Gary Neville has urged Declan Rice to step up and be the player to secure the Premier League title for Arsenal this weekend when they take on Manchester City.
After defeat to Bournemouth last week, the Gunners head to the Etihad with a six-point lead at the summit of English football after City took full advantage with a crushing win over Chelsea.
Arsenal are now looking over their shoulder and defeat to in-form City on Sunday would half that deficit with Pep Guardiola’s side holding a game in hand – against Crystal Palace on a date still to be confirmed by the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta’s side have won just one of their four games since the international break ended having also lost the Carabao Cup final to City last month.
But a win, or even a draw, in Manchester on Sunday would go some way in easing the considerable pressure piling on the north Londoners.
Arsenal booked their place in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday night with Rice in the side having been a major doubt ahead of kick-off.
The England international has been the heartbeat of the Arsenal team this season, completing the full 90 minutes against Sporting despite being ‘shattered’.
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Former Manchester United captain Neville, still regretful over his old’s side failure to sign him while he was playing for West Ham, believes Rice is the man who must step up again this weekend.
Arsenal have not won at the Etihad since 2015 but Neville has urged Rice to have his ‘Roy Keane or Steven Gerrard moment’ on the blue half of Manchester and send Arsenal towards title glory.
‘I do think Declan Rice is someone… When he went to Arsenal for £100 million, I was gutted. I think he’s a Manchester United player,’ Neville told The Overlap.
‘He’s the player, Harry Kane, Declan Rice, that Manchester United would have always signed back in the day. You don’t let Declan Rice go to any other club.
‘To me, on Sunday, he is the player I am looking at. This is not me putting pressure on him, by the way. This is me expecting that this is the Roy Keane moment, the Gerrard moment.’
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