16 February 2024 , 22:30
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Declan Rice has added a new “threat” to his game to become the complete midfielder.
Gunners star Rice has become the club’s regular corner taker and has also been on free kick duty with Arsenal now the top scorers from set pieces in the Premier League. Rice provided a corner for William Saliba to score and a free kick to set up Gabriel’s goal in Arsenal’s 6-0 win at West Ham which took them to 16 goals from set pieces this season.
England midfielder Rice only took three corners in the first 20 Premier League games but has taken 12 in the last four games and provided three assists, including the two at West Ham. Rice is 6ft 1in and carried a big aerial threat himself but Mikel Arteta says they made a switch after working tirelessly with set piece coach Nicolas Jover during their winter training break in Dubai.
Arsenal boss Arteta said: “He’s been practising. He’s been excellent because he’s got the consistency and the quality with his deliveries which makes it another way of threatening the opponent.
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“He’s a player who has a tremendous impact in our team. He can still evolve because he wants to and because he has qualities that in my opinion can be exploring and developing in a really powerful way.
“It’s a decision that the team had in relation to how we have to attack the box in certain things – and because he had a delivery. Then they started to work, especially with Nico (Jover). They built that relationship, trust and timing. They said: ‘This can work.’
“There are areas that can have a huge impact for the team and this is one of them. There are others that are going to be related to his position because at the moment we get different layers of him because of all the different positions he can occupy on the pitch.
“He can make a big impact as well on the opponent’s box. But as well defensively, because he can bring something special to the team that allows a lot of transition moments.
Arsenal are benefiting from Rice's expert set-piece delivery (Getty Images)“It is a quality that we knew that he had in relation to the players we have on the pitch and the players attacking the box as well.
“We believed that he could be a real threat inside the box as well. But now we have other players there as well. For example, Jakub Kiwior has been playing there as well which gives us an extra height as well so Declan’s role can change as well.
“It’s very important to open games, to finish games, especially against the amount of teams we play with low blocks with the lack of space and the density is incredibly high.
“It’s an opportunity to put numbers in the box and it’s a chance to create very chaotic moments for the opponent and it’s a good chance to score.”
Arsenal welcome back fit-again Fabio Vieira with Thomas Partey also back in full training for the trip to Burnley.
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Vieira has been out through injury but his last first team game was against Burnley at the Emirates when he got sent off and now Arteta is looking to maintain their winning start to 2004 as they have had four straight victories with 16 goals and just two conceded.
Arteta added: “It’s the most important part of the season. We know that every fixture will play a significant part in what we want to achieve. Burnley is the most important one at the moment. If you look at how teams have drawn with or beaten them it’s been with very small margins.
“They’re very well coached and they’ll be very competitive. We know we have a very tough match on Saturday. That’s the only way to play the game. The rest will come.”
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