In Arteta’s grand plan, is Declan Rice Arsenal’s No 6 or No 8 or both?

To build his dream midfield, Mikel Arteta might ideally want two Declan Rices. One to mop up in front of the back four, one to break forward into the opposition box.

A goal and assist in Saturday’s 3-0 home win against Bournemouth took Rice to 15 goal contributions in the Premier League during his debut Arsenal season: seven scored, plus eight assists.

That figure takes him beyond Granit Xhaka, who recorded seven of each in the top flight last season before leaving for Bayer Leverkusen. What’s all the more remarkable is that Rice has achieved those numbers while alternating between playing as a No 8 and as a No 6.

Rice has made 35 starts in the Premier League this season, 23 of them as a No 6. As the campaign has worn on, he has increasingly been used in a more advanced role, and he has now started 12 league matches as Arsenal’s left No 8.

Arteta is a huge believer in the breadth of Rice’s talent. Even so, the England international’s effectiveness in the final third has taken his manager somewhat by surprise.

“We thought (his goal output) was going to be very related to the spaces he was going to occupy on the pitch,” explains Arteta. “But then it’s something else to do it in this league. He’s done it. Credit to him. Even when we’ve changed him from position to position, it’s not easy to adapt to that, so I think he deserves a lot of credit for that.”

Rice has never hidden his preference for playing at the base of midfield. But his sheer athleticism makes him a difficult force to contain when he ventures into the opposition half.

“With No 8, the manager is massive on making runs (off the ball), threatening behind, occupying zones, and that’s unnatural to me,” Rice told The Athletic this week. “I’ve never done that in my life, so it’s my first year learning that, which has been really different.”

It may not be Rice’s natural game, but clearly he has an aptitude for it.

Playing as a No 8, he is granted the freedom to drive forward, bulldozing between opposition lines. Few midfields can live with him. And if he can deliver these results after less than one season of experience, it’s tempting to imagine what he might be capable of given more time.

On the eve of the Bournemouth game, Arteta suggested he feels Rice has the potential to score even more regularly.

“I think there is much more there,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “We have to put him in more situations for him to explore that talent he has. He needs to recognise as well certain situations earlier, in order to build that relationship and chemistry within the unit that he’s playing with — something that is still quite raw, especially with the amount of changes that we made on that left side this season.

“All this is going to contribute to his development and hopefully we can see much more.”

Rice is also developing that hunger to score which is an integral part of any true box-to-box midfielder. “I missed a sitter (in the first half), and I was fuming,” he told TNT Sports, UK broadcaster of the Bournemouth match. “I couldn’t let it go, and I knew there was an opportunity for me today to score and assist.

“Even for my goal, I was back in my own half and I just sensed it. All their players were out on their feet and I just kept going and going and arrived in a position that I’ve done quite frequently today.”

He is gaining that nose for goal. He has the legs. He has the ball-striking technique — as he’s proved with his excellent set-piece delivery this season. All the ingredients are there.

Rice also showed good awareness and technique to create the game’s second goal for Leandro Trossard, suggesting that Arsenal’s left side is now developing the solid relationships it has lacked for much of the season.

It leaves Arteta with an intriguing conundrum: in his grand plan, is Rice a No 6 or a No 8?

That decision will have an impact on the club’s transfer business. With doubts over the future of Thomas Partey and with Mohamed Elneny set to be out of contract, Arsenal will need to bring in a central midfielder this summer. It makes sense to target someone who can complement Rice in the long term — but are they intending to pair their record signing with a holding midfielder or somebody who offers more of an attacking threat?

David Ornstein of The Athletic has reported on Arsenal’s admiration of Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes, as well as Martin Zubimendi of Spanish side Real Sociedad. Both players are seen as No 6s. Were either to move to the Emirates Stadium, perhaps we might see more and more of this unshackled Rice.

Or perhaps Rice’s flexibility will prove his strength.

One attribute last summer’s outfield signings Rice, Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz all share is their versatility. If Arsenal can add another multi-functional player, Arteta will have a host of options at his disposal.

Defining Rice as a six or an eight may prove unnecessarily reductive: under Arteta’s tutelage, he is becoming the complete midfielder.

(Top photo: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)