Arsenal's Title Challenge: Declan Rice's Key Role and Sacrifice
Arsenal edge towards history with a title charge that now asks big questions of its biggest players. Declan Rice is at the heart of it – and not in the way he would have imagined when he signed.
Three wins from greatness. That’s the equation facing Mikel Arteta’s side after their fraught, ill-tempered 1-0 victory at West Ham. Win their final two league games and the Premier League trophy returns to north London for the first time since 2004. Do that, then beat Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on May 30, and Arsenal walk into a different stratosphere with a league and Champions League double.
The stakes could hardly be higher. The options at right-back, though, could hardly be thinner.
Rice told to sacrifice for the cause
Ben White’s knee has changed the conversation. His MCL injury has ruled him out for the rest of the season, tearing a sizeable hole in Arteta’s back line at the very moment the run-in tightens and the margins shrink. Jurrien Timber remains a fitness doubt. Suddenly, Arsenal’s structure – so assured for so long – has a fault line on the right.
At the London Stadium, Arteta’s solution was bold and blunt. Rice, the £100m heartbeat of his midfield, was shunted to right-back during the first half after White went down. It was a stopgap move, and it showed. Without him anchoring the middle, Arsenal began to lose control of the game. The balance tilted. The manager reacted, restoring Rice to his natural role after the break to regain a grip on midfield.
Yet that emergency reshuffle has sparked a bigger debate about what comes next.
Paul Scholes, never one to dress up an opinion, believes the answer is simple: Rice should stay at right-back for the rest of the season.
Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, the Manchester United great said: "Declan Rice looks like he would suit playing at right-back to me. He can play there. He’s not a big creator anyway."
It was both a tactical suggestion and a pointed assessment. Rice, in Scholes’ eyes, offers enough athleticism and defensive security to lock down that flank, while his passing from deep isn’t central enough to Arsenal’s creativity to make his absence from midfield fatal.
Cristhian Mosquera is a more natural defender and can operate in that role, yet Scholes still pushed for the marquee midfielder to take the hit. In his view, the club’s record signing should be the one to bend for the team.
The comparison from Nicky Butt underlined the demand being placed on Rice. Butt recalled how Roy Keane once plugged a similar gap for United: "Roy Keane played right-back for two-thirds of a season," he said. Scholes didn’t hesitate in his reply: "He played there loads and was brilliant."
That’s the standard being thrown at Rice now. Not just to perform, but to sacrifice. To leave the position where he has dominated all season and step into a role that could define Arsenal’s run-in, for better or worse.
Arteta’s decision in the coming days will reveal plenty about how he views Rice’s influence. Is he the irreplaceable pivot in midfield, or the all-purpose leader who can be dragged to the flank when the title is on the line?
Burnley at home on Monday will offer the first clue.
Kiwior quietly moves on
While the debate around Rice rumbles on, Arsenal have already made their first move of the summer – and did so almost under the radar.
Jakub Kiwior’s departure to Porto has been confirmed as a permanent transfer. The Polish defender joined the Portuguese champions on loan last year with an option to buy, a clause Porto activated after clinching the Liga Portugal title.
The deal is worth £14 million, with add-ons potentially taking it to £19m. For a player who never quite nailed down a regular starting role in north London, it’s a clean, logical break for both sides.
Arsenal chose not to trumpet the sale with a big announcement. Instead, it slipped into their weekly loan round-up, a single paragraph acknowledging that Kiwior’s move had gone through following Porto’s title win.
"Jakub Kiwior’s move to Porto has now become permanent following the Dragaos’ Liga Portugal title triumph last weekend," the club noted, adding that the defender was an unused substitute in their rotated side during a 3-1 defeat at AFS.
No fanfare. No farewell montage. Just a quiet line in a routine update as Arsenal’s gaze remains locked on bigger prizes.
With Kiwior gone and White sidelined, the squad feels both streamlined and stretched. The margins are down to individuals now. Arteta must decide whether his most imposing midfielder becomes his emergency right-back.
Rice came to Arsenal to lead them to titles. The question, as the season narrows to its sharpest point, is where on the pitch he will have to stand to do it.
