Declan Rice makes telling admission about 'anxious' Arsenal after rollercoaster week
After being accused of the 'Dark Arts' and conceding late at Manchester City to lose two points, the Gunners threw away a two-goal lead at home to Leicester - before prevailing with two injury-time goals of their own
Declan Rice admitted his anxiety levels are through the roof playing for Arsenal.
Events of the past week make it feel as if the rollercoaster run-in for the title has already begun. There is a look of controlled desperation about Mikel Arteta's Gunners.
Desperation born of a hunger to knock Manchester City off their perch while remaining coldly conscious of what it will take to deliver a first championship since 2004. That places a high emotional toll on players, to go with the physical demands of chasing glory in four competitions. Paris Saint-Germain are next up for Arsenal on Tuesday night, another exciting occasion to get the adrenaline pumping.
On Saturday the emotional trigger on 63 minutes was fear, though Rice and his re-focused team-mates never looked panicked. If the point with 10 men at the Etihad last week was a big one, the three after giving up a two-goal lead against newly promoted Leicester were unnecessarily bigger.
Rice said: "The anxiety’s through the roof because you know the pressure of playing for Arsenal, you have to win every game.
"If you want to win Premier Leagues and cups and titles and compete at the top, you need to be at your best and you need to win otherwise the pressure mounts. When that second goal went in for them, obviously one thought is we can’t lose this game, we have to keep going. At the end it was like a sigh of relief because we won.
"That was probably the most comfortable we’ve been in the first half all season in terms of passing and dominating the ball. So there’s lots of positives to take but still so much to improve on and as the season goes on, I’m sure you’re going to keep seeing the best of us."
The game was deep into added time when Wilfried Ndidi's own goal and a Kai Havertz tap in delivered a victory which looked to have been sealed after Gabriel Martinelli bagged his first goal since March then set-up Leandro Trossard to double the lead in first-half injury time.
There will be those who say title contenders don't allow James Justin to score with a deflected header from a free-kick then a sweetly struck far-post volley. But after 2-2 home draws against Fulham and Tottenham in their opening six games last season, Rice believes the mental strength to find a way to win has been dialled up.
He added: "Look, we always believe in what we do. That comes from the manager that we keep pushing. We’ve got a set of lads on the pitch who are ready to do anything to win."
For the third league game running, the Gunners' go ahead goal came via a corner, with Rice defending his side's controversial use of blocking.
He added: "There’s always going to be conversations about us blocking and us making fouls, but the goals we’ve scored from set pieces this season, I don’t think there’s been one foul in there. I think sometimes people look for a foul or people mention that we’re cheating in a way on set pieces because we’re blocking, but it’s part of the game.
"Teams do it to us and we’re just trying to exploit other teams’ weaknesses. We found a way to do that today."
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