“The £105 million purchase of Rice by Arsenal against Manchester United could make all the difference.”
In London Declan Rice was acquired by Arsenal for a high price for a reason.
Arsenal
However, the £105 million man Declan Rice of Arsenal has made it a personal mission to enhance his end product, and Sunday’s 3-1 triumph over Manchester United was certainly a stunning way to start. In reality, it wasn’t primarily for his goal scoring.
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.
The outcome of the match was in doubt when Marcus Rashford’s first-half goal for Manchester United was cancelled out by Martin Odegaard, and Alejandro Garnacho, a replacement, was denied what may have been the game-winning goal in the 88th minute by a slight but accurate VAR review for offside.
However, Rice decisively shifted the game in Arsenal’s favor before Gabriel Jesus added a third even later into extra time, igniting celebrations more in line with a title run than in early September. Arsenal is frequently criticized for overcelebrating, but the reason is clear in this case.
Naturally, playing against an old foe makes winning more sweet, but what matters more right now is keeping up with Manchester City, a goal that initially seems preposterous considering that the Premier League season has just been going for four games.
Declan Rice celebrates an injury-time goal for Arsenal against Manchester United in their 3-1 victory.
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 but failed to win the title. City has raised the bar to the point where the margin for error is smaller than ever.
To fill the gap, West Ham paid a high price to bring in Rice, and in the end, his all-around performance proved to be the difference-maker. Could their new midfielder score many more goals in the future?
Mikel Arteta, the manager of the Arsenal, said: “For sure, when you see the technical talent that he has and how he executed in this particular times. He will arrive in the box on time as well. That will be heavily influenced by the position because it has to do with how you enter the box. But he is capable of doing that, that much is certain.
When you consider how a holding midfielder must control his or her space, how he or she must disrupt play, and how he or she held the team together when they were a little stretched. The game was then won for us by him in a magical time, so I’m incredibly thrilled with him.
In an effort to change an extremely cautious first half from the home team, Rice’s rush forward also resulted in Kai Havertz, who was remaining largely subdued once more, tumbling down in the area for a penalty that was overruled on VAR review.
In the first half, Arsenal’s possession percentage was only 45%. With the exception of Brighton’s well-deserved victory here in May, when they impressively grabbed control of the proceedings, they typically overpower opponents on their home grounds.
and since January 2022, no side had had more possession of the ball in the first 45 minutes. That day’s adversaries were also United, indicating that Arteta is fundamentally scared of the prospect of a counterattack, which Rashford once again brutally displayed on Sunday.
If you lose the ball within the first two passes after regaining it, you are doomed, Arteta said after we conceded our first goal. “We succeeded again.”
Rice recovered the ball five times overall by winning four of his five duels and all three aerial challenges. But more importantly, he encouraged Arsenal to play more aggressively in the second half. Rice recovered the ball five times overall by winning four of his five duels and all three aerial challenges. But more than that, he encouraged Arsenal to play more aggressively in the second half, which resulted in the team holding a total of 55 percent of the ball. Significantly, he also helped Arsenal create decent chances, with Bukayo Saka culpable of missing the greatest of them when clean through nine minutes from time.
Garnacho’s goal was disallowed by a razor-thin margin, and United will regret missing out on a promising cameo from their own high-profile summer acquisition, £72 million. When Rasmus Hojlund entered the game in minute 67, the visitors had a stronger danger than Anthony Martial probably ever will. There will be much more from him, but the fact that United finished this game with 35-year-old Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire at center defense while Sofyan Amrabat wasn’t even close to being ready to play was a scathing indictment of their summer transfer window.
By forcing Victor Lindelöf and Lisandro Martnez to leave the field to join Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw on the sidelines, United has suffered significantly from injuries at the center of the defense. However, re-signing Evans and using Maguire—who they had been eager to offload all summer and who was in fact applauded by Arsenal supporters upon his introduction—underscores the lack of careful squad planning, as does signing Amrabat so late in the window—despite the fact that he had expressed a desire to leave Fiorentina in July if the two clubs could agree on a transfer fee.
Once more, it appears like 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 more suited to achieve. Even if 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 difference.
Rice was outstanding, as Arteta noted: “Big matches are for big players, and Rice was tremendous.” The prospect of obtaining even more excites me.
We were in trouble if we came out thinking the game was lost, but we still wanted to quickly score another goal, he continued. “We came out and scored another, just to enjoy it.”
Nunez’s forceful drive struck the post and rebounded off Villa defender Matty Cash into the net, giving Liverpool a two-goal advantage.
Villa put up an unexpectedly sloppy display, which helped Liverpool keep up the pressure. Villa is now winless in their previous six league visits to Anfield.
Trent Alexander-Arnold displayed masterful play in the middle of the field before limping off with what might have been an injury in the second half. On the way out, Klopp offered Alexander-Arnold a hug. Nunez had a few scoring opportunities, including one that struck the post just before halftime.
Unai Emery, manager of Villa, remarked, “We were excited before the game but the first half was key.” “We had good opportunities, but we didn’t take them, and our defense was a little shaky while theirs was,”