Arsenal are set to face Real Madrid over two legs in the Champions League in April, and Mikel Arteta will need every single one of his players performing to the best of their abilities to overcome Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
The Premier League title is out of the Gunners’ grasp, with Liverpool sitting 12 points clear at the summit of the English top flight, with nine games remaining.
This means that attentions will be on the clash with Los Blancos, and Arteta will need to ensure that Declan Rice’s skillset is best maximised in the European showdown.
Rice was exceptional for England over the international break, with Thomas Tuchel providing Arteta with the blueprint of how to use the midfielder.
Thomas Tuchel showed Mikel Arteta how to use Declan Rice for Arsenal
Since Rice arrived at the Emirates, there’s been a constant debate about which position is his best.
After his first six months in N5, where he was largely used as Arsenal’s deepest-lying midfielder, Arteta has favoured using the Englishman as a more advanced eight.
The benefits of using him here are his ability to press the opposition effectively and his ability to cover ground relentlessly and sniff out fires all over the pitch.
Rice has occasionally impressed as someone who breaks into the box, but this isn’t ultimately where he looks most natural, and he certainly struggles to operate creatively in the pockets against low blocks.
Tuchel deployed the former West Ham man as a number six against Albania and Latvia for the Three Lions, and he looked comfortable in this role.
Helping England suffocate the opposition by constantly preventing transitions and reclaiming possession with his ability to win everything that came away from the box, Rice looked at home defensively in this role.
In possession, sitting deeper suited him much more, with the creative and goal-scoring burden not placed upon him.
Instead, he was tasked with recycling the ball and progressing it into the final third, which he excels at.
This should be how Arteta looks to use Rice moving forward in the majority of games, with the role best suiting his specific set of attributes.
Declan Rice’s statistics show he should be used as a number six and not an eight
While Rice is good enough to still excel as a left eight, the data shows that his skillset is still more well suited to a deeper role.
Managing seven goal contributions in 27 Premier League appearances isn’t a bad return, but it doesn’t suggest he’s a final third specialist.
| Rice’s Premier League statistics 2024/25 | |
| Appearances | 27 |
| Goals | 2 |
| Assists | 5 |
| Shots per 90 | 1.38 |
| Key Passes per 90 | 1.92 |
| Pass Accuracy | 83.6% |
| Progressive Passes per 90 | 6.21 |
| Tackles and Interceptions per 90 | 2.54 |
Meanwhile, the rest of his statistical profile looks like more of a deep-lying midfielder than an advanced one.
He doesn’t register high shot numbers and isn’t particularly creative outside of set-pieces, but progresses the ball well and makes lots of defensive interventions.
It’s clear what Arteta should be doing moving forward to elicit the best out of Rice.
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