Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has insisted the Premier League title race is “not over yet” after the Gunners lost to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Declan Rice appears to have sent a clear message to his Arsenal team-mates after the defeat to Manchester City (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Manager Declan Rice declared the race for the Premier League title was “not over yet” after Arsenal’s defeat to Manchester City. Erling Haaland’s goal sealed victory for Josep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, cutting the Gunners’ advantage at the summit to just three points.
If City can win the game by at least two points, they could move past the north Londoners when they travel to Burnley’s Turf Moor on Wednesday night. But with such a gap between the title contenders, Rice still seems optimistic about winning silverware.
After the final whistle, Sky Sports television cameras caught the Arsenal midfielder rallying with his team-mates. Reiss looked at Martin Odegaard in the middle of the pitch and shouted, “It’s not over yet.”
read more: Sky Sports forced to apologize for adult Erling Haaland interview after Man City’s win over Arsenal
Mikel Arteta echoed similar sentiments in his post-match press conference, characterizing the run-in at the end of the season as a “new league”. “I believe today and I believed a week ago on Wednesday because I see them every day and I know the level we are at,” the Gunners manager said.
“But if they needed any more convincing today, I think they’re more convinced now. They were talking about it in the locker room. It’s a new league now. They had a game in hand.”
“We have a three-point advantage and we have five more games to play, so it’s all still to come. So we know how much we’ve won and we’re not going to stop and we’re going to move forward again, that’s for sure.”
Arsenal will need around a week of rest and recovery before returning to action. The Gunners are scheduled to face Newcastle United at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, April 25th.
Declan Rice and Arsenal suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Manchester City (Image: Carl Recine, Getty Images)
Arteta continued: “First of all, it’s very difficult to win games in this league. So just look at the game from both of us. It’s going to be tough for both of us.”
“Otherwise we would have already had 80 or 85 points like in any other season, but that’s not the case. So we will prepare game by game, learn from what happened today and do better.”
Speaking about the atmosphere in the dressing room, Arteta said: “Obviously they were very disappointed that they didn’t get a result like this in the game.
“That’s what it felt like. I knew right away what they were talking about. And they said, ‘Okay, we missed our chance today, but we have our biggest chance over the next five games, so let’s give it a shot.’
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