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Declan Rice says Arsenal players are not even talking about one thing even though everyone else is

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Declan Rice has opened up on Arsenal’s Premier League title race with Manchester City.

The Gunners are on top of the Premier League table, seven points clear of the Sky Blues, who have a game in hand.

Arsenal are the favourites to win the title this season, but the ghosts of the past are still on everyone’s minds.

However, Rice and his teammates are not even talking about what happened before.

What would your message to the Arsenal team be after the Brighton win?

A graphic of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta showing Arsenal and Manchester City's chances of winning the Premier League title after matchday 29.
Credit: Getty Images/Ryan Pierse/Paul ELLIS / AFP

Declan Rice says Arsenal players are not speaking about previous title races

Arsenal have some bad memories from recent seasons.

The North Londoners led the Premier League for large parts of the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, but they still ended up finishing second.

That anxiety is still very much on Arsenal fans’ minds, which is why the crowd at the Emirates Stadium often gets nervous when things aren’t going their way in games.

The fear, however, is not on players’ minds, and they aren’t even speaking about it as we enter the business end of the season, says Declan Rice.

Declan Rice of Arsenal celebrates after teammate Kai Havertz (not pictured) scored the team's first goal during the Carabao Cup Semi Final Second Leg match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium.
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

The midfielder said on Sky Sports: “I don’t think we talk about the past and what’s happened in the past. You don’t want to talk about how you lost the title or how you came second.

“You only want to talk about what you’re dealing with in the current situation, and that’s top of the Premier League, first in the Champions League group stage and still in all the cup competitions.

“So, it’s a really good perspective of what we’re doing this season. We’re not trying to get carried away with outside noise. We’re just doing what we can do, and internally, inside our building, we know what we want to achieve.

“So, we’re going to keep going and, yeah, keep giving it everything we got.”

This is what Arsenal need IF Man City win their fixtures around the Etihad clash – How confident do you feel now?

A graphic to show what Arsenal need to do to win the Premier League based on the result at the Etihad when they face Manchester City.
Credit: Getty Images

Mikel Arteta has changed Arsenal’s mentality

There is a big change in mentality at Arsenal, and that is all down to Mikel Arteta.

In previous seasons, the Gunners would’ve likely lost games like the one against Brighton, but it’s different this time.

Arsenal seem to have learned from their mistakes, and they seem ready to go all the way this season, even though everyone else is doubting them based on what happened in previous campaigns.

Arteta deserves a lot of credit for that, and we really hope that the Arsenal manager and his side can finally get over the line in the coming months.