After shaking off a knee injury that kept him out of our win over Aston Villa in midweek, Declan Rice returned with a bang, scoring his first Premier League brace to guide us to three valuable points.
Having lost home and away to Bournemouth last season, we were behind again early on, but drew level through Gabriel before Declan gave us breathing space in the second half.
“It’s a massive win,” he said after the game. “It’s a really tough place to come, we lost here last season. It was difficult the season before, so we knew what we were in for today.
“The manager made us well aware of that after not the best start. Then to show our character again and come back was massive, and to win 3-2 in the end was a massive result."
The midfielder said he was ‘fuming’ after missing the Villa game, but made up for his absence with another driving display in the middle of the park, culminating in two more goals.
“But to miss that (game) was annoying; to come back today and help the team and score two, I think the fans will be really happy. And I'm happy myself that I could help out, because this team's special and if we're all chipping in together, I'm sure good things will happen.”
Declan was quick to pay credit to Martin Odegaard, who provided the assist for his first goal.
“He's so intelligent. I mean, the way he feeds passes for you, the second one, the way he played it through to Bukayo - there aren't many players in the world who can play those passes.
“He heard me - he was going to shoot but he set me back and I was so happy, because the more he assists for us, our teammates, and the more he scores, the more he's firing, it's going to help us do good things.”
Declan also highlighted the contribution of Viktor Gyokeres, who worked tirelessly up front again, and was involved in the second goal, Rice’s first.
“It's tough for him, because he's got two defenders on him all game, all over him. So he has to use his strength, he has to do all he can to help the team and with that goal, without him making that run from Gabi's flick and holding it, setting it off to Martin, that goal wouldn't happen.
“That was a pivotal moment in the game for us to turn the game on its head. I see how hard he hits a ball, and when that space arrives for him and the ball's arriving at his feet to score goals, he will 100 percent score.
“But at the minute, defenders in the Premier League want to be able to stop Viktor Gyokeres, because he's one of the best strikers in the world. Trust me, he's doing unbelievably for us, we wouldn't be where we are without him.”
So a good day all round for Declan and his teammates, and one that was made even more memorable for him by our travelling supporters premiering a new chant for him, to the tune of ‘That’s The Way I Like It.’
“I'm really happy with that,” he smiled. “The fans are amazing away from home as always. They travel, they pay all their hard-earned money, and to start the New Year off with a win and to make them happy is what we do it for, you know. We know at Arsenal, the fans are here for what we want to achieve for them, so we just have to keep pushing and doing that."
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