Arsenal were without Declan Rice for their Carabao Cup loss to Fleetwood Town, with Mikel Arteta revealing it was injury-related rather than the midfielder being rested.

Rice has been a regular for Arsenal this season, and the only game he had missed across any competition prior to Tuesday night was the third round win over Ipswich last month.

As such, it was not much of a surprise too see the midfielder absent from the Gunners’ matchday squad against Fleetwood as he was expected to have been given the night off in preparation for Sunday’s Premier League showdown with Liverpool at Anfield.

However, an unspecified injury was the reason Rice was not considered for selection at Highbury Stadium - especially after taking part in training on Monday.

Speaking after the penalty shootout defeat, Arteta delivered an update on the England international.

“Declan was feeling a problem the other day, which is why I had to substitute him.”

Also absent from the Arsenal squad were Riccardo Calafiori and Noni Madueke - neither spotted in Monday’s aforementioned training session - and Arteta has revealed the pair are dealing with injuries too.

“Calafiori was out, Noni was out with an ankle,” the Arsenal manager added.

It now remains to be seen if any of the trio will be in contention to face Liverpool at the weekend, though a a further update is expected when Arteta addressing the media in the pre-match press conference.

Fresh injury scare: Noni Madueke

Getty

“First of all, congratulations to Fleetwood. In the manner they did it, the atmosphere they created,” Arteta said upon reflection of the result. “I have nothing to fault the players for their attitude and intensity throughout the game, with 11 and with 10, but when you are playing in that superior way, you have to give nothing to the opponent.

“When we create the volume of shots and chances we did, you have to score three, four or five. You capitalise on it. If you don’t, there are no margins, and that’s the reality. Then you have to wait and get through the round on penalties, and we didn’t do that.

“The probability was low with the way the game was panning out, but it’s football and still with low probability, there is always a chance you could be out of the cup.”