Declan Rice resurgence comes at key time amid Arsenal striker search | OneFootball

The midfielder’s goals have dried up this season but looks to have put his fitness niggles behind him

As Arsenal’s search for a new forward this month goes on, Mikel Arteta will have been pleased by the manner of this win over Dinamo Zagreb.

If he carries on at his current rate, the German will have the best season of his career in front of goal.

Arsenal, however, still need a new forward this month as injuries to Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus have left them short in attack.

Benjamin Sesko, who was also on the scoresheet on Wednesday night after finding the net in RB Leipzig’s win over Sporting Lisbon, is a top target - but a deal this month looks hard to do.

RB Leipzig boss Marco Rose stressed on Wednesday that Sesko was not for sale during the January transfer window, with the sense from those within the game that he will be on the move in the summer instead.

Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard stepped up last night

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With a lack of attackers, the need for Arsenal to have goals from everywhere is paramount and that is why Arteta will have been delighted by Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard scoring in this 3-0 win over Dinamo.

Both players excelled as No8s in midfield during the second half of last season and were a big reason why Arsenal pushed Manchester City all the way in the title race.

Rice finished the season with seven goals, his best ever tally, while Odegaard waded in with 11, reaching double figures for the second campaign running.

The goals have dried up this season, though. Odegaard is now on two after Wednesday and Rice’s tally stands at three.

“We know that,” said Arteta, when asked about the need for goals from midfield. And we know in the last two seasons when we scored that many goals, how we shared those goals.

“You could guess by the reaction of Martin how much that goal meant to him. So hopefully now we go and that’s going to happen very often.”

Both Odegaard and Rice have had injury problems this season and that is partly to blame for their attacking output dropping.

There is another bite to his game and today he could have scored two

Arteta on Rice

Odegaard suffered an ankle injury in September that kept him out until November. Rice had a gruelling Euro 2024, where he covered more ground than any other player and played the joint most minutes.

Rice then suffered a broken toe around November time and his minutes had to be managed during the busy festive period.

The 26-year-old is beginning to look back to his best, though, and Wednesday was the latest in a string of excellent performances this month. Rice was brilliant in the win over Tottenham last week and in the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.

His goal inside two minutes against Dinamo underlined the quality he has. Gabriel Martinelli skipped past his man and picked out Havertz, who set the ball perfectly for Rice. The midfielder ran onto it and struck a sumptuous half-volley into the net.

Rice, in truth, should have had another in the second half, but he headed Ethan Nwaneri’s cross wide when the goal was gaping.

“The last few games, (Rice) had some big chances,” said Arteta. “The more consistent he is in those positions, with the quality he has, he will score goals.

Kai Havertz is on course for his most prolific season

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“There is another bite to his game and today he could have scored two goals. In the last few weeks he had some big, big open chances to score to affect the game.

“So, overall, I’m very happy because we need to affect the game from those positions and he’s certainly capable of doing that.

“He’s always there, and when he can create those sparks, those moments in the opposition’s box, it’s a great thing to have.”

Arsenal’s win last night put them on the cusp of the last 16 of the Champions League, with Opta putting the odds of them falling out of the top eight at just 0.04 per cent.

It means next week’s final league phase game in Girona is essentially a dead rubber and Arsenal will avoid the play-off round next month.

Two less games for Arsenal has given them a gap in the schedule and they will look to head to Dubai for some warm-weather training.

After that, the business end of the season will begin in earnest. Arsenal will need Rice firing for that and, on the evidence of this month, his resurgence is well underway.