Arsenal legend Ian Wright has hailed the recent form of Declan Rice.
Arsenal paid a club-record £105 million to sign Declan Rice from West Ham United in the recent summer transfer window.
The midfielder has settled into life at the Emirates Stadium very quickly, and is already flourishing for the Gunners.
Rice was once again excellent in the middle of the park for Arsenal, as Mikel Arteta’s side produced an utterly dominant display against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.
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Whilst they only won by a 1-0 scoreline, the Toffees never looked like threatening the Arsenal goal, and Rice played a huge role in ensuring that this was the case. The 24-year-old recorded 93.4% pass accuracy, made three interceptions, and completed three dribbles, as per WhoScored’s statistics.
Everton’s midfield trio of Amadou Onana, Abdoulaye Doucoure, and Idrissa Gueye could not cope with the 45-cap England man’s quality, power, or tenacity.
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Wright says Rice is right for Arsenal
Ian Wright was not surprised to see Rice shining for the Gunners again. Speaking to Premier League Productions (17/09/23 6:40 pm), the iconic former striker said, “the fact that Declan is quiet, and we aren’t speaking about him, it proves that he has gone about his job and he has done very well. That’s exactly what he does.”
“Declan is 8/9 out of 10 every week…He goes about it quietly and efficiently, stomps things out, progresses the ball and defensively he does everything. You are always going to get that out of him.”
Rice’s consistency is what will make him such a crucial figure for Arsenal this season. It will be one of the main reasons that Arteta was willing to spend such a huge fee to bring him to the club.
The £240,000-a-week player has a difficult task to perform in Arteta’s midfield set up. He is typically the deepest lying of the Arsenal midfield trio, and has a huge amount of ground to patrol as he seeks to protect the defensive line behind him and snuff out opposition counter attacks. However, he has the pace, power, technical ability, and tactical understanding to perform these duties.
If he can carry on as well as he’s started, then he will be considered something of a bargain before long.