was left ‘stunned’ by Arsenal after were beaten 3-1 by Mikel Arteta’s side at the Emirates Stadium last season.
The derby represented the Gunners’ first competitive game back in action following the break for the .
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 , Rice was blown away by a devastating Arsenal performance and could see something special was brewing under Arteta.
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.
‘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.
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