Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal team are preparing to face Newcastle on Sunday (Picture: Getty)

Mikel Arteta appears to have been handed a triple boost ahead of Sunday’s key Premier League showdown against Newcastle United.

The Gunners…

Who gets your vote?

Who gets your vote?

Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have been dealt a fresh blow ahead of Sunday’s game against Newcastle (Picture: Getty)

Arsenal appear to have been handed a triple injury boost ahead of Sunday’s vital Premier League clash against Newca…

The legendary ex-Arsenal goalkeeper has had his say.

Should the Gunners be concerned?

It would be a HUGE blow for Arsenal.

It would be a HUGE blow for Arsenal.

The Arsenal midfielder has been replaced by Leandro Trossard.

The Arsenal midfielder has been replaced by Leandro Trossard.

Declan Rice has been tipped to replace the struggling Gunners captain.

David Beckham was left ruing Manchester United’s transfer business as he watched Arsenal in action against PSG in the Champions League on Wednesday.

United’s transfer dealings in recent times has left much to be desired, with many incomings at Old Trafford proving to be an expensive mistake.

Mason Mount, for example, has scored just two Premier League goals since his £55million switch from Chelsea, while £72m recruit Rasmus Hojlund could well leave the club this summer at a huge loss.

During that time, the Red Devils have also lost out on several big targets, and Beckham was painfully reminded of that fact as he watched Declan Rice in action in the Champions League semi-final.

‘He’s so consistent. I love watching players score great free-kicks,’ Beckham said on CBS, referencing the Arsenal midfielder’s two superb free-kicks against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

‘There were a couple of comparisons so I messaged him just to say congratulations.’

When Rice left West Ham in the summer of 2023, a host of Premier League clubs, including United and Manchester City, were queueing up to try and sign the dynamic midfielder.

Beckham admitted he tried to best to lure Rice to United over a video call before the midfielder made his decision to move to north London.

‘I’ve spoken with him through James Corden,’ the former England captain revealed.

‘I think they were in a Chinese restaurant in London and they facetimed me to say ‘Declan is obviously leaving West Ham and he’s a bit undecided whether it should be Arsenal or Manchester United.

‘I was like ‘let me speak to him’, but he obviously didn’t listen!’

While Rice has enjoyed a superb individual season at Arsenal, it will be another campaign without silverware for the Gunners after they were knocked out of Europe by PSG.

Reflecting after the defeat, though, the Englishman vowed that his team would come back stronger next season in pursuit of the club’s first major trophy since 2020.

‘In life in general, sometimes you have to lose a few in order to win and you have to overcome some of these setbacks to mentally grow as a person, as a player and as a group,’ he told TNT Sports.

‘We’re going through that stage at the minute after a few losses in terms of losing out on the league and coming close in the Champions League in back-to-back years.

‘We’re growing as a team, as people, but we need to keep pushing and keep believing. This is why we play this sport, there are going to be setbacks along the way.

‘PSG have obviously gone through tonight, we’re absolutely gutted but this isn’t going to define us for sure.

‘We’re going to be back and when we get our players back who have been out for a very long time, we are going to be a much stronger outfit so we’ve got to keep going.’

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‘I think that story got spun a little bit.’

Arteta faces being empty handed again.

Mikel Arteta is expected to heavily rotate his team from the loss to PSG.

Rooney suggested Arsenal were let down by their home supporters.

David Raya was full of praise for one of his Arsenal team-mates (Picture: Getty)

David Raya insists that his Arsenal team-mate Declan Rice is among the top three midfielders in the world given his current level of performances.

Rice was t…

The Prime Minister is hopeful his team will win the Champions League.

Alexis Mac Allister says Moises Caicedo is a ‘very complete’ midfielder (Fantasista/Getty)

Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has named Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo as his toughest Premier League opponent.

Mac Allister…

‘He’s certainly ready to play…’

Rio Ferdinand believes Declan Rice would have rejected Arsenal if Manchester United had offered the same salary.

Rice delivered another impressive performance at the heart of Arsenal’s midfield to help eliminate Real Madrid from the Champions League this week.

The 26-year-old has established himself as one of Arsenal’s key figures under Mikel Arteta, with Ferdinand claiming that the England international should now be considered among the world’s best midfielders.

Rice joined Arsenal in a £105 million deal from West Ham in 2023 but had also attracted strong interest from both United and Chelsea.

And Ferdinand feels that Rice would have opted to join United two years ago if his former club matched Arsenal’s offer.

Speaking about Rice’s performance against Madrid, Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel: ‘The first tie killed it but they [Arsenal] were magnificent, I thought, over two legs.

‘Declan Rice, I think, you know when you look at players and go where was the moment he stood up and said, ‘guys, the top table, I’m at it’. I think this tie says that.

