Mikel Arteta has admitted Ezri Konsa is carrying an issue after Arsenal\u2019s 2-1 win over Slavia Prague, leaving the defender\u2019s availability in doubt ahead of the meeting with Hull City on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Arsenal manager did not offer a reassuring update after the final whistle, saying the summer signing was withdrawn because of a problem and because of the heavy load he has been asked to manage in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is obviously playing a lot. He\u2019s played so many games in the last few weeks,\u201d Arteta said of Konsa.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had some issues and we decided to take him off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Konsa is now set to undergo further checks before Arsenal face Hull City, and any sign of a genuine injury would likely lead to a cautious approach from Arteta. With the November international break approaching, the club may have some breathing space if recovery is required.<\/p>\n
The defender has already passed the 1,000-minute mark in all competitions during his debut Arsenal campaign, having featured in all but two of the team\u2019s matches in 2026-27. Those two absences came in August, before his move from Aston Villa was completed.<\/p>\n
His impact has been immediate, with Konsa emerging as Arsenal\u2019s strongest summer addition and one of the standout new arrivals in the Premier League. He has filled the role left by William Saliba without disrupting the team\u2019s rhythm.<\/p>\n
If Arsenal do need to manage his minutes, Mosquera is available to step in alongside Gabriel, while Saliba is also back in contention after missing the start of the season with a back injury. The French defender travelled to Czechia and was an unused substitute, though a recall straight into the XI may be considered too soon.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice also remains central to the discussion around Arsenal\u2019s workload. He again influenced the win in midweek, but his minutes have been watched closely after a demanding run that included last season, the 2026 World Cup and the current campaign.<\/p>\n
Arteta brushed aside concerns when asked about Rice completing the full 90 minutes. \u201cThe game required it, and he did,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was as well rested against Fleetwood so he had a very good week to recover before Liverpool.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s his second game in a week and not the fifth one. We expect our players to be able to do that and I think he had some very good moments throughout the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta has confirmed Ezri Konsa had issues against Slavia Prague, with tests due before Hull City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1303,1843,711,1710],"tags":[1047,242,180],"class_list":["post-22249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-news","category-arsenal-transfer-news","category-aston-villa","category-hull-city","tag-champions-league","tag-injury","tag-player-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}