Declan Rice feels that Arsenal’s loss to RC Lens can be ‘good’ for the club (Picture: beIN SPORTS)
Declan Rice has warned Manchester City that Arsenal will give it ‘absolutely everything’ on Sunday as the Premier League title favourites lock horns.
City and Arsenal were involved in an epic title race last season and despite the Gunners leading the table for a record 248 days, it was Pep Guardiola’s side who eventually came out on top as they went on to land a famous treble.
The Gunners are desperate to secure their first top-flight title since 2004 and strengthened their squad in the summer transfer window, signing midfielder Rice from West Ham in a huge £105m deal as they look to close the gap to City.
Some pundits have tipped Arsenal to win the Premier League this term and the north Londoners will be encouraged by City’s back-to-back defeats to Newcastle United and Wolves.
Arsenal lost to French side RC Lens in the Champions League on Tuesday but Rice feels the result can be ‘good’ for his side because they can ‘bounce back’ on Sunday.
‘We’re 10 games into the season, another 50 to go,’ Rice said. ‘We’re just warming up and getting into our rhythm, but our full focus turns back to the league and it’s a massive game on Sunday.
‘Every game is huge and Man City is obviously a massive game. It is one we are going to be up for, for sure.
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‘We played them earlier in the season [in the Community Shield] which is a good thing. We will give it absolutely everything on Sunday. For 90 minutes we will be going at it, and hopefully we come out on top.
‘We absolutely dominated [Lens] in terms of the ball, but both boxes were key. They scored two great goals and we couldn’t break down their back five.
‘It’s really tough to play against when teams sit so deep and the gaps are not there. We’ll take the positives and the negatives. I think i’s good for us as a team to have that loss, as we can bounce back and see where we can improve.’
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