Declan Rice calls for mentality change after Arsenal suffer second straight EPL loss

LONDON – Arsenal need to build a stronger in-game mentality, midfielder Declan Rice said after they lost back-to-back matches with a 2-1 defeat by Fulham on Dec 31, hurting their English Premier League title challenge.

The Gunners failed to capitalise on an early lead given by Bukayo Saka at Craven Cottage, slipping to fourth place on 40 points from 20 games, having lost 2-0 at home to West Ham United on Dec 28.

Fulham hit back with goals by Raul Jimenez and Bobby de Cordova-Reid either side of half-time. The Cottagers almost scored their third when Andreas Pereira’s late free kick rattled the crossbar.

While there may be pressure from champions Manchester City and this season’s surprise package Aston Villa’s victories over the weekend, Rice said Arsenal will not hit the panic button.

“When you go 1-0 up, you need to take more control and have more self-belief,” Rice told Sky Sports.

“You need to have more desire, the mentality needs to be better. We need to demand more for each other.

“In this league, there’s no room to mess up. There’s so many good teams around you and we want to be pushing up the top end of the table.”

His manager Mikel Arteta called the match their “worst game of the season”.

He added: “The pace, the purpose we have in attack, defensively, we were second best.

“Not enough purpose speed or threat. We were sloppy with the ball. It wasn’t good enough. We didn’t deserve to win...

“We could not control the direct play. It was so easy for (Fulham) to win that first, second ball and have opportunity to run, and we conceded (two goals that way).”

He added: “What happened today cannot happen again. Because if you do that, you will never have the chance to be where we want to be.”

But Arsenal are not fixated on the league table, according to Rice.

Villa moved up to 42 points, the same as Liverpool, who lead on goal difference and host Newcastle United later on Jan 1, while City sit third ahead of Arsenal on goal difference with a game in hand.

“There’s a lot of media who talk and say ‘Arsenal will win the league this year, Arsenal are better this year’, and whatnot. But we don’t get involved in that, we just try to take every game as we can, one by one,” Rice said.

“We’ve been doing really well. There’s been a blip in the road, but there’s no room to panic. There’s still so many games to go, we need to stay positive. It’s not the time to be negative.”

A lack of a clinical striker has been pinpointed as the major flaw among Arteta’s squad that may prevent them from winning a first league title in 20 years.

But Arsenal also kept just one clean sheet in eight games in December, although Arteta rejected suggestions he needs to further reinforce his squad in the January transfer window.

Former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports: “This might be the reality check they need... It’s almost good news, they’re getting this form out of the way, because they’re not right at the moment...

“Do I put them in the equation to win the league? Absolutely. I still think there are only three runners: Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal. Arsenal right now, this might do them a little bit of a favour.

“This time last year they were playing so well and everyone got a little bit carried away, a bit excited and when the end of the season came, they fell off a cliff. This might be the wake-up call they need.”

Fulham had lost their previous three league games without scoring a goal. This result marked the first time they won a league game in which they had fallen behind at any stage since October 2022, ending a 26-game winless run.

The return of Jimenez from suspension, though, proved the catalyst for an impressive display for Marco Silva’s side, who moved up to 13th place with 24 points from 20 games.

“Really the best way to finish 2023, definitely. Our ambition was to finish on a high and react from the last two games,” said Silva.

“I really believe we deserve it. Over the 95 minutes, we deserved it more.” REUTERS, AFP