Declan Rice has called on Arsenal’s players to raise their level after recent setbacks, insisting they have “it in us to win every game” in a candid interview ahead of the North London Derby.
Declan Rice says Arsenal’s current run of results will “not last” if standards do not rise, and has put the responsibility firmly on the dressing room to respond in the final stretch of the season.
Speaking to Sky -Sports ahead of Sunday’s North London Derby away to Tottenham, the midfielder urged supporters and pundits to keep “perspective” about Arsenal sitting top of the Premier League, but admitted that dropping points at Brentford and Wolves has left little margin for further errors.
“We’re first and there is outside noise. I’ve found some people want to talk it up,” Rice said, when asked whether criticism after the 2–2 draw at Wolves had affected the squad. “We’re on our own journey, we’re on our own path and we fully believe in each other. We want to do it because we’ve got such a good core group, such quality players now that we can do it.”
Rice was keen to stress that the players still see their situation as one to be embraced rather than feared. “One thing that stuck with me after the Manchester United game, the manager talked about looking at the position that we’ve earned for ourselves. We have to enjoy this,” he explained. “We’re playing for Arsenal, we’re in the final of the [Carabao] Cup, in the next round of the FA Cup, in the Champions League, first in the Premier League.”
At the same time, he made it clear that recent performances are not enough if Arsenal are to stay there. “We need some perspective about where we are, but also we need to look a bit bigger to understand that if we carry on doing what we’re doing in terms of the results, it isn’t going to last,” Rice said. “It’s on us as players to pick that up, because we have it in us to win every game, I genuinely believe with this group, with what we’ve done here before, we could go on the run and easily win games.”
The collapse at Molineux has clearly stayed with him. Reflecting on Wolves fighting back from 2–0 down, Rice admitted: “For them to come back and draw 2–2 was sickening and very, very disappointing. We just stopped doing the basics, in a game of football it swings both ways and we ended up getting into a game they wanted to play. We didn’t really get a foothold in the game after the first goal, which is disappointing because at 2–0 you think you’re going to walk away with it.”
He also offered a rare window into what happened in the dressing room afterwards. “You see a lot of talk of ‘what’s it going to be like in the changing room? What are players going to be saying to each other?’” Rice said. “Trust me, if you were in there the other night, you would see how much it means to us. If you want to win things, you need to be able to demand stuff of each other and say truths in the moment. I’ve had it done to me, other players have had them done to themselves in their time and that’s just part of trying to build a winning culture.”
Rice described Mikel Arteta’s role in that environment as a calming one. “That’s where the manager comes in, because he always has different angles, puts perspective on things and he’s really calm,” he added, saying he has noticed a “big difference” in how the squad react to setbacks compared to when he first arrived. “Things will get said in the moment, even if it’s heated, but five to ten minutes after that, you’ll shake hands and it’s over – that’s what it’s about.”
Attention now turns to Spurs, where Rice will mark his 100th Premier League appearance for Arsenal. The 25-year-old called the derby “always special” and framed it as a test of mentality as much as quality. “Sunday isn’t just going to be about football, it’s going to be about how much you want it as well,” he said. “You’re going away to Spurs, they have a new manager, they’ve had loads of injuries, but it’s going to be a game both of us are going to want to win… that day, it’s all in your mind – how much do you really want it? You’ve got to fight for it and trust me, I want it.”
For Arsenal, Rice’s comments underline a simple reality before the run-in. The table still reflects a season of progress and genuine title contention, but the room for slippage has narrowed. The message from one of the dressing room’s central figures is that the response has to come from inside the group, starting with how they handle the derby and what follows.