Gary Lineker was seriously impressed with ‘exceptional’ Arsenal player vs Man City last night

Add as preferred source on Google

Gary Lineker has admitted that he thought Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was absolutely superb against Manchester City yesterday.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football Podcast, Lineker was very impressed with the 24-year-old against the league champions.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will be delighted with how his side have entered the second international break of the season.

They’ve faced some tough matches in recent weeks and come out of them still unbeaten in the league.

Their defeat to Lens in the Champions League is a low point, but the team looked keen to respond to that yesterday.

It wasn’t the most exciting affair, with both sides cancelling each other out for much of the game.

Man City and Arsenal were both missing key players who could unlock a stubborn defence, but substitute Gabriel Martinelli ended up making all the difference.

One man who made sure the visitor’s efforts to break through Arsenal’s defence through the centre of the pitch were fruitless was Declan Rice.

Lineker singled out Rice for praise again as the Arsenal star made but Man City went home empty-handed.

It’s still early days but the 24-year-old has had the perfect impact on his new club’s fortunes since joining from West Ham.

Lineker impressed with Arsenal star Rice vs. Man City

Speaking about the England international, Lineker said: “I thought [Declan] Rice was superb. He was all over the pitch.

“Passing the ball forward, I thought he was exceptional. He has really settled in very quickly there.”

Alan Shearer added: “He made a couple of great statement tackles. Made the clearance off the line also.

“He without doubt is loving his football there and he’s going to have to keep doing that if Arsenal are going to win the league.”

Lineker joined Peter Schmeichel in his praise of Rice during Arsenal’s magnificent win over Manchester City yesterday.

Alongside Jorginho in the first half, Arsenal were very much set up to prevent the visitors from scoring.

However, with Kai Havertz and Martinelli coming on, Arsenal suddenly had more of an attacking impetus.

Rice was allowed to play in a more advanced role, to begin with, but still put in a very solid defensive shift.

That didn’t stop him from sharing his frustration with one Arsenal teammate during the second half.