Mikel Arteta provides Declan Rice injury update after Crystal Palace clash

Rice was substituted in the 73rd minute of the London derby, and he looked in discomfort when he headed to the side of the pitch to be replaced by Jorginho.

There had been some concern over the England international's fitness, but Arteta said that last summer's big-money arrival from West Ham United was suffering with muscular fatigue.

«He was feeling some tiredness. I don't know exactly what muscle it was but when he says that at 3-0 obviously we don't want to take any risks,» Arteta told reporters in his post-match press conference.

«The same with big Gabi (Gabriel) as well. He had some discomfort, he had a tackle in the first half and was a bit struggling so it was the right moment to take them off.»

Gabriel's header sent Arsenal on their way in the 11th minute of the clash with Palace, and the Gunners ultimately recorded a 5-0 victory over the Eagles to return to winning ways in style.

Arteta's side are back up into third position in the Premier League table, two points behind leaders Liverpool, although Jurgen Klopp's side have played a game less.

Arsenal's first two goals came from corners, and Arteta spoke of the importance of set-pieces following the clash with Roy Hodgson's side.

«It's very important. The reality is we worked set-pieces less in the last week than all other aspects of the game. This is the beauty of it, we worked on a lot of things that happened and we trained them a lot,» he added.

«I'm really pleased with the clean sheet, which is something we have been missing to win more games, the amount of goals scored, and