Declan Rice remains confident in the Arsenal camp ahead of the North London derby.
The midfielder has been hitting his stride as the Gunners evolve with a midfield unit that includes £55 million man Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. The Englishman has excelled as a ‘do-it-all’ figure between both boxes, and he is a big part of why the team are sitting at the top of the table.
They can create a bigger buffer from the competition with a victory against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. The squad will be without Gabriel Magalhaes due to a thigh injury, and club captain Martin Odegaard might be absent. However, Rice still feels there is enough leadership to engineer a victory.
“I’m feeling probably as good as I’ve ever felt in my game to be honest with you. 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.”
“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.
“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.
“It means everything. I’ve been involved in four north London derbies so far and we’ve done 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 against them the last few years, even though the games have been tough, we’ve won the football matches and that’s what we want to do again this weekend.”