The FOX Posts

Declan Rice says Arsenal's mentality has shifted after missing out to Manchester City in last season's Premier League title race, with the squad now stronger mentally having learned from their mistakes. The Gunners led the 2022/23 Premier League table for 248 days but a late-season collapse saw Man City pip them to first place. This set a new record for most time spent top without winning the title . Arsenal turned to the transfer market for reinforcements and signed West Ham United captain Rice for a then-British record £105m fee. Since swapping east London for north, he has cemented his place as one of the country's finest midfielders. Speaking at the London Football Awards on Thursday, Rice revealed how he thinks the Arsenal squad has changed since his arrival. "I think last year, Arsenal were the best team in the league," he said. "They slipped up at the end and obviously, City always come on so strong. I think the word that they said now is that they...

The reigning world champion heads into this weekend’s final round of the 2023 season 21 points clear of rival Jorge Martin, after the latter struggled to 10th in the Qatar Grand Prix with a tyre issue. Bagnaia can secure the 2023 title in the sprint race on Saturday in Valencia if he outscores Martin by at least four points. It echoes the situation he faced last year coming into the Valencia finale battling Fabio Quartararo for the championship, with Bagnaia leading the Frenchman by 23 points. But he concedes that the challenge he faces now is tougher, not least against a rider in Martin who is on identical machinery. “It’s for sure the hardest one, also because I made many mistakes this season and we arrive in a situation where I can have many more points but with as many mistakes as I did, we arrive now still in the battle ,” said Bagnaia, who also fought for and won the 2018 Moto2 title . “And fighting against a rider who...

A week on from the title lead swinging from Bagnaia to Pramac’s Martin and back to Bagnaia at the Indonesian GP, 18 points splits to the pair coming to Phillip Island. Bagnaia lost his championship lead after struggling to 13th in qualifying at Mandalika and recovered only to eighth in the sprint, while Martin won. And while he retook the lead by 18 points with the Sunday win after Martin crashed, Bagnaia once again faces a Q1 battle after ending Friday practice at Phillip Island outside of the crucial top 10 places. Bagnaia, just as he did in Indonesia, struggled for pace on softer rubber, especially with traction – which led to a 0.2s difference between himself and fourth-placed Martin in the last corner alone. “We started with the medium rear and everything was great, the pace was one of the best with this spec,” Bagnaia, who was over fourth tenths slower than Martin on Friday in Australia, said. “But when we put on the soft rear for the time attack, ...

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is refusing to give up in the Premier League title race following Wednesday night’s 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City. Arteta had played down suggestions beforehand that it would be a title decider. But the result now leaves Arsenal , who have suddenly gone four league Game s without a win, only two points ahead of City and having also played two Game s more. Pep Guardiola stated immediately after the final whistle that City’s next three Game s – the first of which is their first Game in hand – will be crucial in deciding where the title goes. “We were beaten by the better team, that’s for sure,” Arteta reflected to BT Sport , before suggesting that Arsenal didn’t even get the basics right. “[Man City] were exceptional and when that’s the case, it’s extremely difficult to reach that level and we were no way near our level. When you open that gap against them, you get punished. “You have to compete and win your duels, and all the very basic t...