Declan Rice says his first six months with Arsenal have met expectations.

The midfielder has impressed since his summer arrival from West Ham.

“I think it's been really good, a huge positive," he told arsenal.com. “It's been a lot of change with different culture, different style of play and new teammates but I've tried to adapt to it as quickly as I can. I've done really well in doing that so far but there's still such a long way to go, I'm only six months into my Arsenal career so there's still so much more to come, but I think it's been a positive start.

“We're a young squad and a young set of players who are hungry to learn, to win. Away from the pitch, we spend a lot of time together travelling around the country. We're a great set of lads so it's great to be around them."

On his preferred position, he continued: “I'm trying to nail down being an out and out six and I think the manager sees that as well but he knows that I'm adaptable," he said. “I even played centre-back in a Champions League game. I'm happy to play anywhere if it helps the team out but I've just been trying to learn and get myself better at playing in the six.

“Before I had my growth spurt I was playing centre-back and I really enjoyed it. It made me see the game in a different way and it's helped me to now to be honest. As I kicked on, got taller, stronger and become more athletic, I've seen my game in midfield. When you play games you get your confidence and that's what happened in the end. I kept playing matches and matches and now that will be me for the rest of my career until late 30s probably. I might drop back to centre-back then!"