Declan Rice insists that the Arsenal players loved Mikel Arteta’s outburst after their defeat by Newcastle and says his touchline antics galvanise the team.
The Gunners bounced back from Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park by beating Sevilla 2-0 on Wednesday night to close in on qualification for the Champions League knockout stages.
The only downside for Arsenal on another good night in Europe was Bukayo Saka limping off late on, but Arteta is confident that the winger will be fit to face Burnley on Saturday.
Arsenal cruised to victory against Sevilla and Rice admitted the players were “fired up” by their manager's comments after the loss to Newcastle.
Arteta called Anthony Gordon's winning goal an “absolute disgrace” and issued a scathing attack on referees.
The Arsenal boss has been criticised for his rant and was labelled “a Mercedes version of Neil Warnock” by Ref Support UK, a charity that represents referees.
Arteta could face action from the FA for his comments - which were supported in a public statement by Arsenal - but Rice said players like “how passionate he is”.
Asked about the manager's post-Newcastle outburst, Rice said: “We love it. I think you see how passionate he is. He sometimes gets criticised for how he is on the sidelines, but he is living the game through us.
“He’s so energetic and the way he speaks, he’s like a teacher the way he is in the changing room with us - and that really fires us up for the game and I think that’s what he’s really good at.”
Rice has been excellent for Arsenal since his £105million summer move from West Ham and shone on Wednesday night as goals from Leandro Trossard and Saka gave the Gunners victory.
“After the upset [against West Ham] in the [Carabao] Cup and then obviously on the weekend, a club like Arsenal, we can’t be losing three games in a row,” said the midfielder.
“The manager made that clear before the game. He said: ‘We need to get back to winning ways and put in a high-energy performance’.
“Sometimes when you’re playing against a back five, it’s hard to break down. But in the end we kept persisting and we’ve come through.”
Arsenal will assess Saka on Thursday after he landed awkwardly on his ankle when challenging for a header and Takehiro Tomiyasu will also be checked after coming off at half-time.
Eddie Nketiah and Martin Odegaard, who missed out against Sevilla, are both pushing to return against Burnley on Saturday.
