Declan Rice says Arsenal have learned from the last two seasons of falling short against Manchester City and are ready to take the next step and win the Premier League.
The Gunners travel to the Etihad Stadium to play City on Sunday afternoon knowing the match will be crucial to their chances of lifting the trophy in May. City have won four straight titles – and six of the last seven – and have been relentlessly consistent under Pep Guardiola.
Speaking to Arsenal women’s star forward Alessia Russo for Sky Sports, Rice explained: “When we came back, it was like one of the manager’s first meetings – in terms of like, how can we be better this season, how can we upgrade. We missed out on the league last year by two points, the year before was four points.
“So, it was how can we keep getting better and striving for more. We are really close. It is the finer details, the Villa game which let us down towards the end – we reflect on that. It was disappointing but overall such a positive year again.”
Arsenal have gone toe-to-toe with City since being thumped 4-1 in April 2023, but they have been extremely close contests. The last three meetings in all competitions have brought just three goals and the Gunners will be without captain Martin Odegaard on Sunday due to injury.
They come into the match after another tough away game, having drawn 0-0 with Atalanta in the Champions League on Thursday. The Gunners had David Raya to thank for the point in Bergamo, with the keeper making a stunning double save to stop a penalty and the rebound.
Arteta knows what it will take to beat City. “For sure we will prepare to try and win, like we did tonight,” he said after the Atalanta draw. “That’s been the message already. In order to do that there are going to be things that we have to do much better than tonight.
“There are some things that we have done exceptionally well tonight and we are going to have to do them again. Because we all know we need a big performance to beat them.”
Asked about Arsenal’s attack, he added: “Yes, we want to improve in certain areas but in order to do that it’s important that we have to be much, much better. We never got distances or the right relationships and putting the ball in areas where they really suffer. We need to be a lot more consistent if we want the team to flow. We need to do it much more consistently if you want the game to flow.”
