Martin \u00d8degaard singled out Declan Rice after Arsenal\u2019s 2-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, praising a performance that underlined the squad\u2019s adaptability and resolve. Rice started on the right of defence in an unfamiliar role and delivered a display that helped maintain Arsenal\u2019s position in the title race.<\/p>\n
Rice\u2019s defensive background includes extensive time as a centre back at West Ham United and a lone start at left back in an FA Cup third round tie against Shrewsbury Town almost eight years ago. He had not previously been asked to fill in at right back. \u00d8degaard said: \u201cIt was an unbelievable performance from him. To play right back, probably the first time in his life, and then do it the way he did it today was unbelievable, so a really, really good performance from him. And that\u2019s just our team. Everyone is ready to do whatever it takes, and that [Rice\u2019s performance] was another good example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the day Rice was permanent threat down the flank, he combined constant movement alongside Bukayo Saka with attacking intent. He registered three shots, supplied numerous crosses and forced danger in Brighton\u2019s box. One second-half corner delivery skimmed off Georginio Rutter\u2019s head and beyond Bart Verbruggen to make it 2-0. Diego G\u00f3mez reduced the deficit in the 64th minute, but Arsenal held on, with Rice also winning key one-on-one duels against Ferdi Kad\u0131o\u011flu late in the match.<\/p>\n
The result was particularly important after Manchester City\u2019s victory over Nottingham Forest. Arsenal required a win to re-establish themselves atop the Premier League table and Rice\u2019s willingness to adapt was widely noted by the manager and captain.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta reflected on the wider squad context and injury issues. \u201cWhat I like is that we\u2019re having a lot of issues, we\u2019re dealing with it in an incredible way,\u201d he said. \u201cYesterday we lost Jurri\u00ebn, today we lose Calafiori in the warm-up, Declan has to play as a fullback and you see the performance that he put in. So, that\u2019s the spirit and that\u2019s how much our players want it.\u201d He added: \u201cYou speak to Declan and tell him he needs to play there as a right winger and he said, \u2018O.K., I\u2019m up for the challenge, I\u2019m going to do my best,\u2019 and the attitude is great to witness,\u201d Arteta smiled.<\/p>\n
Transfermarkt records show Rice\u2019s positional appearances: Defensive Midfield 271 (251 starts), Central Midfield 73 (73), Centre Back 21 (17), Left Back 2 (1), Right Back 2 (1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Declan Rice’s shift to right back and Arsenal’s response kept their title bid alive after a 2-1 win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,969],"tags":[1081,826,1006],"class_list":["post-5459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-premier-league","tag-adaptation","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-captaincy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}