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Rice promises Arsenal will fight on despite title hopes fading

Arsenal rallied from a goal down to draw at Old Trafford, but they lost further ground on runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Declan Rice says Arsenal will continue to fight until Premier League glory is mathematically impossible, after they dropped more valuable points against Manchester United.

Rice's second-half strike cancelled out a Bruno Fernandes free-kick as Arsenal came from behind to draw 1-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday.

But the Gunners are now 15 points behind league leaders Liverpool with just one game in hand, and Arne Slot's team will wrap up the title if they pick up just 16 more points.

Arsenal struggled to create clear chances, only amassing a figure of 1.61 expected goals (xG) to their opponents' 1.65, despite having 17 shots and facing just 10.

Speaking to Sky Sports after full-time, Rice lamented Arsenal's lack of attacking thrust just five days on from a crushing 7-1 win over PSV in the Champions League. 

"In the first half, we had some beautiful bits of play, but didn't have that cutting edge," he said. "In the second half, we were very naive and almost gave the game to United. 

"We scored seven in midweek and that's not luck. PSV hadn't lost at home for two years. United did well and sat in the low block well. It can take 90 minutes to break that down. There wasn't much in the game."

There is now a strong chance Liverpool will have secured the title before Arsenal visit Anfield on May 10, and the Gunners are closer to 10th-placed Fulham (13 points) than they are to the leaders.

But Rice refused to concede the title race, saying: "We'll keep going until the end of the season. Liverpool have been amazing all year.  We're Arsenal. We've been hit hard by injuries. We'll keep going, and we'll be alright."

Arsenal were not happy with Fernandes' dead-ball strike as replays showed referee Anthony Taylor set up the Gunners' wall more than 10 yards from the ball, but Rice would not use that as an excuse.

He said: "That's where the line was sprayed. We said we were far back, and it felt like the ball flew over us at a low height. Anthony is the ref, he makes that decision. I've not seen the goal back, but we can do better."

Mikel Arteta was far from pleased with his team's performance, criticising their end product and saying they had risked losing the game late on, when David Raya made a stunning save to deny Fernandes a winner.

"We had some unbelievable situations, but we didn't get the last shot or the last pass," he told Sky Sports. "We didn't capitalise, we rushed the game, we started to lose duels and we could have ended up losing it.

"We opened the gate to lose the game. There was no chance to lose the game, and we opened it ourselves. I will defend my players all the time, but we have to do better.

"How we conceded chances in certain moments was not acceptable. They have so much quality, and they pick the right player and, normally, that would end in a goal."

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