We don’t want to feel this again – Declan Rice urges Arsenal to bounce back

Declan Rice has urged his Arsenal team-mates to “live with this feeling” of title disappointment and use it as fuel to be even better next season.

The Gunners missed out on a first Premier League crown in 20 years after final-day leaders Manchester City were able to complete the job with a 3-1 win over West Ham on Sunday.

Arsenal eventually got past Everton thanks to an 89th-minute goal from Kai Havertz, which secured a 2-1 victory after Idrissa Gueye’s first-half opener at the Emirates was cancelled out by Takehiro Tomiyasu, but it was not enough.

You pushed us all the way, Gooners.

A journey to remember. This is just the beginning. pic.twitter.com/ePdzVtkJlh

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 19, 2024

Mikel Arteta’s men had been close to perfect in the league in 2024 with 16 wins from their 18 fixtures and yet City were able to pip them to the title by two points after they won their game in hand at Tottenham on Tuesday before they backed it up with victory against West Ham.

Rice, after an excellent debut campaign at Arsenal, reflected: “The last few weeks have been so whirlwind in terms of the emotions, the feelings we’ve had, watching other games, playing our games.

“It’s not something I want to experience again, but it’s an experience I’m so grateful to have had being in my first title race. It’s been so special.

“To not win it is gutting, but we can’t rely on other teams to help us out. We have to look back on ourselves and games where we dropped points. That is ultimately where we’ve lost the league, but we’ll be back.

“We’re really confident as a group and you see the manager has full control of everything. I’m sure we’ll be stronger in the summer.”

Arsenal had pushed City close in the 2022-23 campaign but endured a poor