"Gary Neville: Declan Rice's Moment Made Me Believe Arsenal's Title Hopes Are Over"

GARY NEVILLE has claimed that Declan Rice’s post-defeat rallying cry was evidence that Arsenal’s title charge is “done”.

Rice was after Manchester City tipped the title in their favour with a

Gary Neville has claimed Declan Rice’s rallying cry was evidence that Arsenal’s title race is over Credit: YouTube / The Overlap Rice was seen telling his teammates that the title race is ‘not done’ after their 2-1 defeat to Man City at the weekend Credit: Alamy

The midfielder’s call to arms came in the midst of a shocking run of form for that has seen them win just once in their last six games in all competitions.

For legend , the moment showed that Arsenal have already given up hope on their title bid.

Speaking on The Overlap , Neville said: “If I was watching , nearly in tears, saying ‘It’s not done’, I’d be thinking ‘you are done, mate’.

“He wasn’t quite in tears, but he looked like [shakes head] ‘It’s not done’. I would look at him and think ‘he is done’.”

Neville, who won the Premier League eight times with Man Utd, added: “I hope Arsenal win it.

“It’s a good response, but I just didn’t feel confident [when he was saying it]. I am a big fan of him, and I thought he would potentially grip that game.

“In the end, it ended up being the other two midfield players.”

Arsenal hero echoed Neville’s thoughts on the matter, he said: “Pep [Guardiola] will be thinking that.

“If he shows his players that, they will be thinking ‘we’ve got them’.”

has publicly said that he “loved” Rice’s reaction last weekend.

The City boss told Sky Sports : “I love that. I love that. That’s why Arsenal is there.

“I saw it [on Monday] and it shows what Declan Rice means. That’s the Arsenal mentality, we’ve faced it in the Premier League these [past] seasons and in the , how competitive they are.

“Otherwise they can’t have done the season they have done in the Premier League being there and being unbeaten in the , as you have Mikel [Arteta] but also these type of players that follow the message.”

Arsenal are still alive in the title race, despite falling behind Man City in the table for the first time in 200 DAYS.

City are now top of the pile by goals scored with the title run-in looking likely to go down to the wire.

Arsenal can go six points clear of City before Guardiola’s side play again in the league.

That starts with a clash against ‘s out-of-form Newcastle, who visit the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Pep Guardiola claimed he loved Rice’s rallying cry Credit: Getty