Mirror Football takes a look at two stories involving and potentially affecting Arsenal
Declan Rice was at fault for a goal against Tottenham(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
As the dust settles on Arsenal’s spectacular 4-1 victory over Tottenham, several stories involving the Gunners have made headlines. Mikel Arteta’s side claimed their second north London derby win of the season in convincing fashion away from home thanks to braces from Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres.
Sunday’s drubbing restored their lead in the Premier League table to five points after a nervy few weeks which saw them drop four points at Brentford and Wolves. Second-placed Manchester City still have a game in hand to play, however, and next face Leeds this Saturday.
Arsenal’s next game is another high-stakes London derby this Sunday against Chelsea at home, who they beat in the Carabao Cup semi-final twice earlier this year. Now, Mirror Football brings you two of the biggest news stories relating to the north Londoners.
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Scholes labels Rice ’emotional’
Paul Scholes has taken issue with Declan Rice’s “overly-emotional” behaviour following his mistake against Spurs. Rice was spotted telling his team-mates to keep their focus after Arsenal first took the lead at Tottenham, only to make a sloppy mistake and give the ball away in a dangerous area two minutes later, gifting the home side an equaliser.
READ MORE: Inside Arsenal’s academy refocus to chase profits made by Chelsea and Man CityREAD MORE: Viktor Gyokeres set to trigger Arsenal contract clause after Tottenham brace
The midfielder held his hands up and apologised before going on to have a solid game. But Scholes thinks the England international still lacks the calm leadership of a Premier League legend like Roy Keane.
The Manchester United icon said on the Good, the Bad and the Football podcast: “When Roy [Keane] was getting the team together and leading the team really well, there was a certain calmness about it. When I look at Declan Rice, he almost looks too emotional.
“He’s lively, he’s, ‘Come on! Come on! Come on!’ And then he makes his mistake. When you’re going for a league title, when you’ve got tough games, there has to be a calmness about you. I think potentially [he’s a captain]. It’s just when I look at him now, he’s so emotional.”
Scholes added: “I don’t like all that (Rice geeing up the crowd just moments before Kolo Muani’s goal). I don’t like people being so emotional like that. People will call me a miserable b****** and say that you don’t want to take emotion out of the game.
“And of course we don’t, we want emotion but it has to be in the right way. Scoring goals and celebrating, that’s great. But game-management in game situations, there needs to be a calmness.”
Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
Man City charges update
A football finance expert claims Manchester City could be deducted between 40 and 60 points if they are found guilty of the most serious charges put against them. City and the Premier League are still waiting for the verdict over 115 alleged financial breaches by the club between 2009 and 2018.
While the hearing into City’s alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules ended in December 2024, following a 12-week tribunal, the independent commission still hasn’t made its decision public. Meanwhile, City have denied any wrongdoing and are understood to be confident of being cleared.
It has already been 14 months since the tribunal, with the commission still deliberating. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire says an estimated 500,000 pieces of evidence were presented by the defence and prosecution throughout.
Maguire thinks that a verdict could be announced in the next few months. He also said precedent from Everton and Nottingham Forest being hit with six and four-point deductions respectively for a single offence covering a three-year period could mean City receive a far harsher punishment due to the accusations covering a nine-year period, if found guilty.
He said on The Overlap Fan Debate: “I think you have to add a zero to what we’ve seen from Forest and Everton, so somewhere between a 40 and 60-point deduction would, I think, on merit, be consistent with what we’ve seen from other decisions on logic. If they want to go further then we don’t know the severity.”
Whether such an extreme punishment will be dished out remains to be seen. And Arsenal would be wise not to pay too much attention to it, given it is unclear which season a possible deduction would even end up impacting.