What Zinchenko said to Kai Havertz as Rice highlights Arsenal's plan for future

Football.London takes a look back at the talking points from the Gunners' 3-1 win over Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium

Resplendent Rice

Essentially Declan Rice has been signed so that Arsenal can begin to move on from Partey. The Ghanaian is now the wrong side of 30, and with his injury record he's hardly likely to go on forever. Even if they play the role quite differently, Rice has been used as Partey's successor for most of this season. It's a position arguably unparalleled in it's importance to Mikel Arteta's system, but if there were any doubters of Rice's ability to fill it in the long-term they were well and truly silenced on Sunday.

Of course the late goal is what elevates him to the main talking point of the 3-1 win over United, but it's remarkable how integral Rice has become in such a short space of time. His first start in Arsenal shirt actually came against United in New Jersey. The two performances could not have been more night and day.

On that day in July Rice was slow to interceptions, unsure where to stand and cautious in his passing. Under the September sun, the 24-year-old recovered the ball five times and was crucial to allowing Arsenal to sustain periods of pressure in the first half even if they came to nothing. In the second half his ambitious forward play to Kai Havertz is what ultimately won a penalty that was later overturned.

It's no surprise that Arsenal's tempo began to drop a little when Rice faded slightly in the second half. Still though he had just enough left in the tank to provide what he hopes will be the first of many magic moments in a Gunners shirt. Even if he cost £105million, he's looking more and more of a steal each game.

Havertz questions persist

There's an alternate universe where instead of basking in the glory of Declan Rice's display, we spend the main talking point talking about Kai Havertz's display. The result may have saved him the spotlight, but again the German failed to convince.

Perhaps the most eye-catching error was his mishit shot that could easily have made it 1-0 inside the first 10 minutes. Mikel Arteta has spoken about how it will take time for things to click for the German, but there's no teething issues that could excuse that level of toothlesness in the final third.

To make matters worse Havertz then gave the ball away for what turned into Marcus Rashford's opener. Ben White and William Saliba could have done more to bail him out, but it was another poor moment from the 24-year-old.

He still looks as though he is trying to figure out this new position. At times throughout the first half Oleksandr Zinchenko could be seen telling him to push up more, and at half time the Ukrainian emerged with his arm around Havertz seemingly offering him more detailed instruction.

In fairness to the German it's not as though he isn't trying. His languid body language will always lead to criticism, but even after his early miss, he was still trying to make those third man runs into the box that were so fruitful for Granit Xhaka last season. Also, even if the penalty was overturned, we saw with his drive into the box to initially win the spot kick what he is capable of in moments.

Perhaps a change of scenery now will do Havertz some good. His record with Germany is good, and away from the Arsenal spotlight he may be able to rediscover some of the confidence that seems to have deserted him following his difficult season at Chelsea last year. There's a good player inside the German, but we're yet to see him show it enough in an Arsenal shirt so far.

Best is yet to come

Staying on the theme of alternate universes, there's one where Arsenal fans maybe aren't looking so favourably on their start to the season. Had this game ended in a draw then they would already be four points off Manchester City following last week's disappointing result against Fulham. To even be talking about a gap four games into the season feels absurd, but that's the reality of the standards Pep Guardiola's side have set.

The reality is though, that gap is only two. Arsenal head into the first international break with 10 points from a possible 12, and Mikel Arteta seemed pretty satisfied with that.

"Very happy," he said when asked to asses his side's start to the season in his post-match press conference. "We played four games and deserved to win four games, the margins that we arrived at the late stages of the game doesn’t reflect what the team has done before. There are things that still are in our control that we can do better. The team will try to evolve in that direction to close the games earlier and win them easier."

It's hard to argue with anything the Spaniard is saying there really. Arsenal have deserved to win all the games they've played. You could argue that they even deserved to beat Fulham quite handsomely. But they are still far from hitting their best.

While that has created a certain sense of unease, there's an argument that this is even more exciting than last season's flying start. If the season was a marathon then Arsenal started that campaign at a pace they couldn't possibly maintain. This steady gain of momentum feels like it's heading somewhere that could be really exciting.

Again, it's ludicrous to even be talking about a title in the first week of September. But if Arsenal look to their main rivals Manchester City, starting fast is something they hardly ever do. The Gunners may not be as quick out the blocks as last time, but their first four matches of the season suggest that they could find top speed just when they need it this year.