Interception machine, that reading of the play around 0:17 is top drawer.

Total Bossman

Those quick long legs gobble up space and time, so fortunate to have him.

Felt he was better in the second half. Played more aggressively, ventured forward more.

Very good player.

First half was really bad but 2nd half he absolutely dominated the half

Looked like he'd been instructed to hold back but it meant our midfield was pretty ineffective in the first half as Jorginho also didn't venture forward. So we were on the back-foot when needing to press and lacking in options when in attack.

Looked much better with Partey in the second half. They'll be dominant together.

I wonder how well Partey and Rice can play together. It would be great if it could work out, and could see how their skillsets complement each other to some degree, but they're both #6s to me.

CPM If Arteta can't get a midfield of Rice, Partly and Odegaard working then he's got no business being our manager (and I think he will for the record)

haven't seen such sweet interceptions since paddy v's pomp

lorddulaarsenal you just need to give one of Rice and Partey licence to break out from midfield and join the attack. Its something Rice did well at WHU and it still leaves Partey offering everything he did last season.

Everything qwiss said plus swap zinny for tomi

Eventually Zinchenko/White will be alternating with Jurrien.

lorddulaarsenal Rice has a lot of responsibility for bombing forward in that set-up though. Maybe he has that in his locker by this time next season, but I think that lineup could lead to some seriously clunky football right now, and make it difficult for us to get enough numbers forward. It's definitely worth a try though.

CPM not necessarily - I think he’d allow Zinchenko or Tomi to get forward more. We tend to create more chances when we get our fullbacks and wide forwards working in tandem. We don’t create through the middle in the way Wenger’s teams would. Even Odegaard drifts out wide to link with Saka a lot.

I could see that, although that puts a lot of emphasis on Zinchenko and gives him a lot of space to cover. And I think part of Arteta's idea with Havertz was his late runs into the box – if we're creating from wide we need men in the middle to finish chances. Don't see Rice (or Zinchenko) doing that with aplomb quite yet.

But let's give it a try... on an individual basis there's a lot to like in a Rice-Partey-Ødegaard midfield. Crazy how much we miss Xhaka.

I dunno. I'm really not missing Xhaka at all.

Lacks creativity