Declan Rice publicly defends Arsenal player fans have had enough of and want dropping from the team ASAP

Declan Rice has come to the defense of one of his Arsenal teammates after fans called for the player to be dropped.

On Thursday night, Arsenal played to a 0-0 draw against Italian Serie A team Atalanta in the Champions League.

The hosts, who are the reigning Europa League champions, were awarded a penalty in the second half, but Gunners goalkeeper David Raya made a stunning save to deny Mateo Retegui.

Following the match, winger Gabriel Martinelli faced heavy criticism from fans after yet another subpar performance.

Some supporters urged for Martinelli to be dropped ahead of Arsenal’s highly anticipated Premier League clash against Manchester City on Sunday.

In response, Rice defended Martinelli, stating: “One thing with Gabi is that he’s quiet but he’s so tenacious. You see him in training; he’s always trying to get himself into the right areas, he wants it, he would’ve wanted to do better with the chance he’s had tonight.

“In training every day he’s working after training with our attacking coach, cutting balls across the edge of the box, scoring goals.” Rice added, “I’m sure it’s going to come from him, we really need him, he’s a massive player.”

Gunners manager Mikel Arteta commented after the match: “It was a really tricky game emotionally because you are all man-oriented, so every action counts in your emotions. When we had certain moments that didn’t go our way, I could sense the team was a little bit about to lose the discipline this requires.

“I think we showed more maturity tonight than last year—if you cannot see a way to win, at least don’t lose. But that is not certainly the message I want to send to the team.”

He continued: “Defensively we didn’t suffer—that’s the reality. But in the second half, we gave a penalty away and I witnessed two of the best saves I’ve probably ever seen in my career to save us from that moment. After that, the game continued in the same way as after the first 25 minutes. We were inconsistent with the ball. We had moments but we never got it to dominance or a threat. Then we had a big chance with Gabi Martinelli to win the game, which unfortunately didn’t go in. [Overall] there’s a lot to improve.”