Mikel Arteta has admitted that Arsenal must manage Declan Rice carefully or risk losing their midfielder to injury.
Rice withdrew from the England squad at the start of the international break amid a fear of overloading after a heavy schedule for club and country over the last few seasons.
The 27-year-old played through a nerve issue in his hamstring at the World Cup in the summer having helped Arsenal to Premier League success and the Champions League final.
And while he could feature against Leeds as domestic action returns this weekend, Arteta conceded that he would have to be cautious with Rice.
“We have to manage him because he's been with a few issues since he came back from the World Cup, and we know the amount of games that he's played in the last three year,” Arteta said. “So, yes, it was a sensible thing to do, and hopefully tomorrow he's available and some others that as well are in doubt
Fears of a potentially brutal international break for Arsenal have been lessened somewhat by all of Ben White, Piero Hincapie and Cristhian Mosquera returning to training, while Arteta also hinted that Kai Havertz and Ezri Konsa could be available.
Havertz was withdrawn from the Germany squad with a hamstring issue while Konsa returned to the club before England’s win over the Czech Republic at Wembley on Tuesday.
Arteta explained: “With Kai as he had a muscular injury, I spoke to Germany and they sent the player back as normal, Ezri we had good communication with the England camp. We will see tomorrow [if they are available].”
Christos Tzolis, meanwhile, faces a few weeks on the sidelines with his own hamstring problem, but Max Dowman is fit to bolster the Arsenal squad.
The defending champions were beaten by Brighton in their last game and sit three points behind Manchester City in the table.
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