This is because they will be missing one of their most important players, Declan Rice. Rice will not be able to play in this crucial match on September 15, right after the international break, because he received a red card in their recent game against Brighton.
The reason Rice was sent off happened during the second half of the Brighton match. He got his first yellow card for a late tackle on a Brighton player, Joel Veltman.
Later in the game, Rice was shown a second yellow card for not moving back quickly enough during a Brighton free-kick.
The Premier League’s official Match Centre explained that the referee gave Rice the second yellow card because he delayed the restart of the game.
Losing Rice is a big problem for Arsenal because he is very important to their midfield. A former Premier League referee, Mike Dean, explained more about why Rice was sent off.
He said on Sky Sports that before the season started, players were warned that if they delayed the game, such as by kicking the ball away, they would get a yellow card.
Even though Rice only slightly kicked the ball away, the referee had no choice but to give him a second yellow card because that is the rule. This led to Rice being sent off and missing the next match.
Dean added that Rice was trying to stop Brighton from quickly restarting the game.
The Brighton player was smart and took advantage of the situation, knowing that Rice might get into trouble for his actions.
To make things worse for Arsenal, their manager, Mikel Arteta, also confirmed that another important player, Mikel Merino, got injured before the Brighton game. Merino, who was a new signing and had been playing well, might have suffered a fracture.
Arteta said it was very unlucky because Merino was doing great, but then he had an accident during training and hurt his shoulder. Arteta mentioned that Merino is in a lot of pain, and they need to do more tests to know how serious the injury is.
With both Declan Rice and Mikel Merino out of the game, Arsenal will have to face Tottenham without two key players in their midfield. This will be a tough test for their team as they try to keep up their good form early in the season.
