Declan Rice has heaped praise on Mikel Arteta‘s touchline presence, noting it as a crucial factor in Arsenal‘s dominant 3-1 victory over Liverpool on Sunday.

Goals from Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Leandro Trossard propelled the Gunners into second place in the Premier League, and Declan Rice highlighted Arteta’s infectious energy as a significant motivator.

“He’s our manager, he lives on the pitch with us,” Rice said after the game. “He lives every ball with us and when you have that and you see what he transmits from the sidelines to the pitch, it gives you so much confidence as a player. We’re really grateful we have him as our manager.”

Despite dominating the first half with Saka opening the scoring, a late own goal from Gabriel saw the teams level at the break. However, Rice commended the team’s character and Arteta’s influence in the dressing room for their second-half resurgence.

“We’ve got some great characters in the team who were pushing on, driving on at half time that it wasn’t a moment to let our heads drop,” Rice said. “We couldn’t let one moment of a lack in concentration affect what we’d done for that 45.

“We knew in the second half it was going to be a tough game but, in the end, we gave it everything and we got the three points which was massive for us.

“These are the moments we live for in football and I’m just so happy we could win the match, it was massive from start to the end and to get three points, with that energy from the crowd, was just unbelievable.”