Pundit Ian Wright has praised Declan Rice for the impact he has made since joining Arsenal from West Ham United.
Arsenal look a completely ‘different’ team with Declan Rice playing a starring role in Mikel Arteta’s engine room.
That is the verdict of pundit Ian Wright, who has been speaking on his podcast, Wrighty’s House.
Arsenal claimed a 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday evening with Kai Havertz heading home a late winner.
Declan Rice had a huge role though, blocking a Bryan Mbeumo shot on the line after an Aaron Ramsdale error in the first half.
Ian Wright hails Declan Rice after Arsenal win
Rice was a driving force in midfield once again and showed his defensive awareness to get himself in the perfect position to block Mbeumo’s shot.
Rice is making a huge impact for Arsenal and is certainly justifying his huge £105million summer move from West Ham United.
Ian Wright has been blown away by Rice and now believes Arsenal look stronger and ‘different’ with him in the team.
Wright hailed Rice’s consistency whilst admitting that Gunners fans keep asking him about the possibility of Rice becoming Arsenal captain.
Martin Odegaard currently serves as Arsenal skipper and Wright is ‘delighted’ that the Norwegian has the armband.
However, Rice is turning in such high-quality performances and is leading by example, leaving Wright to state that he is captain material.
“It’s his physicality, the physicality and the fluidity of him,” said Wright. “We just look strong, we just look different with him.”
“When you look at his consistency, I’m getting it all the time from people – captaincy. I love Martin and, of course, he’s our captain and I’m very, very happy with that, absolutely delighted with that. The thing is, when you’ve got a player in your team that is eight or nine out of 10 every week, leading by example with everything that he does, you can’t help but think… that guy is a captain. That guy is a captain, the way he’s playing,” he added.
Arsenal captaincy change unlikely but Rice continues to impress
Odegaard was named captain of Arsenal back in 2022 and there have been no qualms with his stint with the armband.
The Norwegian was excellent last season and certainly stepped up as a leader.
Odegaard maybe hasn’t been at his scintillating best this season, whereas Rice has been sensational.
That understandably shifts the mindset into wondering if Rice is a better fit as captain given his consistency in an Arsenal shirt.
We can’t see Mikel Arteta making a change any time soon, with Odegaard still massively respected as Arsenal captain.
If ever Rice needs to put the armband on though, Arsenal will be in safe hands.
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