Rice: “There’s so much more to come”

Declan Rice has impressed Gooners in his first six months at the club, but insists there’s so much more to come.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s big Premier League game against Liverpool, our number 41 reflected on his season so far after signing from West Ham United.

“I think it’s been really good, a huge positive,” he said. “It’s been a lot of change with different culture, different style of play and new teammates but I’ve tried to adapt to it as quickly as I can. I’ve done really well in doing that so far but there’s still such a long way to go, I’m only six months into my Arsenal career so there’s still so much more to come, but I think it’s been a positive start.

“We’re a young squad and a young set of players who are hungry to learn, to win. Away from the pitch, we spend a lot of time together travelling around the country. We’re a great set of lads so it’s great to be around them.”

Declan gets to be around them positionally on the pitch as well. Whilst he is typically deployed as a defensive midfielder, Mikel Arteta has also experimented with Declan in other areas.

“I’m trying to nail down being an out and out six and I think the manager sees that as well but he knows that I’m adaptable,” he said. “I even played centre-back in a Champions League game. I’m happy to play anywhere if it helps the team out but I’ve just been trying to learn and get myself better at playing in the six.

“Before I had my growth spurt I was playing centre-back and I really enjoyed it. It made me see the game in a different way and it’s helped me to now to be honest. As I kicked on, got taller, stronger and become more athletic, I’ve seen my game in midfield. When you play games you get your confidence and that’s what happened in the end. I kept playing matches and matches and now that will be me for the rest of my career until late 30s probably. I might drop back to centre-back then!”

It’s that centre-back experience that helped Declan in one of our recent meetings with Liverpool. Against five red shirts darting towards the Kop, he did his job to make the chance harder than it originally looked.

“That was my brain,” he said. “In that situation I had Salah running at me, one on the outside and three the other way. I was kind of thinking that Mo Salah could go on his own because he wants to score goals all the time, so I had to kind of show him on his right foot but also delay as long as possible and try to send them wide. Even though Trent hit the bar and he could’ve scored, I was just trying to do as much as possible to put them off. It was good in the end because we got a point, it was a crucial moment in the match.”

It’s no surprise though that, in terms of Declan’s favourite moment in an Arsenal shirt so far, he cites two big late goals.

“The goal against Man United or against Luton Town in the last minute,” he said. “It was the last kick of the game. As soon as they kicked off the ref blew the whistle. It was 3-3 and we needed to win and to score the winner… those moments, that feeling, you just can’t recreate it. It’s the best ever. That Man United one was unbelievable the way it all happened. They scored an offside goal and then we went up the other end, I scored and that moment of scoring your first goal and celebrating with the fans… what a day that was as well.”

Asked about the impact Mikel Arteta has had on Declan’s game, he was keen to talk about the person as much as the manager.

“It’s very good,” he said. “What you see on the touchline is what you get day to day here. He wears his heart on his sleeve and plays the game with us. He wants us to be the best we can be, demands a lot and I think you want that. It makes you hungry to go out there, want to win and want to learn. We’ve got a set of players here who really admire his work. As a person, he’s like a mentor as well as a manager. His door is always open to go and talk to him. He’s constantly asking about family and friends. He’s just an all round top guy and I think you need that in football.”

With a big game on the horizon against Liverpool, how does Declan prepare for such games?

“I don’t think about it until the day of the game,” he said. “We know who we’re playing every week and we prepare for that, but I don’t put too much pressure on myself. As I’ve got older, I’ve become a bit more chilled with that. On the day of the game, that’s when I’ll start to really focus and switch on to who we’re playing. Nothing’s changed really.”

One of our most regular performers this season, Declan says he’s tried to make his own luck in terms of staying fit.

“There’s no secret, I just stay on top of my recovery,” he explained. “I train when I have to train, I play pretty much every game and get treatment when I can and eat the right foods. I’ve been lucky but also I do the right things as well so they go hand in hand. Some people that get injured are really unlucky. We had Timber at the start of the season who had never been injured and then did his knee. Those things you can’t account for and it can happen at any time. I know that because I’m in the game. I’m just trying to stay fit and do everything I can to play as many matches as possible.”

There’s also the exciting prospect of Champions League knockout football to look forward to against Porto, and Declan is loving his first taste of Europe’s biggest competition this season.

“It’s exactly what I wanted and expected, the nights, the anthem, the build up and the teams you play,” he said. “It’s really special. We have Porto in the next round which will be a massive game but we’ll take one game at a time and see how far we can go in the competition, but of course the dream is to win the Champions League. We’re really confident. We have some big games before Porto that we have to focus on, but it will be amazing to go there and play in their stadium in front of their fans and then to play at the Emirates, it will be a special night for sure.”