Rice calls for more grit as Arsenal’s title hopes dwindle

• Arsenal lost back-to-back games.
• Declan Rice calls for a more focused mindset.
• Arsenal dropped to fourth place with 40 points.

Declan Rice, a midfielder for Arsenal, thinks the team has to have a more focused mindset during games after dropping points in back-to-back games.

Arsenal’s prospects of winning the Premier League title were damaged on Sunday when they lost 2-1 to Fulham.

Arsenal dropped to fourth place with 40 points halfway through the season after failing to capitalize on an early lead provided by Bukayo Saka at Craven Cottage.

On Thursday, the Gunners also suffered a 2-0 home defeat to West Ham United.

“When you go 1-0 up, you need to take more control and have more self-belief,” Rice told Sky Sports.

“You need to have more desire, the mentality needs to be better. We need to demand more for each other.

“In this league, there’s no room to mess up. There’s so many good teams around you and we want to be pushing up the top end of the table. It’s a tough one to take today.”

Defending champions Manchester City are third with a game remaining, while Aston Villa and Liverpool, who lead on goal differential and play Newcastle United later on Monday, all have 42 points.

“There’s a lot of media who talk and say ‘Arsenal will win the league this year, Arsenal are better this year’, and whatnot. But we don’t get involved in that, we just try to take every game as we can, one by one,” Rice said.

“We’ve been doing really well. There’s been a blip in the road, but there’s no room to panic. There’s still so many games to go, we need to stay positive. It’s not the time to be negative.”

Also Read

Fulham Shocks Arsenal: Premier League Standings Reshuffled

Fulham stuns, puts Arsenal in fourth. Arsenal's early lead falters, settling in...