Declan Rice slammed by friend over Arsenal loss: 'You didn't turn up!'

Midfield highlighted as one of six players to let Gunners down against Man City

Six Arsenal players have been told that they let their team down during Sunday’s crunch defeat to Manchester City.

Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland scored, either side of a Kai Havertz equaliser, as City took a huge step towards winning the Premier League title.

Just 11 days after Arsenal missed the chance of going 12 points clear at the top of the league, City can leapfrog their title rivals with victory over Burnley on Wednesday.

City’s experience in title races, having twice previously bested Mikel Arteta’s side in the run-in, has led to many making them the new favourites to lift the Premier League trophy in May.

But former Watford and Birmingham City forward Deeney feels Arsenal’s defeat was as much down to their own players disappointing rather than any perceived City greatness.

Speaking on CBS Sports, Deeney said: “We talk about how great Manchester City are, but you have to say Noni Madueke didn’t turn up, Martin Zubimendi didn’t turn up, Martin Odegaard didn’t turn up, Cristhian Mosquera didn’t turn up, Piero Hincapie didn’t turn up.”

He added: “And arguably — he’s a friend of mine — Declan Rice didn’t turn up.

“When Arsenal have this many players not turning up and putting in a level of performance in that you would expect, you have to question it, you have to question where they were.

“This has created a wonderful storyline but also, I’ve been trying to keep it in and be respectful, but the Arsenal meltdown will be epic. The online meltdown will be epic.”

Arsenal are next in action at home to Newcastle on Saturday evening, in which time they could have dropped to second in the standings.