Arsenal midfielder revealed difficulties he face

Arsenal star player Declan Rice is on loan from Manchester City since the second half of the previous campaign.

Rice opened up about the mental toll of playing for a club at the level of the Gunners amid another potential title race.

Previous campaign Mikel Arteta together with his troops finished second on the log after fumbling on their last 2 out of 4 fixtures.

Arsenal are currently on the third spot of English Premier League after grabbing the winning goal on the additional time of second half against Leicester City.

After the fixture the former West Ham United midfielder shared how it feels to challenge for the League title and how hard it is.

Rice said “Mentally it is tough. The anxiety is through the roof!, You know the pressure of playing for Arsenal, you have to win every game.

“And if you want to win Premier Leagues and cups, compete at the top, you need to be at your best and you need to win, otherwise the pressure mounts.

“So when that second goal went in for them, one thought is, we can’t lose this game, we have to keep going.

“In the end, it is kind of like a sigh of relief, because we won the game, we deserved to win the game.

“That was probably the most comfortable we have been in the first half all season, in terms of passing the ball, dominating the ball.

“There are lots of positives to take, but still so much to improve on. As the season goes on, I am sure you are going to keep seeing the best of us.”

Declan Rice together with his teammate have another tough fixture awaiting them, as they are set to challenge Paris Saint Germain(PSG) in the league stage of the new look Champions League.

Speaking about the new format of the EUFA Champions League, England international star revealed that they are going to face tough opponents compares to the previous editions.

Rice said “It is a different format now, but we are coming up against probably tougher teams than you normally would in a group-stage format.

“We have got more tougher teams now. We have got an exciting night here, which is our second game.

“Usually you would find these games in the quarter-finals or semi-finals, so for it to be our second game is massive. It is a big game because we need to get points on the board in this new format.

“We will be ready and we are excited because we have not played PSG before. They are a top team, so we will be ready for that one.”

Arsenal will be hoping to go all the way to reach the finals of UEFA Champions League on this year’s edition.

BY LUCKY SEANEGO