'He was quite sick' - Arsenal suffer another blow as Declan Rice ruled out of Champions League trip to Brugge with worrying illness

Rice had fallen unwell shortly after the weekend defeat at Aston Villa, and despite attempts to aid his recovery, the 26-year-old was unable to join the travelling party. He is not the only major absentee. William Saliba, who has been managing an ongoing issue for several weeks, remains unavailable and will miss yet another marquee European assignment. Leandro Trossard, who had only just returned from injury to score against Villa, has suffered a fresh knock and had to be withdrawn before the final whistle at Villa Park. Arteta admitted he does not expect the Belgian’s recovery to be long-term but said there was no chance of him featuring in Bruges. The Gunners are also without Kai Havertz, defenders Gabriel Magalhaes and Cristhian Mosquera, and have only just welcomed back striker Viktor Gyokeres after his own spell on the sidelines.

Speaking to reporters, Arteta said: "Declan was ill. He was quite sick after the game, and he hasn’t travelled with us. William is still not available, and Leo again picked another knock in an area where he had the issue, and I don't expect that it's going to be long, but unfortunately, he cannot be here."

In an illustration of the mounting physical toll, Arsenal have altered their Champions League squad to accommodate the returning Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian forward had been sidelined since January following surgery on his cruciate ligament, but has forced his way back ahead of schedule. His reintroduction comes at the expense of 15-year-old midfielder Max Dowman, who suffered an injury while playing for Arsenal’s Under-21 side against Manchester United over the weekend.

Arteta added: "Yes, so first of all, unfortunately, Max [Dowman] picked up an injury last weekend and had to come off. So he did some scans and he is going to be out for weeks and then we have the situation of Gabi [Jesus], who we were expecting to be training with us by the end of December. Gabi has been pushing every single day and he kept telling everybody 'I am going to be earlier, earlier, earlier' and he has done it. 

"So thanks to his work and all the work that the medical staff have done in all these months, and we had the possibility to make a swap there and we have done it. Yes, on one side, you see Max and the situation and on the other, you see the joy and how happy Gabi is to be back in the Champions League."

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With so many key figures unavailable, Arteta was asked whether the club’s escalating injury list is a symptom of excessive training demands. The manager dismissed the notion outright, arguing that the relentless match calendar leaves little room to train meaningfully.

"Not training, no, because we don't have time to train," he said. "So, training is not there. But obviously, the fact that you are missing players, you are loading other players more. That's a consequence of that and it's a really dangerous. The fact that we have some others who have long-term contracts that haven't been with us since the beginning of the season. But, yeah, it's a test for the team, and so far, we have reacted very, very well to that."

Arsenal, alongside Crystal Palace, have seen their league matches later this month brought forward by 24 hours to ease the load during a packed festive period. Arsenal’s trip to Everton and Palace’s visit to Leeds, initially set for Sunday, 21 December, will now take place on the evening of 20 December. The shift was introduced because the teams face each other in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on 23 December, creating an unusually tight turnaround. Arsenal have already contested 22 matches across the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup, with the FA Cup campaign due to begin in early January against Portsmouth. As the squad travels to Belgium without several of their key performers, Arsenal face not only Club Brugge but also the growing challenge of keeping a threadbare group intact through one of the most gruelling phases of the campaign.