Declan Rice declared fit to face Forest but should Merino start in his place | OneFootball

Arsenal have a tricky clash with a high-flying Nottingham Forest this Saturday evening at the Emirates Stadium. A win could see Arsenal rise to third; a loss could see them drop to as low as 10th in the league table.

Arsenal needs to perform well, and fortunately, they have a strong engine room that will lay the foundation for great performance. Going into this game, Mikel Arteta could finally have his strongest midfield options to select from.

Thomas Partey and Mikel Merino (who impressed on international duty) are all fit and ready to go. Martin Odegaard returned before the break, and this almost 2-week break should have him in excellent fitness to lead the Arsenal attack.

It was only Declan Rice who many were worried if he’d be available for the clash with Forest given he played against Chelsea nursing an injury and he even didn’t manage to finish that game.

Charles Watts confirms that Rice will be available for selection this weekend. On his YouTube channel, he admitted, “I wanted to start in the midfield because I think it’s really interesting what Mikel Arteta may well potentially do or the options he has to pick from going into this weekend’s game.”

“Now, of course a lot of this revolves around whether Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, I suppose, but more specifically, Declan Rice is fit enough to start this game. Didn’t finish the game against Chelsea obviously with that toe injury, didn’t play for England… but the expectation is he should be okay for this weekend, so hopefully that will be the case.”

Since the start of the season, injuries have denied Mikel Arteta the chance to have his strongest midfield options available at the same time. But this weekend he’ll have all of his four top midfielders fit and available. However, he is limited to starting with just three: Who do you think he’ll start with?

Currently, Thomas Partey is undroppable, so he by all means retains his spot in the lineup, and considering how much Odegaard’s creativity was missed, he also starts. Merino and Rice are competing for the LCM starting spot. Who should start?

Daniel O

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