Declan Rice says it is up to Arsenal to win trophies after failing to win silverware in recent years.
Arsenal have finished second in the Premier League for the past two seasons, finishing five points behind Manchester City in the 2022/23 season and two points lower in the 2023/24 season.
The Gunners were knocked out of the FA Cup on Sunday, losing on penalties to Manchester United despite playing with an extra player for around an hour, while their hopes of reaching the EFL Cup final looked slim after a 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle United. in the first leg of the semi-final.
However, the Gunners are at the top of the Premier League this season as they chase a 14th league title, but they are only given a 9.9% chance of winning the title by the Opta supercomputer as they have six points lagging behind leader Liverpool. , who have a game in their hands.
And Rice says it is now up to Arsenal to show they are still in the title race.
“It was a good start [to the season]he told TNT Sports ahead of their Premier League meeting with Tottenham.
“Probably too many draws than we expected, but we've still been very solid. Obviously we are missing some key players, which has been difficult, but we are still in it and we are still playing. Good.
“You have to be on it all the time. We know now, in the second half of the season, that anything can happen. We just have to keep winning football games, concentrate on ourselves and hopefully we will be there, so we just have to keep going.
“The last two years we've been so close to the Premier League and we've come up short. The fans are really waiting for that now, and we really want to make it happen.”
Mikel Arteta led Arsenal to the FA Cup in his first season and has since won the Community Shield twice, in 2020 and 2023.
“The manager is incredible, he gave us everything he could to go out and win a football game,” Rice added. 'It's up to us now, we have to find something from within.
“The only thing missing is winning things with this team, so hopefully that will come.”
One of Arsenal's strongest attributes this season has been their set pieces. The Gunners have scored nine goals in the Premier League from corners, the most of any team. Five of their last thirteen league goals have come via corners.
Rice assisted on two of those set-piece goals and took on corner responsibilities in Bukayo Saka's absence.
“I don't get a chance to practice it much, it's more that now I know my spot and I know where I'm going to hit it,” Rice said.
“I feel like every time I put the ball down, I'm going to hit that spot. There has to be the whole process, the timing.
“I think that's why we've been so good, because of the repetition and knowing each other's roles inside and out.
“Because we have so many games a month we don't really get much time to work on it on the grass. It's more about seeing it visually and talking about it, but if we get the chance, say three games in a month we will working on it. It's been a strength of ours and we've scored some really good goals with it.”
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