Declan Rice has been one of our most consistent performers in the early stages of the season, and after returning from international duty, the England midfielder feels ready for a crucial run of games in our season.
“I’m feeling probably as good as I’ve ever felt in my game to be honest with you,” Declan said, “It probably took me two or three games to get going at the start of the season, but once I’ve fully clicked into gear, I feel like now I’m performing at a really high, consistent level.
“That’s what I want to keep doing, week-in, week-out, keep playing at a really high level, keep trying to be the best player and help the team achieve good things; that’s what I want to do.”
As well as his excellent individual performances, Declan feels that we’ve improved as a team both on and off the pitch, which he puts down to the mentality of our squad.
“We’re in a great position ourselves and if we keep winning football matches then good things are going to happen.
“I feel like our group has got such a good mentality even though we’re a young group, we’re really focused and really calm, I don’t see anyone panicking, or anyone worrying about what anyone else thinks.
“We’re just focused on ourselves and what our manager wants us to do, so I feel like that’s what we’re going to keep doing and we’ve started off really well doing that this season, so it’s been good so far.”
Asked how we’ve been able to maintain our high standards, our no.41 praised the leadership that’s been present in our dressing room this season, from captain Martin Odegaard and beyond.
“Martin’s our main captain, he’s incredible, but there’s also a group behind the scenes that help Martin out whenever he needs it.
“On matchdays, they have their own opinions and say things when they need to be said and I feel like that’s where we’re growing as a group now.
“If things need to be said, they get said, and in a constructive way, in a way that helps push other people. I feel like we do have more leaders now in the group than we’ve ever had, so that’s a really good thing for us.”
Our leadership and mentality will be put to the test this weekend in one of our biggest fixtures of the season, a north London derby at home to rivals Tottenham.
Declan has been involved in four editions of the famous fixture so far, winning three and drawing one, and feels that there’s something special about representing The Arsenal in this game.
“It means everything. I’ve been involved in four north London derbies so far and we’ve done really well in them, but every time we know there’s one coming up, the fans are ready for it and we’re ready for it.
“It’s a different type of energy compared to any other game. It’s an energy where you know you have to go out there and give it everything; every tackle is going to be cheered, every header, every action.
“It’s the biggest fixture of the season for us in terms of what it means, the bragging rights, so to beat Spurs is always nice.
“We’ve had a good record over the last few years against them, even though the games have been tough, we’ve won the football matches and that’s what we want to do again this weekend.”
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