Rice will be hoping his misdemeanour off the pitch will not distract him as he looks to continue his fine run of form for Premier League leaders Arsenal.
After missing the Gunners’ thumping 4-1 win over fellow title contenders Aston Villa due to a knee complaint, Rice returned with a bang by scoring a brace in his side’s 3-2 victory over Bournemouth last Saturday.
In the build-up to Thursday’s 0-0 draw with Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium, Rice told Sky Sports he was “loving” his football at the moment, saying: “I can only take every game as it comes but when I’m going on the pitch, I’m full of confidence at the moment, full of energy.
“At the start of the season, I realised myself that I probably wasn’t at my best, but this was two or three games in and obviously you’ve got a full season to go, so I wasn’t too worried, I knew I’d pick it back up.
“The good thing is with the manager, he knows when to put the knife in me, just to give me a nudge, he knows how to get the best out of me.
“I love to listen, I love to take it all in; since then, I’ve just gone on and the games are coming so thick and fast so I’m just trying to play consistently well. Every season, I think to myself, ‘how can you level up again, how can you go again and show why Arsenal brought you in’?
“This is a club where there’s fierce competition and nothing’s ever guaranteed, so you need to be able to be on it every single day and every single week just to keep your place.”