Arsenal information: Declan Rice criticised as Man City ‘could possibly be stripped of 60 factors’
Declan Rice’s behaviour has been called out and Arsenal could be one of the teams to benefit if Manchester City are found guilty of financial breaches and handed a massive points deduction
As the dust settles on Arsenal’s 4-1 thumping of Tottenham, numerous issues concerning the Gunners have captured attention.
Mikel Arteta’s squad secured their second north London derby victory of the campaign in emphatic style on enemy territory courtesy of doubles from Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres. Sunday’s thrashing restored their advantage at the Premier League summit to five points following a tense period which witnessed them surrender four points at Brentford and Wolves.
Second-placed Manchester City retain a fixture in hand to contest, nevertheless, and next encounter Leeds this Saturday. Arsenal’s upcoming match represents another crucial London derby this Sunday against Chelsea at home, whom they defeated in the Carabao Cup semi-final on two occasions earlier this year. Here’s all the latest news from the Emirates.
Scholes brands Rice ’emotional’
Paul Scholes has criticised Declan Rice’s “excessively emotional” conduct following his error against Spurs, reports the Mirror.
Rice was observed instructing his team-mates to maintain their concentration after Arsenal initially seized the advantage at Tottenham, only to commit a careless blunder and surrender possession in a perilous zone two minutes afterwards, presenting the hosts with an equaliser.
The midfielder owned up to his error and delivered a decent performance thereafter. However, Scholes believes the England international still falls short of possessing the composed leadership qualities of a Premier League icon like Roy Keane.
The Manchester United legend remarked 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 continued: “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.”
Man City charges update
A football finance expert believes Manchester City could face a points deduction of between 40 and 60 if they are convicted of the most severe allegations levelled against them. City and the Premier League remain in limbo awaiting the ruling on 115 alleged financial violations by the club spanning 2009 to 2018.
While the hearing examining City’s supposed breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations concluded in December 2024, after a 12-week tribunal, the independent panel has yet to reveal its verdict. City have always denied any misconduct and are believed to be optimistic about their exoneration.
It has now been 14 months since the tribunal concluded, with the panel still considering its decision. Football finance specialist Kieran Maguire estimates that approximately 500,000 pieces of evidence were submitted by both the defence and prosecution during proceedings.
Maguire believes a judgment could emerge within the coming months. He also suggested that the precedent set by Everton and Nottingham Forest receiving six and four-point penalties respectively for single breaches covering three-year periods could result in City facing a considerably more severe sanction given the allegations span nine years, should they be found guilty.
He stated 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 a severe penalty will be imposed remains uncertain. And Arsenal would do well not to focus too heavily on it, given it is unclear which season a potential deduction would even end up affecting.
