Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole is adamant that Declan Rice is as good as Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira as well as two other Premier League icons.
Rice commanded the midfield battle on Saturday lunchtime as the Gunners cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Cherries. Bukayo Saka opened the scoring from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time after Kai Havertz was fouled in the area.
Leandro Trossard doubled the advantage with 20 minutes to go before Rice added a deserved third in stoppage time with a close-range strike. Post-match, Cole was full of praise for the 25-year-old and told TNT Sports: “Yeah, he has done everything today, and that was beautifully composed, the way he took that extra step, and he hits a lovely strike.
“He has done absolutely everything on the football pitch today. I would liken that performance to a prime [Steven] Gerrard, Roy Keane, Vieira – that type of player.
“It was a complete midfield performance from him.” This week, Rice missed out on the Football Writers’ Association award to England teammate Phil Foden, but Cole believes the former West Ham man is as good as the Manchester City attacking midfielder.
“He is well up there with Phil [Foden]. Phil has been tremendous as well, but Declan is up there in the conversation.
“He [Rice] has developed so much going forward, I think it gives Gareth [Southgate] a slight problem because he might want to operate him further forward because he can just do everything.
“We could have done a ten-minute clip of the things he was doing today – dominating possession, crashing into tackles, scoring goals – he is right up there with anyone in the league.
“Phil has got his name on the Football Writers’ Association award, but it could have been Declan quite easily.”
