Arsenal's Declan Rice has risked the wrath of fans by admitting he wants Tottenham icon Harry Kane to win the Ballon d'Or, days after the Gunners' 1-0 Champions League win at Napoli. The midfielder was nominated for the award alongside team-mates William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes after winning the Premier League title last season.
The Bayern Munich striker is among the favourites after scoring 61 goals on the way to a second consecutive Bundesliga title. Rice revealed his stance after Wednesday's victory, saying: "Yeah for sure (I'm proud), second year in a row nominated, it's obviously really good, I'm really proud. Obviously I know who I want to win it, I'd love to see Harry Kane win it, so I'm wishing him all the best in that. Kane has never won the Ballon d'Or, but this is surely as good a chance as he's going to get."
Odegaard seals victory in Naples
The Premier League champions claimed a 1-0 win at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday, courtesy of Martin Odegaard's second-half goal. The captain's winning strike was his fourth goal of the campaign, continuing his strong start to the season.
Mikel Arteta's side will hope to go one step further in Europe this time round, following their final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in May.
Merino 'rusty' on first start
Mikel Merino earned his first start of the season in the victory against the Serie A side. The Spaniard returned to club duties late after winning the World Cup with team-mates David Raya and Martin Zubimendi.
He has been eased back into the team in the opening weeks of the season, coming off the bench in all three of Arsenal's league games, totalling 46 minutes of action. He played 65 minutes against Napoli, and his performance was labelled as "rusty" by Gunners icon Martin Keown.
Keown said: "I thought Mikel Merino coming back into midfield missed an opportunity tonight. We missed him last season but I thought he was a little rusty on his first start for a while. But overall it's looking good for Arsenal. The drive and determination and hunger is there."
