Roy Keane points the finger at Declan Rice as Arsenal fired Premier League title race warning

Arsenal have lost three of their last four games across all competitions, and Roy Keane has urged Declan Rice to galvanise the squad

Roy Keane believes Declan Rice needs to 'show more leadership skills'. The 27-year-old midfielder was nowhere to be seen when Arsenal were dealt a blow to their hopes of winning the Premier League at the weekend.

Alex Scott fired Bournemouth to a 2-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Then, on Sunday evening, Manchester City enjoyed a 3-0 win over Chelsea, slashing the Gunners' advantage in the title race to just six points.

Although Arsenal have a comfortable lead at the top of the table, they're set to face Pep Guardiola's side, who have a game in hand, later this month. Speaking on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football show, Keane claimed that the north Londoners are suffering from nerves.

The Manchester United legend singled out Rice as somebody in the Arsenal squad who needs to galvanise his teammates. Keane said: "Rice has to show more leadership skills.

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"That was a nervous performance. It’s okay being nervous; it’s how you deal with it When a team is pressing you - and Bournemouth really were - when it goes back to the goalkeeper, and you’re showing for it, don’t; you’ve got a big target man.

"Don’t complicate it, especially if you’re nervous. I’d rather be nervous up the field than giving the ball away cheaply in our own half. You have to smell these things. It’s not like Arsenal learned from the first half; they were doing it in the second half, too.

"People like Rice, talking about leadership skills, they’ve got to get a grip of people. People are looking at [Mikel] Arteta, the fans are nervous, no - this is on the players.

"The fans aren’t going to do it for you, the manager can only do so much, he’s got a great squad together in a brilliant position. Arsenal have got to get a grip - or it will slip by."

Arteta, however, has no issue with his side's mentality. Speaking to reporters at the weekend, the Arsenal boss attributed the defeat to Bournemouth to a tactical problem, rather than a mental problem.

"No, because I've seen them before in many scenarios and I've seen them for nine months," said Arteta. "But today there were some very basic things that we did extremely badly against a team that, when you do that, they're going to capitalise, stretch the pitch, and the game becomes very chaotic and very difficult to control.

"So it's a lot of good things that they've done, obviously, and credit to them. But I think there’s a lot, a lot, a lot on our plate to look at ourselves."

On whether nerves and tension have begun to affect the performance, Arteta said: "We need everything. First of all, we need everybody, fit and available.

"So the ones that are not involved, the ones that are not with us, that are really big, important players, we need them immediately with us, because then we're going to be much stronger, and then the other ones, we need to stand up.

"Me, the first one, and embrace this challenge and go for it. So today we have to suffer, it's painful, it's a terrible feeling, but tomorrow is a different day, and if somebody had said to me in August, we are in this position right now in April, I'm sure we would all take it."