Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has urged his team to ignore the voices from outside after the Gunners were held 1-1 by Brentford on Thursday, thus allowing Manchester City to cut the lead at the top of the Premier League.
Manchester City are now just four points behind Arsenal and their home ground will be the venue for the match between the two title contenders in April, thus the drama of the top race intensifies the further it goes.
After staging a nine-point lead last weekend, Arsenal seemed to be in control of the season. However, City first came from behind to win at Liverpool and then defeated Fulham in the middle of the week, thus they put the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s side again.
Arsenal went ahead through Noni Madueke in west London, but Brentford hit back through Keane Lewis-Potter and certainly made their late surge for a winner.
Rice saw the difficulty of the remaining fixtures but emphasized the importance of having the right attitude and confidence as the season progresses into its last stage.
Manager Mikel Arteta was quite upset about his team’s lack of control after the break. Unnecessary fouls and poor defending of set-pieces were the main reasons, according to him.
Brentford’s equalising goal was the result of a long throw-in, an area where Arsenal had problems.
With City, coached by Pep Guardiola, on the rise, Arsenal realizes that they can’t afford many mistakes when they are chasing their first league title in 22 years.
