Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has said his team needs to focus on their own game and ignore external distractions in the title race after a 1-1 draw against Brentford.

City closed the gap to four points behind Arsenal, setting up a thrilling encounter at the Etihad Stadium in April. Arsenal had appeared to be cruising towards a 22-year wait for the title, but dropped points and a restless drive from Manchester City has brought tension into the title race.

“We can’t be naive to think this is going to be easy,” Rice said, highlighting the challenges faced by Arsenal. “We are playing against the best teams week in, week out. We have to keep pushing and believing in ourselves, controlling the controllable.”

Rice emphasized the importance of blocking out external noise, saying, “We have to block out the outside noise. We have done that really well. People are going to talk up the title race, but we have a really calm group.”

💬 “Take the positives, keep going, keep pushing, keep sticking together.”

Dec’s full-time thoughts 👇

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 12, 2026

The draw was a disappointment for Arsenal, who had taken the lead through Noni Madueke’s goal. However, Brentford’s doggedness and set-piece prowess proved too much, with Keane Lewis-Potter scoring the equalizer.

Mikel Arteta was frustrated with his team’s lack of composure, saying, “We lacked composure to maintain the ball better, to play in the right areas. We started to give a lot of unnecessary free-kicks away.”

Arsenal will now prepare to face Wolves who they luckily beat 2-1 last time and Arteta will be hoping his team will learn from their mistakes.