‘Doing against a team of that magnitude, that type of team, that champion.

‘And we [Manchester United] didn’t go and sign him.

‘I think, and I will stand by this, if Man United had come to the table with a chequebook and said, ‘we’ll match what Arsenal pay’, I think Declan Rice would have chose Man United.’

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League match against Ipswich Town on Sunday, Arteta believes Rice is now in a ‘different dimension’ following his two performances against Madrid.

‘He’s learning more and more,’ Arteta said.

‘I think performances like he had in this side against Real Madrid actually just puts the player in a different dimension and that’s why we brought him here. That’s why we demand him as well to take more steps and to be more decisive in games because he can do it.

‘We’ve been talking about it for the last few weeks and to be at this stage is not easy. He’s done it two times in a row.

‘Now he’s maintaining that level of consistency, belief and undoubtedly his role will be bigger and bigger.’

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Declan Rice made Graeme Souness eat his words with two sensational performances in Arsenal’s Champions League quarter-final victory over Real Madrid.

Rice produced two Player of the Match displays to help Arsenal stun European champions Real Madrid and advance to the semi-final stage.

It was two brilliant Rice free-kicks in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium that set Arsenal on their way but the England midfielder was just as influential at the Bernabeu.

Rio Ferdinand and Ally McCoist both praised Rice for ‘running the show’ against Madrid just a few days after Souness questioned his status as a ‘world-class’ player.

Writing in a Daily Mail column in-between the quarter-final legs, Souness said: ‘There is nothing to dislike about Declan Rice but we need to apply some perspective before declaring him world class for scoring two free-kicks against Real Madrid.

‘He comes across as a great guy, I like to hear him speak and he talks with great honesty. I’m sure he is a dream to have in the dressing room but I’m sorry, two wonderful free-kicks do not make you a great player.

‘We get over excited easily in this country, particularly in the media, we are all guilty of it. Even if you win the FA Youth Cup you are considered a “club legend”. 

‘We are too quick to apply ‘”legend” or “worldie” status on the back of emotional events. We need to calm down and not get ahead of ourselves. 

‘We talked about a genuine world class player in Kevin de Bruyne last week. Declan is not there yet.’

Souness said Rice needed to offer more in the final third to take his game to the next level.

He added: ‘The challenge now is for him to go on and be better in that area.

‘Obviously, he has worked hard at his game and is improving. At 26 I don’t ever see that work ethic changing in him either.

‘He certainly is a wonderful dead-ball kicker and that is why, despite being 6ft 2ins tall, he is being sacrificed for set-pieces because otherwise with that physique he’d be a wonderful aerial threat in the box.’

Rice in ‘another bracket’ after Madrid displays

Ex-Manchester United and England defender Ferdinand said Rice had entered ‘another bracket’ following his superb performances in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

‘You need games like this in your career. You need to get to places like this to be properly judged,’ Ferdinand said.

‘He’s stood up against the holders of this trophy and he’s not just competed, he’s run the show, he’s run the show in both games.

‘He’s put himself in another bracket, I think after these two games he’s in another bracket.’

Fellow TNT Sports pundit McCoist added: ‘Over the two games, he’s been the outstanding player on the pitch.

‘He was monumental. He was the best player on the pitch in both games. His level of performance was quite magnificent.’

Arsenal legend Wright hails Rice

Meanwhile, Arsenal hero Ian Wright was also full of praise for Rice after Real Madrid were eliminated from the Champions League.

‘Nobody can ever question him,’ legendary ex-Arsenal striker Wright said on the Wrighty’s House podcast.

‘You see all these podcasters being disrespectful, but Declan Rice, over two games, absolutely wiped the floor with that team with his performance.

‘It was a performance where you’re looking at a player and you’re thinking: yeah, we know he’s good and he’s getting better. We saw the two goals last week that we haven’t seen before.

‘We’ve seen on a weekly basis that he’s just improving and getting better in any position that he’s asked to play in, whether that’s crashing the box, whether it’s six, whether it’s eight.

‘He was everywhere! He was everywhere! As we sit here right now, he is in the top three midfielders in the world.’

Rice will make his 100th appearance for Arsenal before the end of the season, having joined the club in a £105m move from West Ham in 2023.

Next up for Rice and Arsenal in the Champions League is a semi-final clash with French champions PSG, who have already knocked out Aston Villa and Liverpool.

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‘Nobody can ever question him.’

Mikel Arteta revealed Carlo Ancelotti’s kind words after Arsenal knocked Real Madrid out of the Champions League (Getty)

Mikel Arteta has revealed that Carlo Ancelotti told him that he ‘hopes’ Arsenal will go on to win th…

Arsenal are back in league action.