2023-12-07 10:04:34
There are these scenes – dramatic, usually deep in stoppage time – that teams look back on as key moments on the road to the championship.
Arsenal FC experienced exactly such a scene on Tuesday evening in the Premier League: It was the 97th minute in the away game against newly promoted Luton Town – an ungrateful opponent who is far down in the table, threw everything at the heavy favorites and took them all the way held on to a draw into stoppage time.
But then Declan Rice’s hour came: The Gunners’ 24-year-old defensive midfielder ran into the penalty area, where he is rarely found, rose up in an exemplary manner after a cross, prevailed in the header duel and nodded to make it 4-3 a. After that it’s over.
Declan Rice is the most expensive Englishman of all time
Ecstasy at Arsenal, disillusionment at Luton Town! And the whole of England is celebrating Rice, who moved from West Ham United to the Gunners in the summer for a record transfer fee of the equivalent of 122 million euros. As the most expensive Englishman in history.
Rice is not only celebrated in newspapers and social media, where the user “Rory Talks Football” on X, formerly Twitter, writes: “Great players stand up in big moments. Declan Rice is making a habit of it.” Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano says: “Fantastic player. Fantastic leader. Fantastic signing. Declan Rice. Priceless.”
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The Daily Mail wrote: “Big players with big personalities contribute in key moments of key games.” The Sun assessed the Arsenal star’s performance as follows: “He did his job calmly – stopping play when necessary , and sometimes dropped deep to make advances.”
Even the critics who doubted at the time that Rice would be worth such a high transfer fee are now slowly becoming silent.
Things could hardly be going better for the defensive star with Arsenal FC. In the Champions League, the Gunners have already qualified for the round of 16 as top of the table before the last group game, have won four of their five games and only conceded three goals in total. In the Premier League, the team, for which DFB star Kai Havertz also plays and also scored against Luton Town, achieved 11 wins from 15 games. Arsenal are now confidently in the top position. Especially since the big favorites Manchester City made a mistake again on Wednesday.
Is Rice the missing piece of the championship title puzzle?
While Arsenal ultimately remained five points behind the Citizens at the end of last season and missed the championship, many experts believe that the Londoners can pull off a really big coup this season: they could win the championship again for the first time since 2004. Finally, Declan Rice is now a decisive factor for Arsenal. He could be the piece of the puzzle that was missing to the title so far.
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta raved about his defensive man at the press conference after the Luton game: “He had another incredible game,” said the Spaniard. “The leadership, the quality he has shown every week and every game – he is getting better and better. And then he just has this ability when he goes into the corner to put the ball in the net.”
In fact, Rice’s 4-3 winner on Tuesday wasn’t his first important goal. The England international recently took the 2-1 lead against Manchester United in the 96th minute (in the end it was even 3-1) – and with his 1-2 goal he also played a key role in ensuring that his Gunners turned the game against Chelsea into a draw very late (final score: 2-2).
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel really wanted Rice
But above all, the 24-year-old has impressed so far with his defensive qualities: he has strong tackling skills – is not above the occasional tackle, intercepts many passes and plugs the gaps in the defense. With a high passing rate, he also distributes the balls in the build-up game.
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel wanted all of this, as he really wanted to bring Rice to the record champions in the summer. He was his dream player in the defensive midfield, the missing addition to Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Co.
FC Bayern only left Rice Poker when it became clear that they would rather play at Arsenal anyway. The club did not want to commit to a sum of over 100 million euros.
Rice? Tuchel appeared wistful
In mid-July, Tuchel was still sad that the transfer of the player he had already wanted to sign as Chelsea coach had not been successful. “He has a profile that I don’t think we have in the squad,” he said Bayern coach at the time about Rice.
“It could be an interesting addition to our squad to have a player of this profile,” Tuchel added. “We need a certain quality and personality to make our squad even stronger, there aren’t that many. Rice has now moved to Arsenal, that’s okay too. Good player, good club – that’s how it is.”
The fact that Rice works so well straight away at Arsenal should come as no surprise, at least to Tuchel.
When the England international was asked on the microphone on NBC Sports after his 4-3 winning goal how he managed to adapt quickly to the Gunners’ game and why he already has such a big influence on the team, he said confidently: “I do I always believed in my abilities. When I signed for Arsenal I was completely confident that I could come here and perform at a really high level.”
Rice: “Have the attitude of never giving up”
But he also warned: “But it’s also about keeping a cool head, staying focused and not lifting your feet off the ground.”
Why should it be enough to win the title compared to last season? “This season we have the attitude to never give up, to keep pushing and to fight until the end,” said Rice. You can see that in the fifth goal the Gunners scored in stoppage time this season.
Will the Londoners actually be able to celebrate the championship again at the end of the season after exactly 20 years? With a Declan Rice in this form it doesn’t seem impossible.
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