Arsenal: Mikel Arteta reveals new way Declan Rice can become even bigger threat | OneFootball

England midfielder appears to have added yet another valuable string to his bow this season

Mikel Arteta has backed Declan Rice to become a long-throw expert - in the same way he has mastered set-pieces.

Rice started taking set-pieces for Arsenal in January 2024 after a mid-season training camp in Dubai.

The midfielder has developed into one of the best takers in the world and one of his free-kicks against Real Madrid in the Champions League earlier this year has been nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award.

The England star’s prowess does not compare to that of Brentford’s Michael Kayode, whom Arsenal host on Wednesday night, but Arteta believes he can become a real threat.

“Everything has to evolve,” said the Arsenal boss. “I don’t know how good he was a year ago, or two years ago, or three years ago.

“I know how good Declan was at taking set-pieces three or four years ago, and I know how good he is now.

“So, it does not happen overnight. Things have to be trained, evolved and tweaked. And the player has to believe as well, which is key.

“He can become anything he wants. When you look at Declan, he can do almost everything you require him to do.”

Brentford right-back Kayode has posed a real threat with his long throws this season.

On average, he has the longest throwing distance in the Premier League at over 33 metres.

Arteta has described Kayode’s throw-ins as a “massive weapon” and compared them to that of former Stoke midfielder Rory Delap.

“We suffered that in the wind as well,” he said.

“They certainly have that weapon like Stoke had and like other teams are trying to build as well, because obviously of the difficulty, because of the organisation of the teams, to score goals and to produce big chances.

“It is decreasing and they have that opportunity every time the ball goes out of play.

“Normally I was more outside the box [defending long throws] because of my size, so I was lucky I didn’t have to compete for the first ball. It is a very chaotic situation, it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen.”