Why Declan Rice was brought off at half-time during north London derby

Declan Rice was substituted at half-time during Arsenal’s north London derby against Tottenham with a suspected left calf injury.

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Rice started the match but was replaced at the break alongside Fabio Vieira with Mikel Arteta opting to bring on Kai Havertz and Jorginho instead.

During the second half, Rice was spotted on the bench and appeared to have his left calf bandaged.

It is currently unclear how severe Rice’s injury is, but Arteta felt he was unable to continue against Spurs and opted to give his £105m summer signing a rest.

Rice joined the Gunners from West Ham with the north Londoners beating off rival interest from a number of teams for the England international.

The 24-year-old has made a bright start to life at the Emirates and scored a dramatic late goal in the 3-1 win over Manchester United earlier this month.

Arteta lauded Rice in the build-up to Sunday’s north London derby and said: ‘He’s extraordinary.

‘In terms of how quickly he has adapted, he has surprised me. In a really natural way he is doing what he has done for the last few seasons.

‘Now he is doing it for us, in an extraordinary way.’

After the north London derby, Arsenal return to action on Wednesday when they host Brentford in the Carabao Cup.

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