Mikel Arteta believes Declan Rice has the potential to match Michael Kayode’s long-throw prowess, but he admits it won’t happen overnight.
Arsenal have largely been considered the kings of set-pieces this season, and indeed for much of the last few seasons, but Wednesday’s visitors Brentford certainly have the edge when it comes to long throws.
Michael Kayode is arguably the best long-throw taker in the entire Premier League right now, whilst this Arsenal side are yet to score a single goal from long throws since starting to use them more regularly earlier this year.
In his pre-Brentford press conference, Mikel Arteta was asked about the fact Arsenal’s long-throw taker Declan Rice still isn’t as good at them as Kayode.
“Who is? Everything has to evolve,” Arteta responded. “I don’t know how good [Kayode] was a year ago, or two years ago or three years ago.
“I know how good Declan was at taking set pieces three or four years ago and I know how good he is now. So, it does not happen overnight. Things have to be trained, evolved and tweaked.
“And the player has to believe as well, which is key. When you look at Declan, he can do almost everything you require him to do.”
Rice’s set-piece expertise has largely centred around corners and free-kicks so far, helping him to rack up goals and assists in big moments.
The Arsenal midfielder is up for a Puskas award for his free-kick goal against Real Madrid earlier this year, and Arsenal rarely look more threatening than when he’s standing by the corner flag.
That’s not yet the case with throw-ins, with Arsenal rarely even creating shooting opportunities from throws, let alone goals. But if Rice continues to work at it, Arteta clearly believes it’s just a matter of time until that changes.