Declan Rice makes statement on Arsenal title defence

Speaking at the PFA awards on Tuesday night, Declan Rice answered a question about what Arsenal need to do to retain their Premier League title in 2026/27.

“Exact same as what we did last year,” Rice responded. “Play with the same intensity, the same desire.

“This year is all about mentality for me. Do you want to go back-to-back? Do you want to become a great team? Not just win it once. You want to go and do it again when all the pressure is on. So yeah, bring it on.

“[Arteta said] if we want to become champions again, we’re going to have to do what we did last year and more. Teams don’t want us to win, teams don’t want us to be where we are. We know we’ve got to take that pressure on now and try and beat everyone that we can.”

Rice was at the PFA Awards after being named in the Premier League Team of the Year for 2026, with Arsenal teammates David Raya, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Jurrien Timber all joining him in the side.

Each of the five will be hungry for more again this season, though Saliba and Timber are obviously primarily focused on their fitness at this stage.

Arsenal have certainly showed a positive mentality and a good response to the pressure of becoming champions in the first couple of weeks of 2026/27, comfortably beating Manchester City in the Community Shield and Coventry City in the Premier League opener.

But it’s not going to get any easier, and the Gunners now have a tough run of Premier League fixtures to get through. Every dropped point will be celebrated throughout the league, as you’d expect.

Rice is right that a truly great team should be able to take that pressure on their shoulders and triumph again despite that adversity. Arsenal’s task this season is to prove they are that team.