Arsenal: Declan Rice reveals if he's supporting Tottenham against Man City

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Evening Standard

·31 January 2026

Arsenal: Declan Rice reveals if he's supporting Tottenham against Man City

The Gunners midfielder’s ties to several London clubs makes rooting for Spurs a tricky situation

Declan Rice faces a major dilemma when Arsenal’s fierce derby rivals Tottenham take on title challengers Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend.

The Gunners star put in a dominant midfield performance as Mikel Arteta’s league leaders ran out of rainy Elland Road with a 4-0 win over Leeds, seemingly recovered from the wobbly performances of recent weeks.

Goals from Martin Zubimendi, Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus plus an own goal following a Noni Madueke corner helped Arsenal overcome the pre-match loss of Bukayo Saka to injury and regain a seven-point lead in the quest for their first Premier League title in over two decades.

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Meanwhile, the margin of victory means they now have the best goal difference in the division.

Man City, second in the table and currently holding a +26 goal difference to Arsenal’s +29, take on Spurs in north London on Sunday and will be aiming to take advantage of their hosts’ dire domestic form, which includes just two league wins at home in 11 attempts.

Given a win for City would reduce Arsenal’s advantage back to four points while a Spurs triumph could only take Thomas Frank’s side as high as 13th, the red half of north London is presented with a conundrum regarding who to root for.

That may be true for Rice more than most given the 27-year-old started out at Chelsea in his youth before rising to stardom at West Ham and eventually sealing a move to the Emirates; three clubs, all of them a London rival to the Lilywhites.

Former Spurs midfielder and manager Tim Sherwood realised the situation Rice is in and posed a difficult question for the England international after full-time.

“There wouldn’t have been many times you’d want Tottenham to win, but maybe tomorrow night?” Sherwood asked in an interview on Soccer Saturday.

Rice sighed and laughed, before replying: “You’ve put me on the spot there to be honest!”

Declan Rice in action for Arsenal on a rainy night at Elland Road

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

He continued: “Look, obviously it’s a massive game but we’re in training tomorrow because we’ve got a [Carabao Cup] semi-final [second leg, against Chelsea] on Tuesday.

“If I can watch [Man City vs Spurs] I will, but if not I’m not too bothered.

“We’ve got to control what we can control and keep winning games. There’s not long left to go, every game’s a cup final, we need to have this mentality now and keep pushing. What will be, will be.”

Admitting that the Gunners had gone through a “little bit of a blip” in their winless three-game run in the league prior to Saturday, Rice added that the resounding win against Leeds was “massive”.

“There are 15 games left in the Premier League and at the end of the day, if you want to stay top, you need to keep winning. It was a massive result from everyone today and a great performance.”