Declan Rice was left stunned by Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side (Picture: Getty)
Declan Rice was left ‘stunned’ by Arsenal after West Ham were beaten 3-1 by Mikel Arteta’s side at the Emirates Stadium last season.
The London derby represented the Gunners’ first competitive game back in action following the break for the World Cup.
Hoping to preserve their advantage at the top of the Premier league table, Arsenal were dealt an early blow when Said Benrahma put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot.
Trailing at the break, Arsenal rallied after the interval and put West Ham to the sword in ruthless fashion with quickfire goals from Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah underlining their dominane.
According to CBS Sports, Rice was blown away by a devastating Arsenal performance and could see something special was brewing under Arteta.
Declan Rice and West Ham were torn to shreds by Arsenal during their Boxing Day London derby (Picture: Getty)
Indeed, speaking after the game Rice acknowledged that an emerging young Arsenal side had all the ingredients required to push Manchester City all the way in the title race.
‘100%,’ said Rice emphatically when asked if Arsenal could go all the way and end a 19-year wait to win the Premier League.
‘They are a top team, you can see they are coached incredibly well. They have a young squad with attacking talent and can go the whole way, that is for sure.
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‘They’re a good team. First half we tried as hard as we could to stop them but it’s really hard. In the end we came up short and it’s really frustrating.’
Arteta earmarked Rice as Arsenal’s No.1 summer target at the turn of the year and after seeing two bids rejected earlier this month, he is finally closing in on his man.
West Ham accepted a bid worth a total of £105million earlier this week and talks over the structure of Arsenal’s payments represent the last hurdle to the transfer being completed.
MORE : Emile Smith Rowe reacts to Kai Havertz joining Arsenal and raves about ‘real leader’ Declan Rice
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The Gunners are closing in on their No.1 target.