Declan Rice says that Arsenal will continue to fight until Premier League Glory is mathematically impossible, after they have dropped more valuable points against Manchester United.
The second half of Rice has canceled a free-stage from Bruno Fernandes when Arsenal came from behind to pull 1-1 in Old Trafford on Sunday.
But the Gunners are now 15 points behind the League leaders Liverpool with only one match in hand, and the Arne Slot team will close the title if they still pick up 16 points.
Arsenal struggled to create clear opportunities, in which only a figure of 1.61 expected goals (XG) '1.65 of their opponents was collected, despite the fact that they had 17 shots and only 10 are confronted.
Rice spoke with Sky Sports after full-time, Rice complained the lack of attacking thrust of Arsenal only five days after a crushing 7-1 win over PSV in the Champions League.
“In the first half we had some nice pieces playing, but didn't have that cutting edge,” he said. “In the second half we were very naive and we almost gave the game to United.
“We scored seven in midweek and that is not lucky. PSV had not lost two years at home. United did well and was good in the low block. It could take 90 minutes to break that down. There was not much in the game.”
There is now a strong chance that Liverpool has secured the title before Arsenal visits Anfield on 10 May, and the Gunners are closer to Fulham of the 10th placed (13 points) than with the leaders.
But Rice refused to admit the title race and said: “We will continue until the end of the season. Liverpool has been great all year round. We are Arsenal. We are hit hard by injuries. We will continue and it will be fine.”
Arsenal was not happy with the Dead-Ball attack of Fernandes, because repetitions showed that referee Anthony Taylor set up the Gunners' Wall more than 10 meters from the ball, but Rice would not use that as an excuse.
He said: “That is where the line was sprayed. We said we were far back and it felt like the ball was flying over us at a low altitude. Anthony is the ref, he takes that decision. I have not seen the goal back, but we can do it better.”
Arsenal could not win at Man Utd on Sunday, but despite that, Mikel Arteta can still have the fifth victories after 200 Premier League matches as manager (118).
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– Opta Analyst (@Optaanalyst) March 9, 2025
Mikel Arteta was far from satisfied with the performance of his team, criticized their end product and said they lost the game too late, when David Raya made a stunning salvation to refuse Fernandes a winner.
“We had some incredible situations, but we didn't get the last shot or the last pass,” he told Sky Sports. “We have not capitalized, we rushed the game, we started to lose duels and we could have losing it.
“We opened the gate to lose the game. There was no chance to lose the game and we opened it ourselves. I will always defend my players, but we have to do better.
“How we admitted the opportunities at certain times were not acceptable. They have so much quality, and they choose the right player and normally that would end in a goal.”
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