Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
Thierry Henry hails ‘magnificent’ 25-year-old Arsenal player after Mikel Arteta tweaked his position
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has waxed lyrical about Declan Rice following his heroics on Monday night.
The Gunners icon, speaking on , noted how Rice is now thriving in a more advanced role under Mikel Arteta.
The 25-year-old wasn’t much of a goalscorer earlier on in his career, but over the past few years, he has been adding goals to his game.
On Monday night, Rice scored Arsenal’s fifth goal against Sheffield United, sweeping home in the 39th minute after being assisted by Bukayo Saka.
Last term, in Rice’s last campaign at West Ham, he managed five goals in 50 club appearances in all competitions.
The England international has already matched that amount, having played 13 games fewer. He’s very much on course to exceed last term’s goalscoring tally.
Declan Rice ‘allowed’ to push up for Arsenal
Henry, speaking on Sky Sports (4/3/24, 10:19pm), noted how Rice’s goal and assist tallies are going up because Arteta is allowing him to get further up the pitch.
“People were talking about, and I know that I am going to off last season, okay, Xhaka last season, oh he is better,” began Henry.
“No, he is not better. He plays in a different position, so you cannot see his weaknesses where he used to lose the ball more often than not.
“Declan Rice, we know that he’s magnificent there, but he playing higher than he has ever played in his career. So, obviously he is at the end of movement to give assist and to score goals.
“Look at him – the run he made, you know the header against Luton when he goes into the box. He wants the ball, he is there, he is allowed because he has Jorginho under.”
Declan Rice going from strength to strength at Arsenal
Things are well and truly clicking into place for Arsenal now. After some poor results during and just after Christmas, they’re now firing on all cylinders.
Admittedly, Rice was consistently good even when many other Gunners players were below-par. But now, he’s going from strength to strength.
So much so, in fact, that the £105million fee needed to bring him to N5 is looking more and more like a bargain with each passing week.