Declan Rice is set to be absent from Arsenal's crucial Premier League match against Aston Villa this evening due to a suspected knee injury. The England midfielder sustained the problem during the Brighton match last week and is now anticipated to be out of action for Tuesday evening's face-off at the Emirates.

He was not pictured in training ahead of the match and is set to miss out as a precaution to avoid aggravating his injury any further. Arsenal are hopeful his absence will only be a short-term one but the £100million man will be a big miss for the north Londoners against Villa in what is effectively a six-pointer for the league leaders.

Rice has contributed two goals and four assists in 17 Premier League appearances to help Mikel Arteta's men to the top of the table. Arsenal go into tonight's match just three points ahead of Villa, having lost to the Midlands club at Villa Park on December 6.

Rice has not missed a single Premier League match this season for the Gunners and started at right-back against Brighton due to injuries in defence. The only league game that the 26-year-old did not start was the 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in September, when he played the final 22 minutes off the bench.

With Rice unavailable, Arteta is likely to bring one of Gabriel, Ben White or Piero Hincapie back into the starting eleven. The midfield three could stay the same as the one in the win over Brighton - Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino.

Previewing the visit of Villa to the Emirates, Arteta said: "That's what we want, that every opponent that comes here suffers, and we are as dominant as we were today for the majority of the game and against Villa we have a really tough match we know them, what they're doing and a beautiful game as well to prepare and play."

On the defeat to Villa earlier in the month, the Spanish coach added: "I have a few ideas and things that we have to do better, and it was quite cruel as well the way we lost it, but yeah, we learned from it.

"Look what Villa are doing and how consistent they've been, what Unai has done with the club, so I think they fully deserve that credit because they are doing it on the pitch where you have to show your level."