Declan Rice struck a frustrating figure following Arsenal’s 2-0, 10-man loss to Bournemouth on Saturday, a setback that sullied a previously unbeaten Premier League record.
It was the matter of which the Gunners lost that burns Rice, whose team went down to 10 men in the first half when William Saliba hauled down Evanilson in denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
Rice says Arsenal are still full of belief but sick of what he calls “silly mistakes” — their three red cards spread among two draws and this loss.
[ MORE: Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal | Three things learned ]
The Gunners have now had 18 red cards during Arteta’s tenure, five more than any other team during that time span.
“The matter of the fact is we kicked ourselves in the foot three times this season in eight games,” said Rice, whose team failed to take over first place in the Premier League for at least a day. “We got away with it twice, but not all the time luck can go your way. Bournemouth kept probing and they won 2-nil.”
Declan Rice reaction: Upset with ‘naivete’ of Arsenal
Rice repeatedly mentioned his pride in Arsenal’s performance, and he’s calling himself out as much as William Saliba. Rice and teammate Leandro Trossard were the other players shown red cards in Arsenal games this season.
“Look, I’m proud of us as a group of players to keep fighting and believing like we do believe that we can win even with 10 men,” Rice said. “But the naivete of it is we’ve gotta stop making mistakes because we want 11 players for 90 minutes and that wins you football matches. ... With 10 men we showed a lot of character and personality to stay in the game.”
Rice mentioned Kepa Arrizabalaga’s huge stop on GThe big chance is the on we had, the Martinelli’s chance. Listen the keeper’s made a great save, he’s read Martinelli’s shot. A minute later they get the corner. We have no regrets tonight other than the fact that we can’t keep making silly mistakes especially if you want to compete and be at the top of the season. We need our best our players on the pitch at all times. it gives the other players a mountain to climb, too, when you’re down to 10 men.”
But Rice also stressed that the team came together in the dressing room after the game to underline everything that’s on the line for Arsenal in the coming weeks: Champions league ties with Shakhtar Donetsk and Inter Milan, a League Cup scrap at Preston, and three Premier League marquee matches: home to Liverpool and away to Newcastle and Chelsea.
“Look, the belief in this group is still so, so high,” Rice said. “We’ve just spoken just now as a group. Such a big big month coming up. So we’ll stick together. This is football. This is what happens. It’s a roller coaster game, an up-and-down journey and it’s never going to be perfect.”
Mikel Arteta reaction: Playing with 10 men ‘accident waiting to happen’
Arteta lamented the team’s position and even the timing of Saliba’s red card.
“It’s very difficult to win with 10 men — The task to do it for 67,68 minutes is just an accident waiting to happen,” Arteta said on NBC after the game. “We’ve had to do it three times in eight games and today it cost us the game. We had the biggest chance and the biggest moment in the game with 10 men to score, and then at the other end we concede a goal.”
He was asked what’s going wrong with the Gunners’ discipline.
“We’re trying to stick to the rules,” Arteta said. “They’ve been three very different ones with three very different outcomes but today it happened. The team tried. The effort, understanding, and approach with 10 men was fantastic but it wasn’t enough to win the game.”
