“Most people here regard me as the best midfielder but for me personally I’m his top fan…He has done what I’ve always dream of”: Declan Rice says Arsenal has a player who’s far than Kelvin de Bruyne
Declan Rice’s availability record since he arrived in North London has been pretty exemplary for Arsenal – an underrated attribute in football these days.
Despite only playing just over a season for Arsenal, it felt odd to watch a Mikel Arteta team without Rice on Sunday against Tottenham Hotspur.
Rice was missed by Arsenal, but they overcame his absence by surrendering a bit of possession and making the most of set-pieces – which wasn’t necessarily Arteta’s plan.
Either way, Arsenal took three points back to N5, which was ultimately all that mattered given that Martin Odegaard was also absent too.
And after producing a similar performance away to Aston Villa a few weeks ago, Arteta’s side should be well-positioned for a trip to the Etihad – if you ever can be.
Kai Havertz delivers an understated masterclass against Tottenham
Even with Rice back in the side against Manchester City, Kai Havertz will still need to produce a similar performance to the one he did against Spurs on Sunday.
Havertz was strong in his duels, led the press well, and did a lot of the running for Arsenal up top.
There wasn’t necessarily a reward for Havertz from a goal-scoring point of view, but Arteta will no doubt be extremely proud of his performance.
Perhaps the Arsenal manager was tempted to play Leandro Trossard as a false nine, dropping Havertz into a number 10 role, but he limited the changes and it paid off.
That being said, after winning the derby, the £65m forward took to Instagram to celebrate with the red half of north London.
Havertz uploaded a post with the caption: “Enjoy that one gunners?” and also added the chance to vote for ‘YEAH’ or ‘YEAH!!!!’.
