Injured Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard join big guns on the sidelines

Someone call a doctor and send them directly to Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s options are rapidly diminishing; Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard the latest to join an injury list that is burgeoning.

Add those to Jurrien Timber (knee), Thomas Partey (groin) and Gabriel Martinelli (hamstring) and, all of a sudden, there’s a whiff of crisis in the air at the club’s London Colney HQ.

The irony of it all won’t be lost on Arteta. Club doctor Gary O’Driscoll, who has spent a period on gardening leave after accepting the role as head of sports medicine at Manchester United earlier this year, is gone and his successor is yet to be confirmed.

O’Driscoll, of course, has his own problems; Arsenal’s injury concerns pale into insignificance in comparison to United’s at the moment.

Nevertheless, Arteta could really do with some medical respite.

Here at a breathless North London derby; £105million summer signing Rice was substituted at half-time with what Arteta described as back ‘discomfort’, although the midfielder emerging for the second half with strapping on his left calf suggests he is suffering with additional ailments.

As Rice rose for an aerial challenge towards the end of the first-half, the grimace as he landed provided an indication of what was to come.

If we were looking for clues on the severity then the scowl on the former West Ham captain’s face accompanied by intermittent shakes off his head as he trudged off at full-time weren’t positive ones.

Arteta knows the feeling. Having lost Trossard, who limped off during the final training session ahead of this clash, Arteta could have done without another fitness blow.

The Belgian complained of tightness towards the bottom of his hamstring on Saturday and was immediately withdrawn from the