Arsenal legend Ian Wright noticed that midfielder Declan Rice looked absolutely exhausted against Manchester City yesterday.
Speaking on the Wrighty’s House Podcast, yesterday’s clash at the Emirates was the focus of the show.
Arsenal finally defeated Pep Guardiola’s side in the league for the first time in years as the title race was blown open at this early stage of the season.
Without Bukayo Saka, Arsenal had to find another way to break down an incredibly stubborn defence.
Gabriel Jesus was deployed on the right and tussled with Josko Gvardiol all match.
On several occasions, he found a bit of space in a dangerous area but the final ball was lacking.
It was another Brazilian, Gabriel Martinelli, who made the all-important contribution in the final minutes.
He latched onto Kai Havertz’s pass and struck past Ederson via a big deflection off Nathan Ake.
Scoring that late goal wouldn’t have been possible without the involvement of Declan Rice.
The £240,000-a-week midfielder was absolutely everywhere and that fatigue eventually started to show.
Ian Wright admitted he saw Declan Rice looking absolutely exhausted as Arsenal saw out a famous win.
It was all worth it as Arsenal went level on points with fierce rivals Spurs at the top of the Premier League.
Wright noticed Arsenal star Rice was exhausted vs. Man City
Speaking about the England international, Wright said: “I thought we did well on Phil Foden, I thought we never let him get going.
“I think the same with [Julian] Alvarez. He kind of got himself into areas where he eased it Declan’s [Rice] area and Declan was Dyson hoover business today.
“He was snuffing and hoovering up everything. He was everywhere again.
“There was one stage just towards the end where I saw him running back and you could see that his head was rolling a bit as the man put some work in today.”
Man City mainly attacked Arsenal through the middle which might be why Wright saw Rice looking exhausted towards the end of the match.
However, it shows how important Rice is to Mikel Arteta’s side that he couldn’t afford to bring him off despite having one more substitute left to use after Martinelli’s goal.
It’s hard to understate just how good Rice has been since he arrived from West Ham.
He’s a leader on the pitch and that didn’t stop him from getting annoyed with one of his teammates during yesterday’s match.
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