Declan Rice provides dressing room insight as Mikel Arteta makes admission
Arsenal have enjoyed a stellar 2024 in the Premier League so far, with their only defeat coming in the Champions League at the hands of Porto.
That is a tie they can still turn around when the Portuguese side make the trip to the Emirates in 10 days, but for now Mikel Arteta's attention will be on the league action, the title race and specifically Monday's trip to Sheffield United for a game where the Gunners are the overwhelming favourites.
The Gunners boss will likely have one eye on Sunday's Manchester derby in the hopes that title rivals Manchester City drop points against United. Arsenal are one point behind the reigning champions and two points adrift of league leaders Liverpool.
With that being said, Mirror Football has analysed all of the talking points emerging out of the Emirates on Saturday, March 2 ahead of this weekend's trip to Bramall Lane.
Rice sheds light on title regret
Declan Rice has been Arsenal's Player of the Season so far (Getty Images)Declan Rice was not in the Arsenal dressing room last season but is well aware of how much his team-mates regret letting their lead slip.
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The Gunners topped the table for the bulk of last season and boasted an eight-point lead in early April, but couldn't hold on when it mattered most and were leapfrogged by Pep Guardiola's City side.
Rice has since revealed even the players could barely believe they had wasted such an advantage. Speaking at the London Football Awards, He claimed: "I think last year, Arsenal were the best team in the league.
"They slipped up at the end and obviously, City always come on so strong. I think the word that they said now is that they can't believe they lost the league obviously eight points ahead."
Arteta's goal difference claim
Mikel Arteta spoke about his side's free-flowing attacking form (Sky Sports)Arsenal have been in fine form in front of goal this year, bagging 15 goals in their last three league outings alone. Arteta has since revealed he knows that goal difference could play a huge part in this season's title race.
“Yes, for sure,” the Spaniard explained when asked if the goalscoring record will be important come May. “First of all you have to earn the right to win the games and then we want to be ruthless and efficient in front of goal. Lately I think we’ve been really good.
"In the last 15 or 20 minutes against Newcastle we could maybe have done a bit more, and we have to continue to do that especially when you bring the subs in because they can re-energise the team and continue at a really high level. It’s something that we want to continue to do."
Many fans and pundits alike are expecting Arsenal to put plenty past the Blades on Monday night, given Chris Wilder's side have already conceded a whopping 66 so far and are on course to ship a record total by the end of the season.
Awards season
Ange Postecoglou has pipped Mikel Arteta to the Manager of the Year at the London Football Awards (Getty Images)The London Football awards took place on Thursday evening and it was a mixed bag from an Arsenal perspective. Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou pipped Arteta to the Manager of the Year gong, much to the dismay of Gunners fans who felt their manager was a more worthy winner. Arsenal currently sit 11 points in front of their north London neighbours, having played one game more.
However, there were still reasons to smile as Declan Rice took home Footballer of the Year. The midfielder has been nothing short of sensational since he arrived from London rivals West Ham in the summer, as part of a £105million transfer.
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