Arsenal are beginning to feel the full effect of a congested football schedule, with player injuries emerging thick and fast within the Gunners' first-team

Arsenal closed in on Manchester City at the Premier League summit on Saturday, thanks to a 2-0 win over Everton at the Emirates Stadium.

However, sustaining pressure on the Cityzens will prove no straightforward task for Mikel Arteta. The head coach has faced a difficult beginning to the new campaign regarding player fitness, with several first-team squad members currently unavailable.

William Saliba is yet to appear for the Gunners due to a back problem which emerged at the World Cup, while Bukayo Saka sustained an injury early on during Arsenal's 3-3 draw with Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Christos Tzolis is also working toward full fitness following a hamstring issue he sustained while representing Greece in the Nations League earlier this month, with Arsenal's offensive options on the wings being restricted to Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze.

Riccardo Calafiori also sparked worries about his own condition when he seemed to be operating upfront during the final stages of the Everton fixture, with Madueke deputising at left-back through eight minutes of added time.

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The Italian defender had only come on 68 minutes in as a replacement for Myles Lewis-Skelly, but looked to be labouring in the match's closing moments. Arteta confirmed afterwards that Calafiori had a "slight issue," though the Spaniard also indicated that it seems to be something "very small" that he was responding to.

Declan Rice also prompted worry amongst certain supporters with his body language during Saturday afternoon's victory over the Toffees at the Emirates Stadium. Here, football.london provies the latest Arsenal news...

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Declan Rice injury worry

Rice was chosen to feature from the start for Saturday's fixture in north London, and was able to control proceedings from the heart of midfield alongside Mikel Merino. However, the England international was withdrawn with approximately 10 minutes from time, Martin Zubimendi replacing him.

While some believed it was a standard substitution, moments earlier, observers noticed Rice reaching for his hamstring and crouching on the pitch before moving cautiously in the moments that followed.

While Arteta possesses considerable depth in central midfield, with the likes of Bruno Guimaraes and Max Dowman amongst his substitutes for the Everton fixture, Rice's involvement would undoubtedly be absent should he encounter a spell on the sidelines.

The 27-year-old covers the ground like no other, is strong in the tackle, has brilliant vision and distribution and also provides an attacking threat from both open play and set pieces. Consequently, supporters will be hoping that it was simply a matter of fatigue for Rice, rather than a muscular problem.

Arsenal put wheels in motion for Brighton talent

Football Insider report that Arsenal are keeping close tabs on Brighton's Charalampos Kostoulas, with plans to potentially sign him in the coming months. The 19-year-old has enjoyed a remarkably productive start to the season, accumulating five goals and three assists from 10 outings in total.

While the Seagulls will have no desire to part company with the striker anytime soon, given he only arrived at the club last summer in a £30million transfer from Olympiakos, former Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur scout Brian King suggests that the Gunners might test the waters.

He said: "Obviously, a lot of the plaudits went onto [Diego] Gomez for his wondergoal but again, another interesting player. Brighton go out and recruit them.

"They make their name with Brighton, and he's made his name quite quickly with Brighton, Kostoulas. People are obviously going to be looking at him as they've looked at all their players.

"It could be another big money move, and more pound notes in the pot for Brighton. I'm sure Arsenal have already looked at him.

"From what I'm told they're looking at him on the games he plays now. It's going to be very, very interesting to see how his future pans out."