Mikel Arteta's decision to leave Declan Rice out of Arsenal's starting XI against Brentford was a risk. It is one that certainly paid off, though.

Not only did a team also without Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka win, but Rice was afforded another much-needed rest. He had played eight games in the previous four weeks for his club heading into the trip to west London. And Arteta only turned to Rice as a late substitute, by which time the three points had all but been wrapped up.

Early second-half goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino swung matters in Arsenal's favour after Bryan Mbeumo's opener has been cancelled out by Gabriel Jesus before the interval. The result put Arsenal back into second, leapfrogging Nottingham Forest.

READ MORE: Premier League rival eyes shock transfer to sign ex-Arsenal wonderkid 'better than Bukayo Saka'

READ MORE: Omar Marmoush breaks silence on Arsenal transfer link as January window decision made

Perhaps more importantly it also extended the gap to Chelsea, who dropped to fourth place after their defeat to Ipswich Town on Monday night made it just one point from three matches over the last week of 2024. Liverpool's imperious form means that the buffer at the top is still six points and a game in hand.

Arsenal are back to their old ways, though, and have won four on the bounce in all competitions. The wider run of 12 games undefeated since the second week of November - with nine victories in that time - has seen Arteta once more pick up great momentum.

Rice has been central to much of that. Notably, after hardly missing a minute of last season and there being more attention on the spread of game under Arteta this term, he has been rested more often in recent weeks.

In the 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest after the November international break, Arteta left Havertz and Rice out of the starting XI, not turning to either of them throughout the game at all. Three matches later and Rice was taken off with half-an-hour left as Arsenal laboured against Everton. He started the 5-1 win at Crystal Palace on the bench, as well.

Other than keeping things fresh, there has been another big plus from Rice's slight reduction in game-time. He has now only been booked once in the league since September 28 - a period of 13 games. Compared that to his four in the opening four matches (with a red card for two yellows against Brighton included), it is quite a turnaround.

Fortunately for Arsenal, who have already had to deal without him due to suspension in that now-infamous kicking the ball away incident, Rice is in the clear for the remainder of the season. With 19 games gone, the threshold for an accumulated yellow card ban is up to 10.

For the 90 minutes at Brentford, there was a chance that Rice could yet pick up another and be ruled out. Jurrien Timber, who did start, was not so lucky.

He was punished for a late and high tackle early in the game and will now be sidelined for the trip to Brighton on Saturday evening. Had Timber gotten through the match then he would have had to get another six before a two-game ban came into play.

Whereas Timber entered the game with four yellows, there had been confusion earlier on in the season over just how many Rice was actually on. Due to being sent-off for two bookings against Brighton, he has been shown five already and, therefore, when he was carded in the draw to Fulham, it seemed like he would be sitting out another after reaching five for the season.

That is not the case, though, with Rice's yellows against Brighton not counting towards the five-card limit. Instead, he has four to his name - on that count - and will now only face a ban if he gets to 10 before the end of the season.

Havertz, Saka, and Jorginho are all on three, with no other player going past two so far.

That leaves Arteta without much need to worry about seeing more of his squad. It should, therefore, be no surprise that Arsenal have a disciplinary record bettered by only four sides.