Declan Rice seriously unimpressed with £18m Arsenal star during 5-1 win over Bolton

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Declan Rice was one of the more senior Arsenal heads that Mikel Arteta decided to deploy against Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday.

Rice was suspended during Arsenal’s recent north London derby win, meaning he should hopefully be feeling fresher than a few of those around him.

With Jorginho in the side, Rice played as a number eight once again for Arteta – a role that best utilises his ball-carrying strengths.

Of course, the England midfielder opened the scoring for Arsenal, making the most of some lapse defending by the League One outfit.

As always, Rice led by example in the middle, an excellent player for the likes of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly to learn from.

With Martin Odegaard still out in the near future, perhaps Rice could even wear the armband at the Emirates Stadium on occasion, as he did in east London.

Jakub Kiwior scolded by Declan Rice for poor moment in EFL Cup

With a lot of the focus on Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly it perhaps went under the radar that Jakub Kiwior started his first game of the season at the back.

Kiwior cost Arsenal £18m in 2023, a defender who impressed during a run in the starting eleven last season.

READ MORE: Nwaneri did one thing vs Bolton that nobody in Arsenal’s history has done before

But with Riccardo Calafiori now on board and Jurrien Timber back from injury, the Poland international now seems surplus to requirements by and large.

Although, Kiwior was needed to play as Arteta’s right-sided centre-back in the 5-1 win over Bolton, a role he hasn’t often played in N5.

Arsenal fans were impressed with Kiwior, who looks better playing as a centre-back rather than out wide.

However, around the 18th minute of the game, Rice wasn’t best pleased with Kiwior who gave away a needless free kick in Arsenal’s defensive third.

Kiwior was too rash with his challenge and Rice let him know exactly how he felt, bellowing at his teammate all the way back to the box in order to get set for Bolton’s delivery.

Nothing came from the free-kick, but Rice wanted better standards to be upheld.

Myles Lewis-Skelly was the talk of the Emirates

Playing alongside Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly delivered an incredibly mature performance on his full Arsenal debut.

Arsenal fans were amazed by Lewis-Skelly at the Emirates – you could hear his and Nwaneri’s name constantly being mentioned on the concourse.

It now only seems a matter of time before Lewis-Skelly is ready to replace Oleksandr Zinchenko for Arsenal, who might soon seek a new challenge.

Zinchenko obviously has a lot more experience than the youngster, and more quality right now.

But it’s hard to argue that the 18-year-old won’t soon be at that level, a playmaker with an incredibly high ceiling.