Arsenal star Declan Rice won the Player of the Match award for his performance against Manchester United.
Many people expected the clash at the Emirates Stadium to be an easy one for the Gunners, but Ruben Amorim deserves praise for the way he set his side out in the first half.
Arsenal struggled to break United down from open play, but the Red Devils were no match for the North Londoners during corners.
Jurrien Timber and William Saliba found the net to help Arsenal beat Manchester United. Rice, who had a great game, assisted the first goal.
Bukayo Saka has a new nickname for Declan Rice after Arsenal beat Manchester United
Rice started in his usual left-sided number-eight role against Manchester United.
The Englishman is usually given the license he needs to charge forward and attack, but he had to be wary of his defensive responsibilities too on Wednesday night.
That’s because Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori were both unavailable for the game against United, which meant that Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko had to start.
The two defenders have had their issues at the back in the past, especially Zinchenko, so Rice had to provide cover for him on many occasions.
That made Rice run a lot all game. He worked really hard, barely put a foot wrong and was one of the best players on the pitch.
After the game, Bukayo Saka posted a picture of Rice with his Player of the Match award on his Instagram Story and gave him a new nickname: “Pac-man!”
That’s probably because Rice kept on running and covered a lot of ground against United.
READ MORE: William Saliba gives Jakub Kiwior a brand-new nickname after Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0
Declan Rice’s stats vs Manchester United will blow you away
Rice had a very solid game against Manchester United in the Premier League.
In his 90 minutes on the pitch, the Englishman had 56 touches of the ball and completed 35 of his 40 attempted passes, maintaining a healthy 88 per cent passing accuracy. Rice also registered three key passes, created one big chance and picked up an assist.
Off the ball, the England international won 100 per cent of his ground duels and lost just one of his five aerial duels. He also made three tackles, one clearance and blocked a shot.
To add to all that, Rice was not dribbled past once by a Manchester United player during his entire 90 minutes on the pitch (Sofascore).
Rice should be delighted with his performance on Wednesday night. If he can do this every week, it will be very difficult for any team to stop Arsenal.
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