Ranking the 5 best Arsenal full-backs of all-time

3. Pat Rice

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Northern Ireland’s own Pat Rice is the number three overall full-back here, despite never scoring either a goal or creating an assist in his entire Arsenal career; he scored just one for Watford, however, and has an immaculate fouling record from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

Under the leadership of former physiotherapist Bertie Mee, an Arsenal club that had spent the better parts of the previous four decades struggling to varying degrees in the first division of English football was reinvigorated and reformed.

After taking over from Billy Wright in 1966, Mee, with the help of Rice and other familiar names, led the Gunners to victories in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final in 1970 – breaking a nearly 20-year trophyless drought – followed by a league and FA Cup double in 1970/71.

Pat Rice was a part of the reconstruction of Arsenal, coming in for the 1967 season and staying until the 1981/82 campaign. While his numbers might not be as wonderful as they would likely appear today, the importance of the player in the side cannot be overstated, even should certain metrics not accentuate that as they do for others.

Continued on the next slide…