Richard Keys rips into Mikel Arteta's Declan Rice plan at Arsenal with two-word jibe

Richard Keys has slammed Arsenal's usage of Declan Rice this season following his £105million summer arrival from West Ham United after the Gunners' 2-1 Premier League defeat to Fulham on Sunday.

Mikel Arteta's side fell to their second straight league loss at Craven Cottage over the weekend as Raul Jimenez and Bobby De Cordova-Reid's goals plummeted the north Londoners to fourth-placed.

The defeat has left a negative feeling around the Emirates Stadium with Liverpool and Manchester City both enjoying a good run of form to close the gap to the Gunners. With the January transfer window now open, calls for a new centre-forward have increased with Ivan Toney of interest.

But despite that, former Sky Sports presenter Keys has piled in on Rice's recent performances in Arteta's team. The England international plays a crucial role in the Arsenal team as the midfield anchor to help link-up play from defence, but Keys has insisted he has to do more.

Writing on his blog, he said: «Let’s get this clear straight away, I’m a huge fan of Declan Rice. I think he’s a Rolls-Royce. I said when Arsenal signed him that he was the best piece of business any club had done in that window. He’s class. But he’s also wasted playing for Arsenal right now.

»What is the point of paying £110m for a player only to get him to tippy-tappy about in mid-field doing what a bang ordinary jobber could do?

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«I’ve watched Rice closely this season — very closely on Sunday at Fulham. All he did for 90 minutes at Craven Cottage was drop between his centre-backs, pick up a sideways pass from them — knock it