Mikel Arteta concerned by more injury issues after win over Brentford

Arsenal kept the initiative in the Premier League title race with a routine 2-0 win over Brentford, but Mikel Arteta fears it has come at a cost.

Goals from Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka extended their unbeaten run to 18 matches in all competitions with an eighth straight home win and stretched the gap at the top back to five points.

However the Gunners, already without first-choice centre-halves Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba through injury, were dealt a blow when another one, Cristhian Mosquera, limped off just before half-time.

Then, even more worryingly, Declan Rice, who had put in another huge performance, limped off with 10 minutes left with what appeared to be a calf problem.

With his side having played Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Chelsea over the past week, Arteta took the opportunity to give a rest to Saka, Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze against the Bees.

But with yet more injury headaches ahead of the Saturday lunchtime trip to Aston Villa, Arteta questioned the Premier League fixture schedule.

“Rest, that’s quite a positive word to use – we had to make some changes,” he said.

“We had a very demanding week at every level. We were asked to play three days later, with one less recovery (day) than them.

“Obviously it’s never good news. Declan had to come off. We don’t know. We have to see tomorrow what he’s got.

“He can walk. He cannot play. The thing is, he’s played a lot of minutes but as well, now we played Wednesday night and we have to play Saturday morning as well.

“We can play minutes but if they can please give us just a little more time to recover and to make the welfare of these players a little bit easier, that would be great.”

Arteta’s changes worked almost immediately with fit-again Noni