Declan Rice brought up his history with Chelsea following Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final win
Declan Rice fired a dig at Chelsea straight after helping Arsenal reach the Champions League final.
Rice was instrumental as the Gunners saw off Atletico Madrid in their semi-final second leg as Bukayo Saka’s strike sealed a 2-1 aggregate success. Mikel Arteta’s side can now look forward to a final against Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich on May 30.
For now, attention will shift back to the Premier League title race, which the Gunners are firmly in control of following Manchester City’s 3-3 draw at Everton on Monday. Victory at Rice’s former club, West Ham, on Sunday will go a long way to Arsenal securing their first league title in 22 years.
When asked about his mindset ahead of the trip to London Stadium, Rice spoke of his gratitude to the Hammers, who took him on after he had been released by Chelsea at the age of 14. Rice told Prime Video: “That club gave me everything, without West Ham there’s no me.
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“I honestly believe that. They gave me a chance when Chelsea didn’t. A lot of people there really pushed me on, (David) Moyes, (Slaven) Bilic and (Manuel) Pellegrini made me captain. There’s loads of good things about that club, so it’s not nice to see the position they’re in.
“But it’s football and I’ve got a job to do on Sunday. We’re trying to win a Premier League title, we want to win every game and I’m sure they will want to as well, so let the best team win.”
On the atmosphere in the Gunners dressing room, Rice added: “It is chaos in there. I don’t think you can underestimate what we have done in this competition up to this point.
“I think we have every right to celebrate that moment. The most prestigious competition in club football. We are just trying to soak it all in.
“We knew coming into the game what was at stake. If you can’t get up for that, then you can’t get up for any game of football. When we went 1-0 up, I knew we were going to win. I could feel something special building.”
Arteta also savoured the moment but is now keen for his side to quickly reset so that they can travel to Budapest as Premier League champions. If they can win their final three games – they face Burnley and Crystal Palace after the trip to West Ham – they will do just that.
The Spaniard said: “It’s great. Everybody can feel a shift in energy, in belief, in everything.
“Let’s use it in the right way and understand that the margins and the difficulty of what we are trying to achieve are huge, but that we have the ability and the conviction to do it.”
Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package
Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.
Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.
