Paul Scholes has revealed he was surprised by Declan Rice’s set piece capabilities during Arsenal’s dominant 6-0 victory over West Ham.
The former Hammers star, who swapped the London Stadium for the Emirates in a £105m deal last summer, played a starring role on Sunday afternoon as Mikel Arteta’s men closed the gap on leaders Liverpool to two points.
Rice took the corner from which William Saliba headed home to open the scoring just after the half-hour mark to get the title chasers up and running in East London.
The midfielder then provided his second assist of the game just two minutes before the interval, with Gabriel latching onto the end of the cross to add Arsenal’s third.
And it was Rice’s delivery from dead ball situations which shocked the Manchester United legend.
‘Rice’s delivery has surprised me a little bit, it’s been some fantastic balls in and that’s not something I knew he had in his locker,’ Scholes said on Premier League Productions.
‘Set pieces have been where West Ham have really struggled.’
Rice is not Arsenal’s usual set-piece taker, but he will certainly give Arteta some food for thought on the back of this display.
‘Yeah that is something that we knew and could imagine,’ the Spaniard said of Rice’s set-piece skills.
‘It depends as well on who plays in the team and the height we have in the box. He used to do it at West Ham.’
Rice’s return to his former club got even better after the second half, scoring the Gunners’ sixth goal to help inflict West Ham’s heaviest ever home defeat in the Premier League.
The 25 year-old refused to celebrate at his old stomping ground, with the home support – at least what was left of it – applauding him off the pitch when he was subbed off moments later.
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