Given Mikel Merino’s arrival in north London, Mikel Arteta may soon choose to return Declan Rice to the pivot of Arsenal’s midfield.
For the majority of his time at Arsenal, Rice has been playing as a left-sided number eight with either Thomas Partey or Jorginho in behind.
However, with Merino on board and Arteta seemingly so impressed with the Spaniard, it seems only a matter of time until the 28-year-old is playing regularly.
Therefore, the obvious move would be to return Rice to the number six with Merino then playing parallel with Martin Odegaard once he’s fit.
Perhaps that would be harsh on Partey who’s enjoying his best run of fitness and perhaps even form in recent memory.
That being said, after Arsenal’s 3-1 win against Southampton this weekend, supporters in N5 had a lot to say about Rice’s own performances.
Declan Rice told he’s worse than Thomas Partey after Southampton win
Whilst it may seem odd to criticise any Arsenal player, let alone Rice after another well-earned three points at the Emirates, fans had a lot to say about the England international.
In the scenario explained above, Partey would be dropped before Rice to fit Merino into the starting eleven, a decision some fans would seemingly disagree with.
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After Rice’s performance on Saturday, one fan took to X to say: “Partey has been so much better than Rice this season. You won’t hear a bleep about it from the Arsenal fan base though.”
Another fan wrote: “Declan Rice hasn’t been impressive this season, but making up excuses for that doesn’t make sense man – ‘he hasn’t been playing his natural position (6)’.
“Players like [Jurrien] Timber, Thomas Partey and even [Jakub] Kiwor, all have been played out [of] position and still performed better!”
Another fan simply wrote: “Declan Rice the 100m pound DM that can’t play DM.”
Rice’s quality is being hugely disrespected
Whilst not all fans will see Rice’s performances in the same vein this season, it’s pretty alarming that the England international is receiving criticism from any angle.
Perhaps Rice hasn’t quite been at his marauding best, in fact, his most impressive performance this season actually came for England against the Republic of Ireland.
But the midfielder still offers Arsenal so much in and out of possession, and to suggest that Partey is a stronger player than Rice right now is simply wrong.
Partey was criticised by Arsenal fans just a few weeks ago himself, a player who is seemingly on the decline even if he will still contribute good performances on occasion.
But Rice needs to be respected as the elite player that he is, a midfielder who will remain front and centre of Arteta’s plans at the Emirates Stadium.
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