Key Arsenal star misses out on Liverpool clash, due to fresh injury

Arsenal travel to Anfield this afternoon, and a victory over Liverpool would guarantee UEFA Champions League football for the Gunners next season.

Despite this game initially being dubbed as a possible title decider, Liverpool were crowned as Premier League champions against Arsenal’s North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, last month.

While Mikel Arteta and his side will hope to extend their unbeaten league record against The Reds to six consecutive games, they will have to do so without their star midfielder, Declan Rice.

According to @AFCAmden on X, formerly Twitter, the Englishman will not be involved in Merseyside, but the reason for his absence is yet to be disclosed.

Rice has been impressive when donning red and white this season, and eight goals and ten assists in all competitions see him reach his highest goal output in his career so far.

Since arriving as Arsenal’s record signing last summer, at £105million, the midfielder has been unavailable for just two games, when he suffered a broken toe at the latter stages of last year.

The Gunners already have a depleted squad to travel to Anfield, with long-term absentees, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Magalhães, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus missing out, while Jorginho is also set to be unavailable for the game.

As he misses his star midfielder, Arteta will most likely revert Mikel Merino back to midfield, despite his impressive striker stint since Kai Havertz’ injury, and Leandro Trossard would return to the side up front.

Merino has registered nine goal involvements in red and white since he began his stint leading the line, but the Gunners have not been short of goals recently, scoring in all but one of their last fourteen fixtures.

While a win in Merseyside would guarantee Arsenal to play in Europe’s best competition next season, leaving with three points could also be seen as a statement of intent ahead of the summer and next season.

If Liverpool prevail, to return to Europe’s elite, the Gunners would then have to beat Newcastle next weekend, or may even require three points as they travel to Southampton on the final day of the campaign.