'Exhausted': Jamie Carragher claims one Arsenal player looks absolutely shattered at Euro 2024

A number of Arsenal players played almost every game in the 2023/24 season.

Mikel Arteta is a phenomenal manager. He’s up there with the best in the country, but if there’s one criticism about him, it’s that he doesn’t rotate his side a lot.

Arsenal played 52 games in all competitions in the 2023/24 season, and some players featured in almost every single fixture.

Jamie Carragher has had his say on one of them after watching him at Euro 2024 on Thursday.

Jamie Carragher has never seen Arsenal’s Declan Rice look so exhausted

Declan Rice started for England in their game against Denmark on Thursday.

The Three Lions won their opening Euro 2024 fixture against Serbia, but they didn’t look great in that game. Rice had a good outing then and impressed many people, but he looked very different against the Danes.

England took the lead through Harry Kane in the first half, and just when everyone expected them to push on and get a second, they just sat back.

Denmark were the better side from that point until the end of the game, and Rice, who started as a number six, was often left on his own.

Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s positioning wasn’t great, while Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden both looked to attack at every opportunity they got.

That allowed Denmark to overrun Rice in the middle of the park, and the Arsenal man, who has played over 50 games for club and country this season, looked exhausted in the second half.

Carragher has watched Rice regularly over the years, and he claimed that he has never seen the midfielder as exhausted as he was in the second half on Thursday night.

He wrote in The Telegraph: “Rice is the only proven and high-class holding midfielder Southgate has, but in the first two games he has been overworked and, at times, overrun.

“He has never looked so exhausted as he did in the second half against the Danes. He had far too much ground to cover and Danish players started to surround him when in possession.”

What Gareth Southgate needs to do to get the best out of Rice

Since joining Arsenal, Rice has arguably been the best midfielder in the Premier League.

The Englishman was incredible – both as a defensive midfielder and also further up the pitch, when he was asked to play in a box-to-box role.

Gary Neville, however, has claimed that Rice is much better as a number eight, and although we don’t completely agree with what the Manchester United legend said, pushing the Arsenal midfielder further up the pitch could work.

Southgate has Adam Wharton at his disposal, and even though he doesn’t have the experience at the big stage, he has looked incredible every time he has played.

When England face Slovenia next, we think Southgate should play a midfield trio of Rice, Wharton and Bellingham. That could take the Three Lions to a whole new level.