In stark contrast to Mikel Arteta’s baffling comments about points talles in recent days, Declan Rice has sportingly given Liverpool due credit for winning the Premier League this season.
The Arsenal midfielder misses out on today’s match at Anfield, with the Liverpool Echo attributing his absence to injury, so his teammates will be tasked with staving off a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions when they face the champions.
Arne Slot has restored several big guns to the starting XI after resting a few familiar names against Chelsea last weekend, and the Reds will be hoping to put on a show in their first home fixture since clinching the title a fortnight ago.
Rice praises Liverpool as worthy champions
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of this afternoon’s clash between the Premier League’s top two, Rice graciously acknowledged that Liverpool are wholly deserving of their status as champions, having left the Gunners and everyone else trailing in their wake this season.
The England international said of LFC: “We’ve obviously seen what they’ve done. Massive credit to them – they’ve been the most consistent team throughout the season, performed to a really high standard and ability.
“Cannot knock them, can’t take anything away from them; everyone else fell short and in the end they were probably the strongest team in it, but it’s a great chance to challenge ourselves against the champions and we believe on our day that we can beat anyone. We need to go to Anfield and give it absolutely everything.”
Rice knows Arsenal have been second best to Liverpool this season
Credit to Rice for his magnanimous verdict on Liverpool – it can’t have been too easy for him to see Arsenal falling short in the Premier League title race yet again, this time by a much more sizeable margin than the last couple of seasons against Manchester City.
The 26-year-old won’t be among the players giving the champions a guard of honour onto the pitch today, so he’ll be yearning from afar to be in that position in 12 months’ time, although the Reds will be determined to blitz the competition once more, just like they’ve done this term.
There’s nothing major riding on the result for Slot’s side, but they’ll nonetheless be eager to land another psychological blow on the Gunners ahead of next season, and respond to last week’s inconsequential defeat to Chelsea.
Whatever happens today, perhaps Arteta could learn a thing or two about humility from Rice, who knows that Arsenal have been a distant second best to Liverpool over the course of the campaign, a status that the Merseysiders will be striving to reinforce this afternoon.
