Mikel Arteta laughs off Arsenal criticism amid Declan Rice injury concern

After playing 69 matches for club and country last season, the midfielder has again hit the ground running at the start of this campaign.

The midfielder has started all nine of the Gunners’ Premier League matches and has played the full 90 minutes in four of the last five.

Rice also started against Slavia Prague in midweek, while the likes of Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori dropped out of the starting lineup.

Overworked: Declan Rice

PA

He played the full match despite looking extremely tired in the second half and will now join up with England, having missed the last camp due to load management.

However, Arteta issued a firm response when it was put to him that there could be concerns over Rice's workload.

He said: "Concerns? The only player, the only player in this squad that for two games in the Carabao Cup has been left out of the squad. At home with two days off. That's my concern.

"It's not true. We are really looking after him more than any other season. The way he's training and all the load. That's it.

"Here are the demands of this football club and you have a player like him. Not only him because there are many others that have even less time. That's it.

"That has to be the mindset. If you start to put other things in your brain, damage. Erase them, get them in the bin and just focus on what you have to do."

Arteta was just as forceful in insisting his side can have no excuses at the end of an unusual run of fixtures.

Of the 15 matches Arsenal have played this season, only five have been at home. In the past week, they have travelled to Fleetwood, Liverpool and Prague.

Preparation: Declan Rice and Mikel Arteta

Getty

The Gunners make a welcome return to home comforts on Saturday to face Hull and Arteta reflected on what his side have had to deal with so far this season.

"No challenge," he said.

"It’s all a pleasure. I heard them tell me: ‘you guys fly with private jets and good buses and good food’. It’s beautiful. We have done it. It was what we had ahead of us, it was another challenge.

"Because normally you don’t play four away games in a row or three away games in a row. And you don’t play Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday - very strange.

"We have done it a few times and we have to do it tomorrow again. We are buzzing."