Declan Rice told there’s still one area where he needs to massively improve at Arsenal

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Robbie Mustoe still believes Declan Rice can improve significantly in one area, despite his impressive form for Arsenal of late.

The Gunners have enjoyed a spectacular start to the new season, winning 13 of their opening 15 matches across all competitions.

This start has been achieved in large part due to some of Mikel Arteta’s side’s best players performing at their maximum level, and this includes their £100 million man.

Rice was outstanding against Burnley on Saturday, scoring the second goal which cemented Arsenal’s lead, but Mustoe still thinks the player can do more.

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Declan Rice told he still needs to score more goals

Micah Richards claimed Rice is one of the best midfielders in the world after Arsenal beat Burnley.

The 26-year-old has been garnering praise from all corners of the football media landscape following his display against the Clarets, although some are still urging him to do more for the Gunners.

The strike at Turf Moor was just his second so far this season, after finding the back of the net against his former club West Ham in October.

Speaking on the 2 Robbies Podcast, pundit Mustoe described Rice as ‘absolutely outstanding’, but told the player that he should still score more goals.

“Rice gets the goal,” he said.

“Yeah, please for Rice, Rob. I thought he had a brilliant game. Absolutely outstanding.

“And the only thing that I’ve said about Declan Rice before is that the number eight should get more goals. I think that’s his second Premier League goal, great header. And he had a brilliant game.

“I mean, he’s one of them, again, that can cover all areas. His desire, his hunger throughout the game was brilliant. But the goal for him is important.

“I think in that position, if you can add goals from midfield, because I’ve got a ton of goals from midfield, have I, over the years, really.”

Declan Rice’s goal-scoring numbers are already very good

Of course, Rice could still score more frequently. He’s not the absolute most prolific goal-scoring midfielder in world football.

That said, he still scores at a rate significantly higher than most midfielders in Europe. Netting nine times in all competitions last season, he showed that he’s capable of finding the back of the net frequently.

According to FBRef, Rice is in the 94th percentile for non-penalty goals per 90 minutes. In other words, he’s scoring more goals per match than 94% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues.

This context shows that criticising Rice for not scoring enough is somewhat unfair. While there’s always room for improvement in every area, he can’t be at the absolute pinnacle of literally every metric.