‘Stop blaming David Raya’: Declan Rice blames Arsenal’s shock Premier League draw on player who lost 100% duels and EASILY gave away the ball 8 times
Declan Rice has given a brutal assessment of Arsenal’s performance against Chelsea. The Gunners came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 but the midfielder was not happy with how his team played, especially in the first half.
Arsenal’s unbeaten start in the Premier League this season came close to ending at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea led with 13 minutes of the match remaining and were set to win a fourth match in a row.
Cole Palmer’s penalty had opened the scoring for the hosts before Mykhaylo Mudryk’s flukey effort finally saw him score his first goal at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal were toothless in attack and had to rely on a goalkeeper mistake to get back into the game.
Robert Sanchez’s poor pass out from the back went straight to Rice and the £105million star finished well into an open goal from 20 yards. Arsenal then drew level through substitute Leandro Trossard and both teams had to settle for a point.
Rice admits the Gunners showed great character to come back into the game. But he was disappointed with what the team had produced earlier, labelling it the worst performance since he came to the club.
Rice told Sky Sports: “I think the first half from us was probably the worst we’d played all season, in terms of sloppiness, not doing things in our structure, not doing things in how we’ve worked. But also massive credit to Chelsea.
“The manager said this week that they’d been really unlucky this season and they were going to be a tough opponent, they’ve got some incredible players. It was never going to be easy but to show that heart, that character when you’re 2-0 down with 15 minutes to go.
“Sometimes it’s about that inner belief that you can do it and once I got the first and we kept pushing it was about driving the team on and making sure that everyone else believes that we can get something here. So in the end it’s a positive result from where we came from.”
