Arsenal fans loved what Declan Rice screamed at teammates after Eberechi Eze goal against Tottenham

Arsenal fans believe Declan Rice is club captain in all but name after they overheard the pointed message he gave to his teammates during Sunday’s north London derby goal celebrations.

Bukayo Saka is currently wearing the armband in the absence of Martin Odegaard, but it is easy to see why England international Rice is such a prominent part of Mikel Arteta’s leadership group which also includes Mikel Merino and Gabriel Magalhaes.

While Eberechi Eze stole the headlines and walked away with the man of the match award following a scintillating, history making performance, Rice comprehensively won the midfield battle and utterly dominated the likes of Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Paulinha.

Rice’s ball carrying ability, passing range and reading of the game have long been considered his strengths, but his leadership skills are likely to be equally as valuable over the coming months as Arsenal finally look to win the silverware their progression under Arteta has threatened to yield.

Those qualities were in evidence in the aftermath of Eze’s second goal on just after half-time which put the home side 3-0 ahead when the pitchside cameras caught Rice’s message to his colleagues and urged them to go for the jugular by roaring ‘let’s ****ing kill them’.

Arsenal eventually ran out 4-1 winners after briefly allowing Spurs a route back into a one-sided contest and even if Rice’s words weren’t heeded, fans appreciated such an obvious display of passion.

‘He was on one this game,’ said one fan on X, while another added: ‘He gets it. Proper Arsenal’

‘Future Arsenal captain,’ said another fan who felt it’s inevitable he will one day usurp Odegaard while another suggested ‘just give him the armband now’.

Regardless of the debate over who should lead Arsenal, Rice’s importance to the cause cannot be overstated right now.

While Arteta boasts what many consider the most powerful squad in the Premier League, Gary Neville believes Rice represents his one true irreplaceable talent.

He told Sky Sports: ‘The interesting thing is they’ve got [Riccardo] Calafiori and [Jurrien] Timber at full-back. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ben White are probably better going forward, although there’s not much between White and Timber,’ he said on the Gary Neville Podcast. ‘They’ve got real options at full-back, real options at centre-back.

‘The only player you’d be worried about losing for a period of time would be Declan Rice because you can’t replace that.

‘That’s your Roy Keane, that’s your Rodri, the player that holds you together. There’s only one of them.

‘They have got options if he wasn’t there, but you’d never be able to replace the ability of him to be powerful on set-pieces, his running, his tackling, his impact on the game going forward.

‘I’m really happy with Arsenal watching them this season, I like watching good teams play football.’