'Obscene amount of games!' - Declan Rice blasts 'crazy' football calendar as Arsenal & England star battles nerve pain at 2026 World Cup

Rice manages injury concern in England win

Rice played through discomfort in the

Rice opens up on hidden hamstring issue

Rice revealed he has been dealing with nerve pain in his hamstring since the festive period while playing for Arsenal. He also claimed that his substitution was a precautionary decision, particularly given the demands of the closing stages of matches.

He told

"In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70‑minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it, and I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good."

Fixture strain takes its toll

The midfielder’s comments come after a demanding campaign in which he played 55 matches for Arsenal, helping the club secure a

"It’s an obscene amount of games, the schedule was crazy, but what can we do about it? You can’t sit and complain," he said. "We have to just get on with it for the moments like I had winning that Premier League.

"You’d play as many games as possible to have that ­feeling again and knowing that there’s a World Cup at the end of it as well. You know, you’d put your body on the line to be always in to play, it’s a lot of games, but we’ll get our break at the end."

England's path to the knockouts

England