Raheem Sterling was left out of Arsenal’s squad for their Premier League match against Crystal Palace on Saturday with an injury.
The 30-year-old forward, who is on a season-long loan from Chelsea, was substituted after 70 minutes during his side’s 3-2 Carabao Cup victory over Palace on Wednesday.
However, he was left out of Arsenal’s squad for their trip to Selhurst Park with manager Mikel Arteta confirming before the game that Sterling had sustained an issue in training on Friday.
Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori have both been named on the bench for Saturday’s game, while striker Gabriel Jesus, who scored a hat-trick against Palace on Wednesday, retains his place up front.
Arteta told Sky Sports: “Dec [Rice] only had one training session, that’s why he’s on the bench, but good news that he’s available. Raheem [Sterling] unfortunately, we lost him yesterday, he felt something in training. We need to explore that with more tests.”
When asked about the decision to start Jesus, Arteta said: “It’s quite easy, the way he performed the other day, the way he scored his goals, the confidence he brought to the team as well. He deserves to play again.”
Sterling has found game-time limited since making the move to the Emirates Stadium on transfer deadline day, making just 11 appearances in all competitions, the majority of those coming from the bench.
Palace are without playmaker Eberechi Eze, who aggravated a foot issue during Wednesday’s game. Adam Wharton, Matheus Franca and Chadi Riad were also missing through injury.
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