Mikel Arteta explains why Declan Rice missed Arsenal win against Barcelona

Mikel Arteta revealed Declan Rice suffered an injury in training ahead of last night’s win against Barcelona and was not prepared to take any risks with the club’s record signing.

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The England international made his non-competitive debut in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat against Manchester United and Arteta had hoped to give his new-look midfield more valuable game time against the Spanish champions.

Rice, however, was forced to watch from the sidelines as his new teammates recorded an impressive victory in what was, at times, a bruising encounter.

Asked to explain the former West Ham skipper’s absence, Arteta said: ‘Dec had quite a strong kick in training and didn’t want to take the risk, he wasn’t comfortable to train yesterday and today, and we decided not to play him.’

The Gunners were also missing Oleksandr Zinchenko who is yet to feature in pre-season having also been absent during the run-in last term.

‘With Alex, he had a muscular injury again unfortunately,’ added Arteta. ‘He’s getting back – I think he’ll be back soon, but it’s a shame that he hasn’t been with us the whole tour.’

Arsenal at times struggled to contain Barcelona’s forward line, but Arteta’s side showed plenty of attacking promise with the manager taking particular heart from the performance of Leandro Trossard who scored twice in the second half.

‘It’s great to see him score – he’s been working so hard,’ said Arteta when asked to assess the display of the Belgium international.

‘He came in a really good condition for pre-season and he’s a player that gives us something very different to the wingers that we have, and he’s got incredible versatility and predictability to play in the positions.

‘It’s great and will be good for his confidence, that’s for sure.’

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