Declan Rice has cooled fears that he will miss Arsenal’s trip to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.
The England star was forced off with seven minutes left of Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Brentford on Wednesday night.
Rice indicated that the issue was with his calf and he received treatment on the pitch before being replaced by Viktor Gyokeres.
However, the midfielder told Sky Sports News after the game that he is “fine” in what is a huge boost for Arsenal.
The leaders travel to Aston Villa on Saturday, with Unai Emery’s side currently sat third in the Premier League table after a thrilling 4-3 win at Brighton.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta already has several injury concerns going into that match. Gabriel (thigh) and Kai Havertz (knee) will definitely miss the trip to Villa Park.
Leandro Trossard and William Saliba are both doubts after missing the win over Brentford and Sunday’s draw at Chelsea.
Trossard suffered a calf injury during the Champions League win over Bayern Munich last week, while Saliba picked up a knock in training on Saturday.
Arteta said on Tuesday that the pair could both return in a “matter of days”, which gives hope that they may be back for Villa.
Cristhian Mosquera is another doubt, though, and is due to be assessed after coming off in the first half of the victory over Brentford.
“We have to wait and see,” said Arteta. “It’s probably 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.”
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