Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that Declan Rice had to be brought off in Sunday's 2-2 North London derby draw with Tottenham Hotspur due to a back injury.
The £105m man unsurprisingly joined Martin Odegaard and Fabio Vieira in a midfield trident at the Emirates, but he was taken off at half time for the more experienced Jorginho.
However, the Italian endured a horror cameo at the Emirates, losing possession to James Maddison inside his own half before the Englishman slipped Son Heung-min through to level the contest for a second time.
Rice's withdrawal immediately sparked concerns of an injury to the former West Ham United captain, and Arteta revealed in his post-game press conference that his record signing had to come off owing to discomfort in his back.
Arteta admitted that a player of Rice's disposition asking to be taken off was surprising, but he is hopeful that the England international will not spend a long time on the sidelines.
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"Yeah he had some discomfort in his back. He was telling us during the first half that he was uncomfortable. When we assessed him at half time he could not continue so we had to change him," Arteta said.
When asked if the midfielder could be out for a while, the Spaniard responded: "Hopefully not. We have to assess him. It's strange that a player like him asked to come off because he was uncomfortable. Hopefully not, but let's see."
Rice was one of two Arsenal midfielders to come off ahead of the second half, as Vieira was also withdrawn for Kai Havertz, but Arteta confirmed that there was a tactical element to that change.
Both Arsenal and Tottenham entered the North London derby with 13 points to show from their opening five games of the new term, but the Lilywhites had lost four of their last five meetings to their arch-rivals.
A similar story looked set to befall the visitors when Cristian Romero deflected Bukayo Saka's strike into his own net, but Maddison burst down the byline and cut back for Son to level the scores in the 42nd minute.
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Romero's afternoon went from bad to worse early in the second half, as he gave away a contentious penalty for handball, allowing Saka to restore Arsenal's lead before Son responded straight away with his second of the day.
Arteta publicly backed Jorginho after his costly error, but he lamented other "simple giveaways" that cost his side all three points, adding: "What happened is I love him and we love him.
"Errors are part of football. They're allowed to make errors because they play and we don't play. For us it's really easy, but if there is someone who is willing to help the team and do the most of it, it's Jorgi. We are all with him.
"I think in the second half we regained a lot of balls as well in high press. We came out twice when they hooked the ball out. Credit to them because they have the quality and take the chances to do that.
"Apart from that I don't think we conceded (chances) from set situations a lot. It was more danger from simple giveaways and when we regain the ball but don't do enough with it in certain areas, to allow them to spread out."
Arsenal have dropped to fifth in the Premier League table with 14 points and are next in action against Brentford in Wednesday's EFL Cup third-round clash.
Ben Knapton
