Declan Rice credits Arsenal star for making him ‘unstoppable’ on path to Ballon d’Or

Declan Rice has heaped praise on an Arsenal teammate for helping him reach an “unstoppable” level this season and reacted to be being talked about as a possible Ballon d’Or winner.

North London derby hiccup aside, Rice has been outstanding for an Arsenal side still on course to win an incredible quadruple this season.

The Gunners stormed through the Champions League group phase, topping the table with a 100 per cent record, and got things back on track in the Premier League after a wobble with a comprehensive victory over Tottenham.

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Arsenal are five points clear of Manchester City, though Pep Guardiola’s side do have a game in hand and will also meet City in the Carabao Cup final next month while facing Mansfield Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Rice will be crucial to Arsenal’s chances of success this season and picked out Martin Zubimendi as key to him “raising my level” again this season.

“I think every year I’ve tried to raise my level and raise my game,” he said. “It’s something my dad always said to me, like, how are you going to improve every year? How are you going to get better?

“It’s weird because I don’t think about it. I just go out and play and I’m lucky that I get to play football matches. I’m fit. Zubi[mendi] has been a massive help this season. He’s been really, really good.

“Once you get in that momentum and into the swing of things, your confidence comes, and there’ve been points this season where I felt unstoppable at times, and there’s no better feeling than going onto a football pitch with confidence, you know you’re going to go on and play well.”

Rice continued: “I think I always have in my mind, first thing of the game, always do it to a good standard, whether it’s a header, a tackle, a duel. If you win that, it gets your mind in the right place.

“Whereas if you lose it, it can have a negative impact and you start to think the other way. So I always try to get my mind in the right place and that spurs me on to go and play well.”

Asked about being in the conversation to win the Ballon d’Or, Rice was keen to not look too far ahead, adding: “It’s unreal, obviously. You want to be involved in them conversations. I think they’re the right ones to be involved in.

“Obviously, I appreciate the fans for saying that. It’s such a long way away because I need to keep playing well. I need to keep maintaining this level. But also, you see the recent Ballon d’Or winners, what they’ve won during their season.

“Hopefully we can have a successful season and I can be involved in them conversations. That would be amazing. If not, that’s not something that I’m setting my eye on. I really want the team to do well first.

“We’re lucky enough, like I said, to be in every competition still at this stage of the season. There’s so many big teams who’ve been knocked out already.

“So we put ourselves in a really strong position to go forward and put ourselves in the best way.”