Rice buzzing after helping us get over the line

Declan Rice was full of celebration post-match after seeing us beat Crystal Palace 1-0, and he put that down to his teammates demanding everything from each other.

Martin Odegaard’s penalty settled the game in our favour, but it wasn’t straightforward following Takehiro Tomiyasu’s red card which meant we had to play almost 30 minutes with 10 men.

But Declan was keen to emphasise how much everyone on the pitch contributed to the win, by keeping the standards high and constantly communicating to see us get the points.

“Before the game we knew how big coming to Selhurst Park is, especially at the start of the season,” Declan said. “We needed to keep the momentum going, up until when we went down to 10 men we were in complete control, dominated the game, passed the ball so well, and should’ve been two-up in the first half. To score in the second half was really nice and then to hold on with the resilience we showed was perfect.  

“If you looked on the pitch, everyone is driving each other. We went into a back three, and the lads didn’t stop talking, Jorgi came on and he was brilliant, he kept pushing and demanding. It’s about seeing the game out. 

“They suck the goals in behind the goal here, and they’re a full force when they’re at it so to nullify them and not let them score tonight on their first home game of the season was a big plus.”

On what was just his third appearance for us, Declan put in a fine display at the heart of our midfield, constantly evolving to manage the changes Mikel Arteta made to his line-up to ensure we became tighter and stopped Palace from creating too much of note.

He feels better is still to come as he keeps trying to absorb as much as he can from the boss and our coaching staff during training sessions, and is also fully enjoying playing for his new supporters who once again packed out the away end at Selhurst Park to help push us over the line.

Reflecting on his first couple of months at the club, he added: “I take it every day as it comes. I keep trying to listen, trying to focus, building relationships with my teammates on the pitch, and obviously doing what the manager wants of me. I think if I stick to those plans I’ll be just fine in an Arsenal shirt.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the club, the energy around the place, the feel-good factor of the fans, you can just feel it. When we’ve come out for the warm-up, it’s pretty much already full and at the end they’re singing the manager’s name. 

“They’re buzzing with the three points, and so are we as players. We’ve got to keep doing that. Six points after two games, it’s a good start and we’ve got to keep pushing.”