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Observant Arsenal supporters have noticed Declan Rice's frustrated response following their goalless stalemate at Nottingham Forest on Saturday. The north London side missed the opportunity to extend their advantage after Manchester City's earlier loss, managing only a single point against their struggling opponents at the City Ground.

The 27-year-old midfielder was central to Arsenal's attempts to find a breakthrough, but their efforts proved fruitless. As the final whistle sounded, Rice appeared visibly disappointed whilst making his way towards the visiting fans.

Footage captured Rice acknowledging the away support, with lip-readers suggesting he muttered: "F****** s***, every f****** time."

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Supporters have speculated this referred to Arsenal's inability to take advantage of City dropping points for consecutive matches.

Arsenal fan Piers Morgan concurred, writing on X: "He's right! And this is why Rice should be captain. We lacked proper leadership today. For title run-ins, we need this mentality - a refusal to accept such mediocre performance."

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The Gunners currently hold a seven-point cushion at the top, though Aston Villa, the third genuine title contender this campaign, have the chance to reduce that margin to four points. Villa welcome Everton on Sunday, having also failed to secure maximum points in their previous fixture.

Mikel Arteta admitted Arsenal's result was disappointing. "Obviously, we came here to win the game and we haven't managed to do that for different reasons," Arteta said. "Credit to them, because they are really well organised and they are really good at breaking momentum when you have certain dominance in the game.

"But the reality is that we created four massive chances as well, with Gabriel Martinelli an open goal, Declan Rice a tap-in, Mikel [Merino] and the header of Bukayo [Saka], and on top of that obviously a very clear penalty in the box that is not given.

"So, without conceding a single shot on target, again, the fact that we haven't won the game is disappointing. On top of that, I think we can do things better - especially in certain attacking areas."

Noni Madueke echoed Arteta's sentiment. He said: "It's disappointing to draw for sure.

"We wanted to win the game, we didn't achieve that.

"Disappointing in that sense, but it's a point we take on the road and we regroup. We've got an important clash versus Inter [Milan] in the Champions League, which we'll go into trying to win.

"There's a long way to go. We know that we've been very consistent and we'll continue to do so."