Declan Rice appears to have avoided serious injury, with reports suggesting he’ll be available to face Nottingham Forest in Arsenal’s next game.

Arsenal fans were presented with another injury scare over the weekend, with Declan Rice withdrawing early from the 5-0 win over Crystal Palace.

The Gunners had dominated the game, and they continued to do so in Rice’s absence, but there’s no doubt the summer signing has been a big part of most of Arsenal’s positive results this season.

To lose the midfielder for any significant length of time would be a blow, particularly with a game against league leaders Liverpool coming up.

After the match, Mikel Arteta confirmed that Rice’s hamstring was the problem, admitting the player was feeling some discomfort. But the news since then has been more positive.

Sami Mokbel reports for the Daily Mail that despite some muscle tightness for the former West Ham man, there is now growing confidence that he hasn’t suffered any damage.

Rice is expected to be fit by the time Arsenal are next in action, which is away to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, January 30th at 19:30 GMT.

Arsenal’s exit from the FA Cup was certainly a blow, but with all the niggling injuries going around the squad at the moment, the one positive is that the team finally have some recovery time between appearances.