Arsenal: Declan Rice reveals if he’s supporting Tottenham against Man City
Declan Rice faces a major dilemma when Arsenal’s fierce derby rivals Tottenham take on title challengers Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend.
The Gunners star produced a dominant performance in midfield as Mikel Arteta’s league leaders missed rainy Elland Road with a 4-0 victory over Leeds, seemingly recovered from shaky performances of recent weeks.
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Goals from Martin Zubimendi, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus plus an own goal from a Noni Madueke corner helped Arsenal overcome Bukayo Saka’s pre-match injury defeat and regain a seven-point lead in the quest for their first Premier League title in more than two decades.
Meanwhile, the margin of victory means they now have the best goal difference in the division.
Man City, second in the table and currently holding a goal difference of +26 to Arsenal’s +29, face Spurs in north London on Sunday and will aim to take advantage of their hosts’ poor domestic form, which includes just two home league wins in 11 attempts.
Given that a City win would reduce Arsenal’s advantage to four points, while a Spurs triumph could only take Thomas Frank’s side to 13th place, the red half of north London are faced with a conundrum over who to support.
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This is perhaps more true for Rice than most, given that the 27-year-old started out at Chelsea as a youth before becoming a star at West Ham and eventually sealing a move to the Emirates; three clubs, all London rivals of the Lilywhites.
Former Spurs midfielder and manager Tim Sherwood realized the situation Rice finds himself in and asked the England international a tough question after full-time.
“There wouldn’t have been many times you would have wanted Tottenham to win, but maybe tomorrow night?” » Sherwood asked in an interview on Soccer Saturday.
Rice sighed and laughed, before responding, “To be honest, you embarrassed me!” »
Declan Rice in action for Arsenal on a rainy night at Elland Road (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
He continued: “Look, it’s obviously a huge game, but we’re training tomorrow because we have a (Carabao Cup) semi-final (second leg, against Chelsea) on Tuesday.
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“If I can watch (Man City vs Spurs) I will, but otherwise I don’t mind too much.
“We have to control what we can control and keep winning games. There’s not much time left, every game is a cup final, we have to have this mentality now and keep pushing. What will be, will be.”
Admitting the Gunners had gone through “a little bit of a hiccup” during their three-game winless run in the league before Saturday, Rice added that the resounding win over Leeds was “massive”.
“There are 15 games left in the Premier League and at the end of the day if you want to stay at the top you have to keep winning. It was a massive result from everyone today and a great performance.”