LONDON: Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice summed up the mood of defiance after his side’s nervy 1-0 victory over Newcastle United sent them back to the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

The win ended a run of back-to-back league defeats against Bournemouth and Manchester City that had cost Mikel Arteta’s side their grip on first place for the first time since October, with Eberechi Eze’s early strike enough to secure a hard-fought three points.

“I think we said after last week (defeat by Manchester City) that we have to win five games if we want to win the Premier League,” Rice said. “That’s one down and now four to go. It was about winning no matter how we win.”

Stuttering Arsenal have seen a nine-point lead in the title race evaporate but Saturday’s victory was hard going but crucially it put Arsenal three points clear again, although City have a game in hand.

With Arsenal’s and City’s goal difference virtually the same, the race has turned into a five-game sprint and Arteta’s side must now focus on their remaining league games at home to Fulham and Burnley and away to West Ham United and Crystal Palace — hardly the most formidable fixtures.

Win all of those and they would have a great chance of delivering a first league title since 2004.

“It is exciting times. There’s a lot to play for,” added Rice, who will be back leading the midfield away to Atletico Madrid in a Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday.

Arsenal’s players looked out on their feet at the final whistle after 97 minutes of hard graft. But captain Martin Odegaard promised there would be no let-up in Arsenal’s bid to keep City at bay.

“This schedule is crazy. We just have to keep going. It is the end of the season, just leave everything out that we have inside, fight every single game and we just have to keep going,” the Norwegian said. “That’s where we want to be but it is going to go all the way to the end.

“We are ready for it and we will fight every single day.”

Despite the win Arteta claimed their title challenge could be ruined by two rejected red card decisions in their games against City and Newcastle.

The Gunners boss was frustrated with the decision not to send off Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope for a foul on Viktor Gyokeres in the 74th minute at the Emirates Stadium.

Pope raced out of his penalty area to clatter Gyokeres, escaping with a yellow card because the Sweden striker was wide on the right wing without a clear sight of goal.

With the prospect of goal difference potentially deciding a gripping title race, Arteta knew Arsenal would have had a chance to rack up a bigger win if Newc­astle were reduced to 10 men.

Instead, they had to settle for a result that left them only one goal better off than City in the goal difference column.

SCOREBOARD

Teams Played Won Drawn Lost Goals for Goals against Points

Arsenal 34 22 7 5 64 26 73

Manchester City 33 21 7 5 66 29 70

Manchester United 33 16 10 7 58 45 58

Liverpool 34 17 7 10 57 44 58

Aston Villa 34 17 7 10 47 42 58

Brighton 34 13 11 10 48 39 50

Bournemouth 34 11 16 7 52 52 49

Chelsea 34 13 9 12 53 45 48

Brentford 33 13 9 11 48 44 48

Fulham 34 14 6 14 44 46 48

Everton 34 13 8 13 41 41 47

Sunderland 34 12 10 12 36 45 46

Crystal Palace 33 11 10 12 36 39 43

Newcastle United 34 12 6 16 46 50 42

Leeds United 34 9 13 12 44 51 40

Nottingham Forest 34 10 9 15 41 45 39

West Ham United 34 9 9 16 42 58 36

Tottenham Hotspur 34 8 10 16 43 53 34

Burnley 34 4 8 22 34 68 20

Wolverhampton Wanderers 34 3 8 23 24 62 17

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2026