Declan Rice was delighted that his side managed to beat Newcastle United 1-0 to return to the top of the Premier League, as we take another step closer to the finish line.
Ebere Eze’s excellent strike 10 minutes in swung the game in our favour, and saw us recover from back-to-back defeats to pick up a vital victory and leapfrog Manchester City at the summit in the process.
Dec feels we have to win every remaining fixture this season to be crowned champions, and, having won the first, he is thrilled.
“The three points were massive today,” he said. “After the week we had against Manchester City, there was a lot of encouragement to take from that game, but we knew coming into this, with five games left, we have to win all five.
“To tick that one off today was a real boost, so we’re really, really happy with the win today.”
Read more
Highlights: Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle United
Dec also heaped praise on our matchwinner who arrowed a shot into the top corner from a short corner routine to ultimately clinch victory against the Magpies. It was another to add to his catalogue of excellent strikes, even if Dec thinks he’s netted better!
“I think Leverkusen was his best, but that’s a great goal,” he smiled. “That’s what he’s been brought here to do. I said a few weeks ago, his ball striking is unbelievable. What a player, what a guy, and he’s going to be massive for us these next few weeks. We really need him.”
We’re now back on top of the Premier League with four games to go, and Dec feels that boost of morale will help the team, but feels as though it hasn’t really dropped all season long as we continue to fight for the biggest prizes in club football.
Now that one of our remaining league fixtures is in the rear-view mirror, the midfield can turn his attentions to our Champions League campaign and a huge semi-final with Atletico Madrid, and he admits that the excitement is growing the bigger the games get.
On the positivity in the camp, he said: “That’s what it’s been all season, and that’s what we want it to be towards the end of the season, staying top, staying positive. Four games to go, and that’s what we want to do, keep winning more matches, and we’re going to be ready for that.
“We’ve played in tough games in the last three or four years at the highest level, so we know what to expect, what’s to come. We’re Champions League semi-finalists, let’s embrace it, enjoy it, and bring it on.
“To be honest, you don’t think about it too much because you can’t be thinking about the future when you’ve got games like today. Obviously now I can focus on Atletico, but you can’t get too caught up with what’s to come, it just takes up too much of your energy.
“You need to focus on what we can control in the next game. Now we focus on Atletico, it’s really exciting. We’ve got to keep going and be ready for what’s to come.”
Read more
Arteta on Newcastle win: “Game one, done!”
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
