‘We’ve played like this all season!’ Rice hails Arsenal’s HUNGER after PSV thrashing | OneFootball

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice credited their ‘hunger and drive’ as they set down a huge marker in the Champions League by thrashing PSV 7-1 at the Philips Stadion.

Failing to score in their last two games, Arsenal were under intense pressure to deliver and Mikel Arteta’s players rose to the occasion, silencing the doubters with an incredible attacking display.

The Gunners led 3-1 at the break, before four second-half goals completed a morale-boosting win, but Rice insists the result shouldn’t come as a surprise, as they’ve been playing like that all season.

“We were fluid, enthusiasm, the drive and hunger in the knock out phase of the Champions League,” Rice spoke post match.

“But we’ve been playing like this all season. We feel we’ve been playing well as a team sometimes we score five sometimes two sometimes we don’t score but tonight we did well. We had the opportunity to score more second half especially.”

17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri once again took centre stage with a sparkling display and Rice praised the forward’s fearlessness.

“He’s 17-years-old and he’s on the biggest stage,” he added.

“We’ve taken them [youngsters] under our wing and they deserve to be playing. You should see them train they way they have no fear and want to perform.

“Even if [Bukayo] Saka was here Ethan would be still getting minutes because he’s that good and works so hard in training.

“Same with Myles [Lewis-Skelly] despite having to come off for the yellow card tonight, we have so many top young players.”

Jurrien Timber, who netted Arsenal’s first goal on the night, added: “Massive performance, proud of the guys we showed we are capable of a lot and put ourselves in a good position for next week.”

And reacting to his goal, he said: “Amazing cross, good header. Nice to open the score. I had to win here, rivals of Ajax so I had to win here.”

Arsenal can now head into next week’s second leg in relaxed spirits and will face a trip to Madrid in the quarter finals, with Real Madrid holding a 2-1 advantage over rivals Atletico from their first leg at the Bernabeu this evening.