Former Arsenal captain, Patrick Vieira, believes that the club can shake off a poor run of form and still win silverware this season with midfielder Declan Rice a ‘really important’ leader for the team.
Arsenal have seen their hopes of winning a quadruple brutally deflated in recent games after defeats in the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup preceded a shock 2-1 loss to Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The results have seen the Gunners lose three of their last four games but they hold a slim 1-0 lead over Sporting CP after the first leg of their Champions League quarter-finals.
Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of kick off for the second leg at the Emirates Stadium, Vieira addressed the recent dip and encouraged the players to go back to basics for the rest of the season.
Vieira, who was the last Arsenal captain to win the Premier League, was asked what advice he would give the current crop of players and responded: “I think I would remind them about what they’ve been doing since the first game of the season.
“I would remind them that the majority of the coaches and the teams will want to be in their shoes. There’s a lot of managers and teams that will want to play a quarter-final of the Champions League and to be top of the [Premier] League.
“It’s true that they’re having a really difficult run at the moment, there’s a lot of injuries, there’s players that are not at their best, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t win it. I think they just need some really important players to drive the team, I think Gabriel can be one of these players and Declan Rice can be another one.”
Speaking of Rice, Vieira admitted that his leadership qualities will be crucial to drive Arsenal to winning trophies this year and show his teammates what needs to be done.
He said: “I don’t know how he [Rice] is in the dressing room but something I like on the field he is the engine of the team, the drive of the team.
“I like seeing him going forward, making runs, I like to see him challenging for the tackles because when you win the ball in the midfield that shows to your teammates that you are present and what you need to do.
“His natural leadership will be really important for the rest of the season.”
Vieira also questioned Arsenal’s recent tactics about maintaining possession over scoring goals and urged the team to revert to the aggressive nature they showed at the start of the season.
“I think they have to go back to what they were doing at the beginning of the season,” he added. “I think they were quite clinical, playing forward, scoring goals and creating chances.
“It’s true that at the moment they are a little bit too much on having the possession but there’s not the end product. I believe that there is enough in that team to go to the final of the Champions League and even win the Premier League.”
