Declan Rice was a high-priced acquisition for Arsenal for a reason.
However, the £105 million man has made it a personal mission to improve his end product, and Sunday's 3-1 victory over Manchester United was quite a spectacular way to start. In reality, it wasn't primarily for his goal-scoring.
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| Arsenal's £105 million Rice was Man United's downfall |
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With the score tied at 1-1 in the sixth minute of extra time, Rice scored his first goal for the Gunners, sending the Emirates Stadium into a frenzy. He did this by deflecting a shot inside André Onana's near post.
After Marcus Rashford's first-half goal for United was cancelled out by Martin Odegaard, the game was on the verge of ending in a United victory when substitute Alejandro Garnacho was denied what might have been the game-winning goal by a slight, but accurate, VAR review for offside in the 88th minute.
But Rice decisively changed the outcome of the match in favor of Arsenal before Gabriel Jesus added a third even later into extra time, igniting celebrations more akin to those of a title run than those of early September. Arsenal is frequently criticized for over-celebrating, but the reason is clear in this case.
Naturally, playing against an opponent who is an old foe makes winning sweeter, but what matters more right away is keeping up with Manchester City, a goal that initially seems absurd given that the Premier League season has only been going for four games.
The fact that Arsenal entered the first international break with 10 points from a possible 12 - two points behind City - is a significant boost for Arsenal's confidence. Last season, Arsenal reached 50 points at the halfway point and still failed to win the title. The city has raised the bar to the point where the margin for error is smaller than ever.
Rice was brought in from West Ham at a high cost to fill the gap, and his all-around performance ultimately proved to be the game-winning factor. Could their new midfielder's first of many goals be in this?
According to Mikel Arteta, the manager of the Arsenal, "For sure, when you see the technical ability that he has and how he executed in these moments.". "He can do it with both feet and both legs and his range when shooting accurately and the power he produces in a confined space.
He will be there at the right time thanks to his timing. That will be heavily influenced by the position because it has to do with how you enter the box. Nevertheless, he is capable of doing so, no doubt about it.
When you consider how a holding midfielder needs to control his space, how he needs to disrupt play, and how he guided the team when they were a little stretched. I'm so happy with him because he then created a magical moment to win the game for us.
To change the home team's unusually cautious first half, Kai Havertz, who was once again generally subdued, went down in the box and was awarded a penalty that was later overturned by video assistant referee review. This was also Rice's initiative.
In the first half, Arsenal only controlled 45% of the ball. Except for Brighton's deserved victory here in May, when they impressively took control of the game, they typically dominate opponents on their home field. Since January 2022, no team had had more possession of the ball for the first 45 minutes than them. Arteta is obviously wary of the counterattacking threat Rashford once again ruthlessly displayed on Sunday because the opposition that day was also United, which is a blatant indication that Arteta is naturally wary of.
We discussed the first goal we conceded: "If you lose the ball within the first two passes of regaining it, you are kaput," Arteta said. Once more, we did it.
Rice recovered the ball five times overall by winning four out of five duels and all three aerial challenges. In addition, he encouraged Arsenal to play more aggressively in the second half, which resulted in the team holding a total of 55% of the ball and, more importantly, producing quality chances, with Bukayo Saka missing the best one when clean through nine minutes from time.
Rasmus Hojlund, United's high-profile summer acquisition who cost £72 million, made a promising cameo in 67 minutes, providing the opposition with a more potent threat than Anthony Martial will likely ever be, and he will regret the acceptable margin of Garnacho's goal that was disallowed as well as the fact that he was not utilized.
There will be plenty more from him, but the fact that United finished this game with 35-year-old Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire at center-back while Sofyan Amrabat was unable to play was a damning indictment of their summer transfer policy.
To be fair, United has suffered significantly from injuries at center-back, as Lisandro Martnez and Victor Lindelöf were compelled to leave the field and are now joining Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw on the sidelines. However, re-signing Evans and using Maguire,
whom they had been eager to offload all summer and who was applauded by Arsenal supporters upon his introduction, highlight the lack of careful squad planning. Similarly, acquiring Amrabat so late in the window when he had been prepared to leave Fiorentina in July if the clubs could agree on a fee also highlights this lack.
Once more, it appears that United is still a long way from catching up to City, an objective shared by both of these teams but one that Arsenal appears to be much better suited to achieve.
Even though they haven't been completely convincing in any of their games this season, the Gunners have managed to win three of their four matches, and on Sunday, the club-record purchase was the deciding factor.
Big matches call for big players, and Rice was outstanding,