Declan Rice praises Arsenal teammate for his showing after their 1-1 draw against Brighton
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has hailed David Raya after the latter kept the Gunners in the game in their 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, August 31.
Mikel Arteta and Co. suffered a big blow as they dropped two points in their Premier League fixture against the Seagulls at the Emirates. Raya made a top save to deny Yankuba Minteh in the 14th minute. Arsenal then took the lead in the 38th minute via Kai Havertz's brilliant lob.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Rice received a second yellow card shortly after half-time for kicking the ball away from Joel Veltman following a foul. Joao Pedro leveled the score for Brighton in the 58th minute with a simple finish after Raya's save to deny Minteh rebounded in front of him.
Yasin Ayari had a massive moment to give Brighton the lead in the 76th minute but Raya made his third save of the game to deny him. Despite being sent off, Rice was impressed by the Spanish goalkeeper as after the game, he said (via The Boot Room):
“Yeah I was obviously watching the game from inside, I was up off my seat when those big two chances came. Obviously David as well who made another big save for us. Those two big chances, on another day maybe they go in, but to even generate those chances, from where we were, on the edge of our box to then be at the other end of the pitch, shows the desire of the boys."
He added:
“1-1 in the end is not ideal because we want to win every game, that’s what we strive for and believe we can do. Take the context out of it, we had 10 men for 50 minutes, in the end I think it’s a really strong point. We will keep fighting and battling, it’s only been three weeks since the start of the season, and we’re going to keep going in the right direction for sure.”
Rice is set to be suspended for Arsenal's next fixture against Tottenham Hotspur on September 15.
"It was tough" - Declan Rice gives his verdict on Arsenal's draw against Brighton
Declan Rice has admitted that his sending-off changed the trajectory of the game and that Arsenal struggled to maintain their momentum with 10 men. Despite this, he praised his teammates for fighting hard to salvage a point.
Rice told the club's official website:
"When we went 1-0 up we had a good bit of momentum in the game, especially the first 15 minutes. To go 1-0 was obviously really good, and we wanted to build on that in the second half. Obviously a decision changed the flow of the game. It was tough, but the lads did amazingly well in the second half to dig it out, to fight with our fans and in the end that’s a really good point against a team that are in really good form at the minute."
Brighton dominated possession with 65 percent of the ball and landed 22 shots in total as they searched for a winner. However, Arsenal held firm and mustered 11 shots with seven being on target, despite having just 35 percent possession.
Unfortunately for Arsenal, they dropped to third in the league table with seven points from three games, two points behind rivals Manchester City.