In Sunday afternoon’s 1-1 draw between Arsenal and Chelsea, Saka and Rice were unable to play the entire match. Although they were both selected for England’s forthcoming Nations League matches by Lee Carsley, Arteta’s admission that they “don’t look very good” casts doubt on their viability.

After breaking his toe in last weekend’s loss to Newcastle, Arsenal’s Rice was playing through the discomfort. The midfielder was given the starting nod at Stamford Bridge despite skipping training all week—a risk that ultimately backfired. Ten minutes before the end, Saka hobbled off.

“I have to admit, they don’t look great,” Arteta told Sky Sports during halftime. In response to a question regarding if these were chronic problems, the Arsenal manager said: “I don’t know, but they both couldn’t finish the game so not good.”

Although Arteta is eager for further players to regain full health over the international break, he was able to start Martin Odegaard for the first time since August.

“Now my biggest thing is physically get everybody at their best because we have players out there who cannot play more than 60 minutes, they are playing and struggling,” said the coach.

Because of all the changes we’ve had to make, our team is feeling the effects. I hope that over the international break we can get back to full fitness so that we can have a fantastic season.