Declan Rice has described Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers as “sickening” and revealed that “heated” discussions were had by the squad after the game.
Arsenal spurned the chance to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League after relinquishing a two-goal lead away at 20th-placed Wolves on Wednesday. They will be aiming to recover in Sunday’s north London derby at rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The mid-week result leaves Arsenal five points clear at the top of the Premier League, having played a game more than second-placed Manchester City, who host Newcastle United on Saturday.
“We have such a big game on Sunday, so we can’t dwell on Wednesday night, but by our standards, to be 2-0 up with half an hour to play?” Rice said in an interview with Sky Sports. “For them to come back and get the draw was sickening.”
After the full-time whistle at Molineux, Arsenal players looked dejected as they left the pitch, while Gabriel Jesus was booked for an angry altercation with Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera.
Rice told The Sun that Arsenal had held a “firm chat” post-match on Wednesday and spoke again at a team meeting on Friday, before elaborating on those discussions in his Sky Sports interview.
“If things are not right, they will get brought up,” the England midfielder said. “Things will get said in the moment, even if it is heated. Five, ten minutes after that, you shake hands, and it is over. That is what it is about.
“I think the other night, that was needed. At 2-0, we should have gone on to win the game. We know the position that we are in. We shook hands the other night. It was disappointing, it was not nice, but we are ready for Spurs.”
Arsenal have now won just three of the eight Premier League games in 2026 – the same record as City.
“It doesn’t look good on paper. The goals we are conceding at the moment are self-inflicted,” Rice added.
When asked if Arsenal’s trophy drought since winning the FA Cup in 2020 was putting pressure on the team, Rice said: “For me, no. We are first, there is outside noise from fans of other teams, and people want to talk it up, but we are on our own journey, and we fully believe in each other here.
“We need some perspective about where we are but also we need to look a bit bigger and say, ‘If we carry on doing what we are doing in terms of results, that is not going to last.’”