We will see what happens’ – Declan Rice says Arsenal not out of title race after defeating Manchester United
Arsenal’s winning streak in the Premier League is up to three games after the club defeated Manchester United 2-0 at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
The Gunners rode a dominant second half to the victory, with goals by Jurrien Timber and William Saliba boosting them to victory.
For the North London club, Wednesday’s win was not only their third straight in the league, but it was their fourth consecutive victory overall when including their most recent Champions League outing, and it extends their unbeaten streak in all competitions to five games.
“What a night,” Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice told Amazon Prime. “Manchester United have a new manager so we knew it would be a test. We stuck to the game plan and we could’ve had three or four [goals].”
Both second-half goals were scored by defenders off corner kicks, a weapon Arsenal have maximized this season. Even without injured set-piece goal threat Gabriel Magalhães, the Gunners were still dangerous on nearly all of their 13 corners during the match, with Rice serving up many of them.
The 25-year-old noted that corners are something the team consistently works on, so it’s satisfying to see them pay off.
“When you go up for a corner it’s a chance to score a goal,” he said. “To score both of them from corners, [set-piece coach] Nico [Jover] will be buzzing and I’m so happy. It’s more just seeing clips and I know the weight I need to put on the ball and it’s just about repetition. I put a few good balls in and could’ve had a couple of assists so it was nice to get one.”
The win moves Arsenal to within seven points of league-leading Liverpool after Wednesday’s matches, with Chelsea occupying second place with the same number of points as the Gunners. Rice stressed that it is way too early to write any club off but especially his own, as Arsenal have shown the ability to bounce back following their run of poor results earlier in the season.
“When you have a blip in the league you get written off,” Rice said. “We stick together as a group and we knew the run of results were not good enough, now we’re starting to see a turn of that. People get carried away. You just need to be around it in February time. Liverpool have dropped points, they’re seven away so we will see what happens.”
