Declan Rice rubbed salt into Tottenham’s wounds with a cheeky quip (Image: X.com/TNT Sports)
claimed were disappointed that they didn’t score 10 goals in their 2-1 over on Wednesday night.
The Gunners bounced back from a goal down to beat their north London rivals and secure the bragging rights for another season, as well as putting themselves firmly in contention for the title.
An early Son Heung-min strike came against the run of play after a period of complete dominance from the hosts, and they fought back through a own goal, courtesy of some stellar aerial play from Gabriel Magalhaes.
Leandro Trossard scored what proved to be the winner, although ‘s side missed a hatful of chances to kill the game off in the second half.
Rice even claimed that were unhappy with their profligacy in front of goal and suggested they should’ve hit double digits for goals considering the chances they had.
“You could tell that it [winning the game] meant more than anything,” Rice said after the game, speaking to TNT Sports. “From the first minute, it was pure domination. We showed that desire, intent and pressure… you could tell it was a derby.
“To be honest with you, we were unlucky, we probably should have scored 10 tonight. That was the feeling [in the dressing room].”
The £105million midfielder was one of the players to make a real impression with a fine all-action display from the middle of the park, often supporting attacks down the left flank and retreating to win back possession.
Declan Rice was one of the players to impress in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Tottenham (Image: Getty)
Asked if he felt more motivated for the game, Rice replied: “When you play Spurs, you know what it means to the fans.
“If you’re a player and you can’t get up for Spurs, you shouldn’t be playing football. You need to have that fire in your belly and we had that tonight.
“Second half, the game got stretched and they could’ve maybe scored a couple, but we could’ve had another five or six and that’s the disappointing thing.
“But the win’s the most important and hopefully we can go on a run because this is the most important part of the season.”
Arsenal are now four points off Liverpool at the top after their 2-1 win (Image: Getty)
Arteta reflected Rice’s view that his players could’ve done more to kill off the game, but the Spaniard was full of praise for their efforts.
“Outstanding today. From the first minute we were really at it, really intense. We played with a real purpose to hurt them. We created an unbelivable atmosphere,” the boss said.
“We know how important the game is. It’s a gift we can make the supporters very happy. The attitude we played with, not feeling sorry for ourselves, was phenomenal. We played 120 minutes three days ago.”
The result puts back into second place in the , climbing above Nottingham Forest after their 1-1 draw with league leaders . Arteta’s men are now just four points adrift of the Reds, who have a game in hand to play, and have another home game on Saturday against Aston Villa as Unai Emery returns to his former club.