Mikel Arteta says Declan Rice asked to come off and admits to surprise after Arsenal star’s injury against Tottenham

Mikel Arteta appears to have been surprised by Declan Rice having to come off against Tottenham.

Arsenal’s £105m summer signing started in his first ever north London derby on Sunday, with the bitter rivals going on to share the spoils in a thrilling 2-2 draw.

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But Rice wasn’t on the pitch for the duration of the clash, being withdrawn at half-time and replaced by Jorginho.

There had been worries amongst the Arsenal fan base that Rice was injured, potentially adding yet another one of their key players to their growing injury list.

Now, Arteta has revealed that his midfielder was in fact feeling ‘discomfort’.

But that wasn’t all the Spaniard had to say about Rice’s withdrawal, labelling it as ‘strange’ as he addressed the ex-West Ham captain’s substitution in his post-match interview.

“He had some discomfort in his back,” Arteta said. “He was telling us during the first half that he was uncomfortable and when we assessed him at half-time he could not continue, so we had to change him.”

Asked whether Rice may be out for the short- or medium-term, Arteta replied: “Hopefully not. We have to assess him. It’s strange when a player like him asks to come off because he’s uncomfortable. Hopefully not, but let’s see.”

The Europa Conference League winner’s replacement, Jorginho, was caught out for Tottenham and Heung-min Son’s second goal of the game shortly after the break.

The Italian gave the ball away in his half and was quickly punished by the visitors, as James Maddison fed the ball to Son, who hit the ball past David Raya to equalise for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

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Meanwhile, Arteta also explained he brought off Fabio Vieira at half-time for ‘tactical’ reasons.

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