Jamie Redknapp has made a comparison between Declan Rice and Steven Gerrard following Arsenal’s win over Tottenham.
Arsenal steadied the ship after a recent wobble in the Premier League by claiming a 4-1 victory in the north London derby on Sunday to restore their five-point lead at the summit.
Eberechi Eze scored twice - his first goals since netting a hat-trick in the reverse fixture earlier in the season - as did Viktor Gyokeres at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, a familiar pattern threatened to haunt the Gunners shortly after taking the lead for the first time.
Randal Kolo Muani equalised for Tottenham just 24 seconds after Eze had opened the scoring, pinching the ball off Rice before beating David Raya down low with a powerful strike.
Rice’s error came moments after he had pointed to his temple following Eze’s goal, urging his team-mates to concentrate having let leads slip in recent away games against Brentford and Wolves.
The Arsenal midfielder immediately acknowledged his mistake, but not before evoking memories of Gerrard’s infamous speech after a big win for Liverpool against Manchester City in the 2013-14 season.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Redknapp said: “What he didn’t want was to become a meme, like what happened to Steven Gerrard many years ago when he was talking to the Liverpool players and said ‘we go again’.
“He does that and then he does this.
“It’s uncharacteristic from him, it’s not his game that. I don’t see what he’s trying to gain. I love Declan as a footballer but that’s not his thing doing Iniesta skills.
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Jamie Redknapp reacts to Spurs scoring 24 seconds after the restart after Arsenal's opener in the north London derby! pic.twitter.com/xUG52M2uCs
“He keeps it simple, don’t try anything that’s too difficult, keep it relatively basic.
“He obviously doesn’t and Kolo Muani does amazing after that.
“You can see there he’s now thinking ‘please, please, please lets get the three points, I do not want this to be on me at the end of the season.”
