Mikel Arteta gives Declan Rice and William Saliba injury update ahead of Aston Villa clash

Rice picked up a knock at the end of the game against Brentford (Picture: Getty Images)

Declan Rice is a doubt for Arsenal ’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Gunners are five points clear at the summit of English football after Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Brentford with Mikel Arteta overseeing that excellent start to the season despite injuries to key personnel.

Bukayo Saka , Martin Odegaard , Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Martinelli have all been sidelined at various stages this season.

First choice centre-half pairing William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes have also been unavailable with the latter not expected to be fit again until the end of December.

Cristhian Mosquera has deputised at the back alongside Piero Hincapie in their absence but there was concern for the former Villarreal star after an awkward landing forced him off in the first-half against Brentford.

Alarm bells rang again later on in the contest when Rice gingerly left the pitch with what appeared to be a calf issue.

The England international calmed injury fears as he left the Emirates that night, telling Sky Sports he was ‘fine’.

Rice told reporters he was ‘fine’ on Wednesday (Picture: Getty Images)

Arsenal are in action away to in-form Villa in Saturday afternoon’s early kick-off but Arteta was giving little away with final decisions to be taken after training this afternoon.

‘Let’s see [on Rice],’ Arteta told a press conference. ‘I think with all the questions I’m gonna get the answer will be the same. We have another training session in the afternoon.

‘Every hour is going to be very important. So, after that, we will decide who travels.’

Saliba has missed Arsenal’s last two games after an inury suffered in training ruled him out of the game against Chelsea last weekend.

Arteta was hopeful the injury was nothing serious with the France international but suggested he is still ‘a couple of days’ away – as is the case with Leandro Trossard.

Saliba has missed Arsenal’s last two games (Picture: Getty)

Summer signing Mosquera has proved to be a very capable deputy in the absence of Saliba and Gabriel.

Arteta confirmed his injury midweek was an ankle issue but is hopeful it is not a serious one.