Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has urged Arsenal to ignore outside noise after their points lead was cut down to four points. The Gunners shared the spoils with Brentford after a 1-1 draw at the Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford on Thursday.

Thus, Mikel Arteta’s team dropped two points after Manchester City, who are hot on Arsenal’s heels, registered a 3-0 win against Fulham.

After a goalless first half, Arsenal’s Noni Madueke scored in the 61st minute, but Keane Lewis-Potter scored the equaliser for the home team after 10 minutes.

“In this journey you are never going to be at the level for 70 games of the season but you have to be at the best you can,” Rice said as quoted by ESPN. “The small details, the basics. This is a rollercoaster of a season. You can’t be naïve to think this is going to be easy.

“We are playing against the best teams week in, week out. We have to keep pushing and believing in ourselves, controlling the controllable.

“We have to block out the outside noise. We have done that really well. People are going to talk up the title race and Arsenal but we have a really calm group.

“I’m not naïve to think Brentford are a pushover. They are one of the best teams in the league and their recent form shows that. It’s a point gained in our journey but we wanted to win the game.”

Arsenal has been close to winning the Premier League title in the last couple of seasons but has veered off the track at the fag end of the season. With 12 matches to go in this term, the Gunners will want to stay on course.

Arsenal will next take on Wigan Athletic in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday.