Jamie Carragher has been blown away by ‘vital’ 24-year-old Arsenal player so far this season

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Although it’s been a difficult week or so, Jamie Carragher has now been piling on the praise for one of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal players.

Back to back defeats against West Ham United and Fulham have completely soured the mood at Arsenal and subsequently raised a lot of questions.

Both Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah are being confronted for their lack of goals.

And many fans are also desperate to see Mikel Arteta add to the spine of this squad.

Oleksandr Zinchenko’s absence was sorely felt against Fulham – a player who hasn’t even been in his best form.

But amid all of these worries, there have still been several success stories for Arsenal, who still have enjoyed a relatively promising first half of the season.

And to that end, Jamie Carragher has now picked Arsenal’s Declan Rice in his Team of the Season so far.

Carragher picked Arsenal’s Rice as his defensive midfielder, a role he’s now predominantly played in by Arteta.

And upon making the choice, many football fans were displeased to not see Manchester City’s Rodri or Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz either alongside or instead of Rice.

Jamie Carragher praises Declan Rice’s vital role under Mikel Arteta at Arsenal

Upon sharing his team on the platform, Carragher went on to defend his decision on X.

The pundit explained that he was only choosing one of the three and picked Rice because of his clutch moments so far this season.

Carragher said: “I was only picking one from [Douglas] Luiz, Rodri or Rice.

“I went for Rice because of a couple of late winners which were vital. And joining a new club for a massive fee & playing like he had been there a long time.”

Of course, it’s a very accomplished bracket that the pundit was choosing from.

Arsenal fans may be interested to see Carragher mention Luiz’s name, a player Arteta has been very keen to bring to the club.

And with that signing seeming very unlikely to happen in January, Arteta may consider a clever move to bring one £25m player back to the Emirates.

Despite how settled things looked a week ago, it could be a busy January for Arsenal.

But whatever happens, it’s clear that Declan Rice will be absolutely crucial to the success of this Arsenal team.