Declan Rice remains hopeful of winning the Premier League (Image: Sky Sports)
Declan Rice has told his Arsenal team-mates that the race for the Premier League title is not over after defeat to Manchester City. Erling Haaland led Josep Guardiola’s side to victory at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, cutting the Gunners’ advantage at the top of the table to just three points. Manchester City could overtake the north Londoners when they visit Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday night if they win the game by at least two points.
With such minimal distance between the title contenders, Rice remains optimistic about winning the silver medal. Sky Sports television cameras caught the Arsenal midfielder encouraging his team-mates shortly after the final whistle. “It’s not over yet,” Rice said as he greeted Martin Odegaard in the center of the pitch. Mikel Arteta echoed similar sentiments in his post-match press conference, declaring the end-of-season run-in to be a “new league”.
The Gunners manager said: “I believe today and I believed a week ago on Wednesday, because I see them every day and I know our level. But if they needed more convincing, I think they were more convinced today.”
“They were talking about it in the dressing room. It’s a new league now. They have a game in hand. We have a three-point advantage and we have five games left, so everything is still to come. So we know how much we’ve won and we’re not going to stop and we’re going to go again, that’s for sure.”
Meanwhile, manager Josep Guardiola warned his City team: “But the reality is one thing. They are top of the league. They lead by one on goal difference. We have to enjoy it, celebrate and take the good things. But let’s not lose focus. We go to Burnley in three days.”
Arteta told Sky Sports he felt his team were unlucky. He added: “We are working game by game. We had a very good moment a few days ago against Sporting in the Champions League. We are playing so many games. We are the only team that continues to play, play, play, play.”
“But the positive thing is that we saw the level. We can cope with it and not only that, but we can get even better. There are five games left and we are going to work hard. We fully believe that we can do it. Today we showed the team what we are capable of. It is still in our hands and it is there to get.”
Declan Rice remains optimistic about Arsenal’s title challenge (Image: Getty)
“If you don’t (take chances) and the opponent has individual quality, that’s the risk, because you lose the game. I don’t think there was any difference between the two teams. There’s also an element of luck in whether the ball goes in or not.”
Gunners captain Martin Odegaard responded: “We were disappointed not to win. We came looking for a result. We were really motivated today and played well. We pressed them well and had some really good moments with high pressing. In the second half we looked more dangerous and had some big, big moments in front of goal.”
“It was close to decide a game like this. We weren’t sharp enough in front of goal, so we couldn’t do anything. That’s football at this level. It’s always the case when two teams go head-to-head like this. It was disappointing that it was so close, but there was a lot of good from us in the game. We did some really good things. We’re looking forward to the next game and moving forward to the end.”
“You have to look for a decent performance, a small gap, the next game. There’s always pressure in football. There’s always noise. That’s part of being footballers at this level. We keep moving forward and focus on ourselves. We look forward to the next game and move on. That’s all we have to do.”
Asked if he still believed Arsenal could win the league, the captain simply replied: “Of course.”
