{"id":296,"date":"2026-03-18T05:58:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T05:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=296"},"modified":"2026-03-18T05:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T05:58:41","slug":"arsenal-star-declan-rice-sends-message-to-man-city-ahead-of-carabao-cup-final-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=296","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal star Declan Rice sends message to Man City ahead of Carabao Cup final | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-17-232739-afb7.png?w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27499681\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Declan Rice scored to help Arsenal beat Bayer Leverkusen (Picture: CBS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Declan Rice says Arsenal are \u2018looking forward\u2019 to Sunday\u2019s huge Carabao Cup final clash with Manchester City and believe they can beat anyone right now.<\/p>\n<p>Mikel Arteta\u2019s side took care of business in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, beating Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 to secure their place in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n<p>Eberechi Eze\u2019s superb strike broke the deadlock before Rice\u2019s second-half strike secured a 3-1 aggregate win for the Gunners against their German opposition.<\/p>\n<p>The victory only helps to build momentum ahead of the weekend, where Arsenal will look to win their first major trophy since the FA Cup in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Pep Guardiola\u2019s City side stand in the way, and Rice believes that the Sunday\u2019s result could prove pivotal when it comes the Premier League run-in over the coming weeks and months.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Definitely, it could be the start of something,\u2019 he told CBS. \u2018It\u2019s the first trophy that is up for grabs. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018If you win that, the momentum after that that takes you forward is massive. <\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\" data-ico=\"factbox_article\" data-track-module=\"factbox_article\">\n<h2 class=\"factbox-title\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tYour football fix\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"factbox-content\">\n<p><strong>Metro<\/strong>&#8216;s Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy analysis, transfer talk and his take on the week&#8217;s biggest stories direct to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<p>Sign up here, it&#8217;s an open goal.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267111649.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27499702\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Bayer 04 Leverkusen - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Round of 16 Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Rice impressed again at the Emirates (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018But Sunday is going to be a great game against them, and it comes down to how much you want it. Arsenal are back in a final for maybe the first time since the Carabao Cup final in 2019, I think. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018So, how do you want it on Sunday? How much do you want to win a trophy for this team and these fans?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s victory means Arsenal are now unbeaten in 14 games in all competitions, with Rice suggesting that run of form has the Gunners confident of beating anyone. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2266606270.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-27500236\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Bayer 04 Leverkusen - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Round of 16 Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Arsenal now face City in Sunday\u2019s Carabao Cup final (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018The lads are already talking about in there, we\u2019re excited, we\u2019re ready,\u2019 he said on Sunday\u2019s showdown. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018And like I said at the minute every game of football we go into, we believe we can win so we\u2019ll be ready and looking forward to it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Arteta was keen to praise Rice\u2019s individual performance in what was already his 16th start of the calendar year.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018He was immense,\u2019 the Arsenal boss told reporters post-match. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018Him and the whole team \u2013 I just mentioned the soul of the team, I think the manner that they go for every ball, the passion that they show and the reaction is remarkable. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018Doing it every three days at that level is so difficult.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/><br \/>\n<strong>Facebook, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a> and\u00a0Instagram<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Enzo Fernandez raises doubt over Chelsea future and aims dig at Liam Rosenior after PSG defeat<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Eberechi Eze injury latest after Arsenal beat Bayer Leverkusen in Champions League<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Trevoh Chalobah injury update after Chelsea star stretchered off in PSG loss<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--sport\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>Football Newsletter \u2013 In The Mixer<\/h4>\n<p>Punchy analysis, transfer talk and more from Metro&#8217;s football experts, sent straight to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Declan Rice scored to help Arsenal beat Bayer Leverkusen (Picture: CBS) Declan Rice says Arsenal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}