{"id":662914,"date":"2026-01-03T15:46:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=662914"},"modified":"2026-01-03T15:47:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T20:47:41","slug":"mikel-arteta-reacts-gabriel-mistake-declan-rice-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/01\/03\/mikel-arteta-reacts-gabriel-mistake-declan-rice-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta Reacts to Gabriel Mistake and Declan Rice Performance After 3-2 Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal lost 2-1 to Aston Villa on December 6, with many starting to doubt the Gunners in their pursuit of the Premier League title. Since that loss, Mikel Arteta\u2019s team have remained unbeaten, with impressive victories coming in the reverse fixture against Villa, and a 3-0 win against Club Brugge in the Champions League. In their first fixture in 2026, Arsenal overcame a spirited Bournemouth<\/a> side 3-2, extending their lead to six points at the top of the table. After this win, Arteta spoke to the press<\/a> about his team\u2019s win, Gabriel\u2019s mentality, and the importance of Declan Rice.<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta Reflects on Bournemouth 2-3 Arsenal<\/h2>\n

Arteta Discusses Gabriel Mistake and Importance of Declan Rice<\/h3>\n

Reflecting on the importance of his team scoring early in the second half so often, Arteta said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s a really important moment, to breathe to reflect and try to pass the messages to try and help us win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: Looking at Arsenal\u2019s Action-Packed January Fixture Schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

A rare mistake from Gabriel gave Bournemouth a shock lead, but the Brazilian defender made up for it, scoring the equaliser just six minutes later, and his manager praised the defender\u2019s mentality:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what Gabriel has done to score the goal after making a mistake. To transmit that energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second half performance from Declan Rice was brilliant, scoring two goals and showing once again why he is considered one of the best midfielders in the world. Discussing Rice being one of the best, his manager said:<\/p>\n

\u201cYes for me yes. Of the ones we have they are the best. Declan is constantly adding things to his game and I do not see where he can stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta on Declan Rice\u2019s Elite Mentality<\/h3>\n

Talking about Rice\u2019s mentality after missing the Villa game, and his consistency:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so disappointed not to play against Villa. He tried in the morning but was nowhere near.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him how he was feeling and he said he was in, and he was very much in!<\/p>\n

Read More<\/b>: Best Arsenal Players to Wear the Number 14 Jersey Ever<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe sit down together and set goals, but it’s not enough, you need a plan. He’s extremely consistent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He’s doing it every single day,\u201d said Arteta.<\/p>\n

Featured Image Credit<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

IMAGO \/ Buzzi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal lost 2-1 to Aston Villa on December 6, with many starting to doubt the Gunners in their pursuit of the Premier League title. Since that loss, Mikel Arteta\u2019s team have remained unbeaten, with impressive victories coming in the reverse fixture against Villa, and a 3-0 win against Club Brugge in the Champions League. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4106,"featured_media":646618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,30,3],"tags":[3277,4530,4372],"class_list":["post-662914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-bournemouth","category-news","category-premier-league","tag-declan-rice","tag-gabriel","tag-mikel-arteta"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662914"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":662918,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662914\/revisions\/662918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}