French media praise the boss of this Arsenal team after commanding performance vs Monaco | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta’s side made easy work of Monaco in their Champions League clash at the Emirates Stadium, with two goals from Bukayo Saka and a late third from Kai Havertz getting the job done.

Rice, however, was one of Arsenal’s most important players again on the night, with the England international really doing well to live up to the big price tag Arsenal paid to sign him from West Ham almost a year and a half ago.

In their player ratings for the game last night, Foot Mercato described Rice as ‘the boss’ of the Arsenal midfield as they assessed his strong performance, which included a 95% pass success rate and an overall score of 7/10.

Arsenal fans will no doubt be delighted to see Rice getting this recognition, with the 25-year-old sure to continue to play a big part in the team’s success in the future.

Declan Rice shines for Arsenal, but how about his midfield partners?

Declan Rice in the pre-game warmup with Arsenal (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Remarkably, this was the first time all season that we saw AFC start with a midfield trio of Rice, Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino.

Odegaard has missed a lot of games through injury, while Merino hasn’t yet established himself as a starter for Arteta’s side since joining from Real Sociedad in the summer.

Still, with injuries elsewhere in the team, Thomas Partey filled in at right-back for Arsenal, meaning there was space for Merino to come in for this game, and Foot Mercato gave him a solid but unspectacular 6/10.

Odegaard, meanwhile, got a 6.5/10, while Partey actually got a pretty respectable 6/10 despite playing out of position for Arsenal in this game.

What do you think should be Arsenal’s first choice midfield three for the rest of the season? Let us know in the comments!