Rice and Trossard join absentee list as Arsenal aim to bounce back in Bruges

Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard will miss the Champions League visit to Club Brugge as Arsenal look to bounce back from their “pain” against Aston Villa.

Mikel Arteta confirmed star midfielder Rice and reliable talisman Trossard will both miss Wednesday’s trip to Brugge.

The pair both appeared in Saturday’s last-gasp 2-1 defeat away to Villa, though illness has ensured Rice will not travel to Belgium and Trossard has sustained another minor knock.

“No, so Declan was ill. He was quite sick after the game already and he hasn’t travelled. William [Saliba] is out,” Arteta said at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.

“Leo too, he picked up another knock where he had the issue. I don’t expect it for long, but he’s out.”

Gabriel Martinelli may be expected to step up in Trossard’s absence, and the Brazilian has scored in all four of his Champions League appearances this season.

However, no Arsenal player has ever scored in five Champions League games in a row, while only Ian Wright (eight) and Thierry Henry (six) have ever scored more consecutively in major European competition.

Arsenal are also the only side with a 100% win record in the competition this season, and will be aiming to become just the fifth English team in history to win all six games to start a European campaign.

Feeling good pic.twitter.com/A6E9C2tuQF

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 9, 2025

They must recover quickly, however, after Emiliano Buendia’s stoppage-time winner for Villa that left Arsenal reeling, and looking over their shoulder at Manchester City in the Premier League title race.

“It was strange as we don’t lose too many. I think it’s a moment to reflect and look at what we’re doing,” Arteta said of the Villa defeat.

“Look at the players and the pain when they’re on the floor. It’s a reflection of who we are and who we want to be.”

Arteta will have to see his side respond without Saliba, Cristhian Mosquera and Gabriel Magalhaes in defence, while Max Dowman and Gabriel Jesus also joined the growing injury list.

“Frustrating losing Max, losing Leo, we lost big Gabi and we have other players that we have certain minutes,” the Arsenal boss added.

“We have managed that since the start of the season. Training, no, because we don’t have time to train. You are missing players you are loading players more.

“I think you have to separate the kind of injuries that they are, long-term, acute injuries with key players. It is something that we are constantly looking at.

“It’s not only one season we are looking at, but some players have played 150 games in a few seasons. The moment you have one injury, you are more likely to have another injury, so we are on it.”