LONDON -- Arsenal might have cruised up to second in the Premier League with a 5-0 win over Crystal Palace, but victory came at a cost for the Gunners, who lost both Declan Rice and Gabriel to injury on Saturday afternoon. Mikel Arteta indicated both players had been withdrawn as a precaution and with Arsenal out of action until January 30 they will be hoping that neither player misses too many matches, particularly with the visit of Liverpool in just over a fortnight looming large.
Rice limped off in the 74th minute and appeared to say "hammy" as he made his way to the substitute's bench to be replaced by Jorginho. Gabriel, scorer of Arsenal's opener and whose header forced Dean Henderson's own goal for the second, exited soon after following a collision in the second half.
"He was feeling some tightness, 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," said Arteta. "The same with big Gabi. He had some discomfort. I think he had a tackle in the first half, he was struggling a bit. It was the right moment to take them off."
Both Rice and Gabriel have been crucial to a defense that has conceded just 20 goals in 21 Premier League games this season, the win over Palace their first top flight clean sheet since December 17. The pair had also combined for Arsenal's opening goal, Rice hanging a corner to the back post where the Brazilian center back rose highest to thump home his 12th non-penalty set piece goal since arriving in the Premier League. That is a tally bettered by only one player, West Ham's free-kick maestro James Ward-Prowse. No defender has more goals in the top flight over the last three and a half seasons.
His goals were no less welcome than those of Gabriel Martinelli, who doubled his Premier League tally in the space of 102 seconds with fine finishes off rapid transitions. He and Arsenal needed to run up the goals after a tough run of results, the Gunners now find themselves just two points off league leaders Liverpool, albeit having played a game more.
"We know our qualities," said Martinelli. "It doesn't matter what people say on the outside, we believe in ourselves. We showed that today and what we can do. We knew we needed a game like that where we had a clean sheet and scored five games.
