Jamie Carragher believes that Declan Rice’s talent goes underappreciated after his latest man-of-the-match display for Arsenal against Manchester City.
Rice registered two assists and had a hand in Arsenal’s opener as Mikel Arteta’s side dismantled City with a convincing 5-1 win on the Emirates.
The Gunners took the lead within the second minute but found themselves level early within the second half after Erling Haaland’s header.
Nevertheless, the hosts restored their lead just moments later through Thomas Partey’s deflected strike and added a 3rd shortly after through Myles Lewis-Skelly.
A fourth from Kai Havertz and a late goal from Ethan Nwaneri were the icing on the cake for a dominant Arsenal side who now move inside six points of Liverpool at the highest of the Premier League table.
Despite a flurry of goals, it was the all-round display and assists from Rice that earned the 26-year-old the person of the match award.
The English midfielder’s now has six goal involvements within the league this campaign, although that figure is on the right track to be considerably lower than the 15 he managed in his maiden league campaign with the Gunners.
Nevertheless, in lauding Rice’s display on Sunday, Carragher insisted that those that focus merely on his goal involements are vastly underselling the midfielder’s capabilities.
‘I almost feel sometimes that I’m one in every of Declan Rice’s biggest supporters because I do often find myself scratching my head after I see people criticise him and asking for more goals and assists,’ said Carragher on Sky Sports.
‘I do know within the last 10-15 years we have a look at numbers and analyse things (otherwise) but I at all times take into consideration when Thierry (Henry) played alongside Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit in midfield.
‘They were two of the best midfield players on this planet at the moment and two of the best we’ve seen within the Premier League. I don’t remember anyone talking about what number of goals or assists they got.
‘They chipped in with 5 – 6 a season and for me, Declan Rice is one in every of those variety of all-round midfielders – a bit like Roy Keane.
‘He said he’s playing within the No.8 and a bit higher, but he’s almost like a throwback midfield player that used to play in a 4-4-2 formation and will do a little bit of every little thing.’
Carragher continued: ‘I feel he’s an exquisite player, his passing range is vastly underrated – you saw that with the pass for the fifth (goal).
‘But within the build-up, getting on the ball, his power. All the pieces about him – his pressing early on – he’s a completely wonderful midfield player.’
Asked about his own performance at full-time, Rice said: ‘To get two assists is admittedly big, and I would like so as to add goals and assists to my game, especially if I’m going to proceed playing within the No.8 position.
‘It’s been the most effective days since I’ve been at Arsenal.’
Arteta was equally impressed along with his side’s performance, telling Sky Sports: ‘It’s an ideal day for us, especially with the need that we needed to win the sport. The style that we’ve done it I’m really pleased.
‘We needed to suffer and in moments we would have liked a little bit of luck, and we had it. They hold you very deep and in those moments you could have to suffer and as I said, there have been moments that we were lucky.
‘Overall, we scored some beautiful goals and the team showed a high competitive level.’
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