Rice, who was a doubt heading into the fixture with a broken toe, was replaced after 71 minutes, while Saka was also withdrawn in the second period following a robust tackle by Marc Cucurella.
“It doesn’t look good, because for two players of that importance to tell you they cannot continue in the game, obviously it’s not good news,” added Arteta.
Asked if he expects them to be available for England’s Nations League matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, Arteta replied: “Well, two players that just came off, I don’t know whether to expect them to be fit, because if not they don’t come off.”
“Our player has been out for six weeks and barely trained with the team. To be able to play at this level in the Premier League tells you how much he looks after himself and the leadership and character he has. Everything flows better with players like this. Today we clicked much better. You could see everything was flowing but again it is about winning.
“What we have found is that every day we have had to change something big, you know, the engine, the wheels, steering wheel because we’ve had problem after problem. Normally the team goes down but this team has unbelievable energy and spirit to play.”
