Arsenal ended their 14-year wait for a win at Anfield on Sunday, and the moment that won it came from Declan Rice.

With 16 minutes gone, Rice made a powerful, untracked run around the outside of Noni Madueke on the right and drilled a low cross across the six-yard box for Kai Havertz to tap in. “Ninety per cent of the goal belongs to him,” Havertz told Sky Sports afterwards. “A brilliant overlap, a perfect cross.”

Paul Scholes on Declan Rice’s display at Anfield

Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football, Paul Scholes admitted he’s been hard on Rice in the past, but he loved what he saw on Sunday.

“Declan Rice has been good, yeah. I think that I’ve probably been a little bit critical of Declan over a few times, and Graeme Souness definitely has,” he said. “What he did yesterday where he powered, you can’t stay with that. And you see the physique. Probably a little bit Steven Gerrard-like.”

But Scholes still has one criticism. “My only thing with Declan Rice, I still think he takes too many touches for a midfield player,” he said. “If he decides to just play one and two touch and run, he’d be virtually unplayable. Almost in a Steven Gerrard type of way.

“It’s once he starts strutting in the middle of the pitch and taking too many touches. One, two touch, run. You will never stay with him. You’ll never be able to live with him. And he started to do that a little bit more, because I thought he was brilliant yesterday, brilliant run and a great pass as well.”

Is Paul Scholes right about Declan Rice?

Reluctantly, Scholes may have a point, and it’s one Mikel Arteta seems to agree with. Rice revealed after the game that the Arsenal boss “had a really honest conversation with me at the start of this season”, telling him “he still thinks I can do more for this shirt, for this club”.

That’s exactly what Rice has been doing recently. His Anfield assist was his fifth in the Premier League this season, the most in the division, and all five have come from open play. That already matches his tally for the whole of last season, when three of his five came from set-pieces.

He’s getting into new areas, too. According to The Athletic, a quarter of his touches this season have come on the right of the opposition half, up from 13% last season. That’s where Sunday’s goal came from, and with Bukayo Saka out, it could become a big part of how Arsenal attack.

The quick, direct Rice Scholes wants to see is already showing up, from his late equaliser in Munich to his run at Anfield. If he keeps it up, Arsenal will have one of the most complete midfielders in the world.