Declan Rice has been named in the BBC’s Team of the Week, with Troy Deeney defending the Arsenal midfielder’s goal celebration against Manchester United.
Troy Deeney has announced his BBC Team of the Week, with Arsenal’s Declan Rice the only member of Mikel Arteta’s side to make the cut.
Rice scored Arsenal’s equalising goal on the day, and he went on to make a match-saving challenge on Rasmus Hojlund to deny the Manchester United striker a potential winner.
Yet the midfielder drew criticism from some quarters anyway, due to the way he celebrated his goal. The 26-year-old ran over to shush the home support despite some teammates urging him to return to his own half for kick-off.
Deeney defended that decision, saying: “People gave him stick for celebrating his equaliser against Manchester United. When he doesn’t score people say he doesn’t score enough – but when he does he gets stick for celebrating!
“He is growing into a really talented ‘number eight’. Especially as Arsenal don’t have a number nine, he runs into great pockets and got beyond the attackers for his goal.”
Rice’s decision to celebrate was ultimately completely inconsequential. The game was paused for the next few minutes for players observing Ramadan to break their fasts and for both teams to make substitutions.
There was no possibility for Arsenal to restart the match quickly, so Rice could have spent the next minute doing a lap of the pitch and it wouldn’t have mattered. It’s nice to hear a former player sticking up for the England international.
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