Soccer

Mentally it’s tough – Arsenal’s Declan Rice on pressure to keep up with Man City

The Gunners needed two stoppage-time goals to seal a 4-2 triumph over Leicester on Saturday.

Declan Rice is well aware of “the pressure of playing for Arsenal”
Declan Rice is well aware of “the pressure of playing for Arsenal” (Adam Davy/PA)
By Philip Duncan, PA

Declan Rice has joked his “anxiety is through the roof” as Arsenal bid to keep the heat on rivals Manchester City.

The Gunners looked on course to cruise to victory against Leicester – and match City’s tally of 14 points after six matches in the Premier League – but they required two stoppage-time goals to seal a 4-2 win.

Arsenal will return to European action with a home tie against Paris St Germain on Tuesday night.

It will mark the north London club’s sixth match in 17 days – a frantic period which has included games on the road against Tottenham, City and Atalanta.

“Mentally it is tough and the anxiety is through the roof,” England midfielder Rice acknowledged with a wry smile.

“You know the pressure of playing for Arsenal, you have to win every game. And if you want to win Premier Leagues and cups and titles, and compete at the top, you need to be at your best and you need to win, otherwise the pressure mounts.

“When it went to 2-2, it was tough. You look up at the the clock, and you think, ‘We’ve still got time here’. But you have also got one thought thinking, ‘We cannot drop points today if we want to compete at the end of the season and win the title’. Look, we kept going, kept believing and in the end, three points was massive.

“We always believe in what we do. That comes from the manager, that we keep pushing, and we have got a set of lads on the pitch who are ready to do anything to win.”

Arsenal are one point behind early leaders Liverpool. They will host a PSG side that have registered six victories and one draw from their opening seven matches of the season.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners host PSG on Tuesday evening
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners host PSG on Tuesday evening (Adam Davy/PA)

Mikel Arteta’s side are bidding to land their first win in the rejigged Champions League group stage following a goalless draw at Atalanta earlier this month.

“It is a different format now, and we are coming up against probably tougher teams than you normally would,” Rice continued.

“Usually you would find these games in the quarter-finals or semi-finals, so for it to be our second game is massive.

“It is a big game because we need to get points on the board. We will be ready and we are excited, because we have not played PSG before. They are a top team, so we will be ready for that one.”