Declan Rice made his Premier League debut in the 2016-17 season and has gone on to make 277 appearances in the competition.
The England international started out as a central defender coming through West Ham United’s academy system. But he made his debut as a defensive midfielder for the Hammers.
The following season, Rice made 29 senior appearances, playing as a centre-back 20 times, a defensive midfielder seven times and a full-back twice (once on the right and once on the left).
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Since 2018-19, Rice has become a full-time defensive midfielder. And he’s risen to become one of the best in the world for both club and country.
But how has Rice evolved over the last five seasons?
Defence
Rice managed his most duels contested in the 2021-22 season at West Ham, averaging four ground duels won per 90 minutes. Last season, Rice dropping his lowest duel numbers across the past five campaigns. He conceded just 7.5 duels per 90 and won 2.7 ground duels.
The 26-year-old midfielder actually had his highest tackle tally at Arsenal in the 2023-24 season, averaging 2.4 tackles per 90. But once again, he averaged his least of the last five seasons in the 2024-25 campaign, with just 1.7 per 90.
Interceptions have massively dropped off too, averaging 0.8 per 90 in the 2024-25 season, with his best season in this metric coming in 2021-22 at West Ham.
Rice’s defensive numbers dropping off could be attributed to his slightly more advanced role at Arsenal — which we will touch on a bit later. Not to mention the fact West Ham would typically have much more defensive work to do, especially under David Moyes.
Passing
Much like his defensive metrics, Rice saw a relative decrease in his passing numbers in 2024-25. His best campaign came in 2023-24, when he attempted 62.1 passes per 90 and completed 56.3.
Rice pushed into more of a left half space role in 2024-25, in comparison to playing in the pivot in 2024-25. As a result, his passing numbers fell to just 46.9 attempted per 90 with 42.2 completed.
These base level passing numbers are worse than his West Ham passing metrics, which is interesting considering Arsenal keep a much larger percentile of possession. But this is largely due to his new advanced role.
Rice averaged 6.11 progressive passes per 90 last season, dropping from 7.77 per 90 in the 2023-24 campaign. He only bettered his 2021-22 West Ham season of 5.28 progressive passes per 90.
However, playing further forward, Rice is now getting into more dangerous areas. He created 1.9 chances per 90 in the league last season, his best campaign since the start of 2020-21. Rice also made 0.2 through-balls per 90, matching his return from 2022-23.
Finding himself in these more advanced zones, Rice managed a career best of 1.9 chances created per 90 in 2024-25. He also made 1.11 passes into the penalty area, which has more than doubled since his 2020-21 season averaging 0.56 passes into the penalty area per 90.
Dribbling
Rice’s ability to carry the ball forward has been one of his best traits across the years, developing further the usage of his body to progress play through dribbles.
Once again, this is a quality that was clearly utilised slightly more in a deeper role at West Ham. He had his highest take-ons completed per 90 in 2021-22 and his highest take-on success back in 2020-21.
However, his progressive carries increased at Arsenal in 2024-25 to 2.87 per 90. Only his 2021-22 season at West Ham beat that with 2.95 per 90.
Rice has also increased his carries into the penalty to an all-time high, averaging 0.51 per 90, with his second-highest being 0.45 in the 2023-24 season and 2021-22 season.
This has seen the England international also averaging his highest number of touches in the opposition box per 90 with 2.8, which has increased significantly from his West Ham days.
While Rice is arguably best when carrying the ball forwards from inside his own half, Mikel Arteta has found a way to utilise his carrying qualities further forwards.
Goal threat
While we have been touching on plenty of areas Rice’s numbers have technically dropped off in since leaving West Ham, one area it has definitely improved since joining Arsenal is his goal threat.
Rice averaged his most shots per 90 last season with 1.1, increasing from 1.00 per 90 in the 2023-24 campaign and 0.8 in his final year at West Ham.
Since joining Arsenal, Rice has scored 16 goals in all competitions in his 103 appearances. Rice has already beat his West Ham tally, where he netted 15 goals in 245 games.
His shooting accuracy has also gone up massively since making the move across London. Rice has gone from between 35-42% at West Ham to 57.13% in 2023-24 and 45.45% in 2024-25.
Adding goals and assists to his game has been key playing in a more advanced role, taking set pieces and crashing the box to provide Arsenal with more box presence.
What next?
Some of these metrics going down can be attributed to Rice being in a more possession-based team. Others may be attributed to his new advanced role for the Gunners and some can even be put down to the roles of others around him.
The role Rice plays next season will be interesting to see. Especially with the addition of Martin Zubimendi in midfield for Arsenal, which could see Arteta tweak his tactics once more.
A midfield trio of Zubimendi, Rice and Martin Odegaard gives you a brilliant balance of attributes. Not to mention three midfielders who can all operate at multiple depths.
Rice clearly has the capacity to function in multiple midfield roles, giving Arteta more tactical flexibility when setting up his side.
Over the next five years of Rice’s career, the success of this Arsenal team will largely impact the level of praise the midfielder gets.