Gary Lineker thought Declan Rice was going to have his very own Steven Gerrard mishap during Arsenal’s 4-1 win against Tottenham.
Every player makes mistakes, but the issue is that Arsenal have been making far too many since the turn of the year.
Rice’s mishap against Tottenham was the fourth time in 2026 that an Arsenal player has made a careless error leading to a goal in the Premier League.
Fortunately, the Englishman was able to rectify his goal-causing mistake as the Gunners made history by beating Tottenham 4-1, but it so easily could’ve been a different story for Rice.
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Gary Lineker compares Declan Rice’s mistake against Tottenham to Steven Gerrard’s slip in 2014
Rice left N17 with all three points, which he would’ve loved to know in the 34th minute, when he was left red-faced by Randal Kolo Muani.
Just seconds after the restart following Eberechi Eze’s opening goal, Rice lost possession in the worst possible area, having the ball nicked from him by Kolo Muani, who went on to equalise.
It wasn’t Rice’s mistake that generated attention, but what happened just before it, too.
Gary Lineker was talking about it on The Rest Is Football podcast, seeing shades of Steven Gerrard in Rice’s error that followed a motivational huddle.
“It was quite the irony. At one point, we were saying if it goes a bit pear-shaped for Arsenal here, it might be like a Steven Gerrard moment,” Lineker said.
The pundit was referring to Gerrard’s famous slip against Chelsea in 2014, which came two weeks after he publicly called the Liverpool team into a huddle to say, “We don’t let this slip.”
Be honest, did you see shades of Steven Gerrard when Declan Rice made his mistake vs Tottenham?
Gerrard did the most ironic thing and slipped to watch the title run away from Liverpool, something that Lineker thought Rice could’ve repeated.
“He obviously gathered the group together, and he’s giving it mentality and all this.
“It was like a very open to the public view of the fact that it was obviously with the thought of the game against Wolves in his mind. We can’t let this happen.
“Then he, of all people, who rarely makes any mistakes, and you thought to yourself, oh boy, surely not that kind of moment.”
It was the irony of the situation that had Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea slip into the minds of many after Rice’s performative rally cry ended with him losing concentration in a key moment.
Declan Rice will want to move on from his poor North London Derby performance
Rice’s error was later described as ‘rare’ by The Rest Is Football panel, but it wasn’t just his mistake that was a rarity.
Yet another mistake from Arsenal, how worried are you about the nerves in the squad?
A howler from Declan Rice 🫣
The midfielder actually had a rather poor afternoon, with Sofascore ranking just Leandro Trossard below Rice in their match ratings.
Rice’s afternoon was a testing one, and very unlike his usual level, completing only 76% of his passes, none of his crosses and losing possession 23 times.
It was an outing that the England international will want to move swiftly on from, which he can in peace, as his teammates spared his blushes to record a resounding win over their rivals.
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