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Arsenal's win over Brighton was not anything out of the ordinary. They won 2–1 in a fairly decent game, but it still had some moments where you just did not know what was going on.
There were a few moments at the start, especially when fans found out about the lineup, that made people scratch their heads about what was going on.
Declan Rice played the game as a right-back for Arsenal for the first time in his career. Unsurprisingly, he looked really, really good.
Timber wasn't in the squad, nor was Ben White, which forced Mikel Arteta to start his best midfielder as a right-back against a very rampant Brighton, who could definitely hurt teams like Arsenal on their day.
Luckily, Rice is Rice, and he played one of his best games of the season out of position and looked really good doing it.
Why Martin Odegaard's words about Declan Rice echoed through the Arsenal fanbase
Captain Martin Odegaard, who scored a goal after a very long time, was asked about Rice's performance against Brighton after the win, and his words echoed through the fan base.
He said: “An unbelievable performance from him. To play right back, probably the first time in his life, and then do it the way he did it today was unbelievable, so a really, really good performance from him.
“That's just our team, everyone is ready to do whatever it takes for the team and that was another good example of that.”
It is just so fascinating to think about what football makes you do sometimes, and those sorts of things really show the mentality of certain players.
Even Arteta, who was buzzed with Rice's performance, praised the Englishman's mentality and how important it is for players of his calibre to have that in the back of their minds.
He said: “You speak to Declan Rice and tell him he needs to play there as a full-back. And he said, 'okay, l'm up for a challenge. I'm going to do my best.' The attitude is great to witness! You saw the performance he put in. That’s how much our players want it.”
Rice is one of the best midfielders in the world. He has an argument to be the best midfielder in the world.
And if he is sacrificing so much for this team and playing so well in a position where he's never played in his life, where the team is seriously lacking, and he's still doing it so well, then he deserves every bit of praise that he's getting from everyone around him.