Declan Rice arrived at Arsenal this summer in a £105m deal from West Ham (Picture: Getty)
Declan Rice has told his Arsenal teammates that they must ‘demand more from each other’ after a damaging 2-1 defeat at Fulham on New Year’s Eve.
Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners an early lead at Craven Cottage but Fulham fought back to secure three points and make it back-to-back defeats for Arsenal.
Rice, who arrived at the Emirates this summer in a £105m deal from West Ham, wants his fellow squad members to step up as the north Londoners attempt to secure their first top-flight trophy since 2004 in the second half of the season.
‘Very disappointing,’ Rice told Sky Sports after Arsenal’s latest loss. ‘Very tough to take. Not good enough from us again today.
‘Obviously the last two results have not been what we have been setting over the course of the season.
‘On the back of the draw at Liverpool we felt we could kick on but two defeats is a tough one to swallow.
‘The game against West Ham we had 30 shots, so many touches in the box but couldn’t put it away.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid scored the winner as Fulham beat Arsenal (Picture: Getty)
‘Today when go one up we have to have more control. We need to demand more from each other.
‘We had to push on again and go for more. In this league there is no room to mess up. It is a tough one to take.
‘We dominated the ball, played good stuff but again not putting the ball in the net.
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‘We knew three points would put us back on top. It is two defeats in a row. It is time to reset and we go again.’
Quizzed for his views on the Premier League title race, Rice added: ‘I don’t really look at the table.
‘There is a lot of media who talk and say Arsenal will win the league this year. We don’t get involved in that. It is a blip in a road but it is no time to panic. We need to stay positive.’
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‘We need to demand more from each other.’