.