Arsenal's Declan Rice reacts to Villa horror show: 'Time to pull our socks up!'

Arsenal suffered a horrific loss to Aston Villa and Declan Rice says the reaction to the poor performance starts against Bayern Munich.

Well, that wasn't how it was supposed to go, was it? Arsenal had been handed a superb opportunity to extend their lead over Liverpool thanks to Crystal Palace's 1-0 win at Anfield, but the Gunners blew it as they lost 2-0 to Aston Villa.

In a performance that was bad from the get-go, the Gunners were hanging in until the visitors scored two late goals to secure a well-deserved three points.

With the feeling post-game naturally one if disappointment, midfielder Declan Rice says that the reaction to the defeat starts midweek in Bavaria against Bayern.

“Now that reaction starts in the Champions League against Bayern, so we’ll be ready for that," Rice said via arsenal.com. "We have to park this to the side now. It’s gone, it’s a game of football. We’ve lost but we need to bounce back, that’s for sure. It’s a great chance for us to get into a Champions League semi-final. Going to the Allianz Arena, it’s going to be a special night. It’s time to pull our socks up and show everyone why we’re in this position."

With the loss to Villa, Arsenal handed the title advantage to City and now must rely on Pep Guardiola's side to drop points while also winning all of their remaining games - a tall order indeed.

But the Gunners can't feel sorry for themselves as Bayern loom midweek in a critical second-leg Champions League quarter-final matchup.

With the tie delicately poised at 2-2, Arsenal is in a good position to progress to the next stage, but it can't allow the feeling of the Villa defeat to remain.

Things have been going superbly for the Gunners of late, and now they have hit a speed bump at the most in opportune time.

And they can't let it derail their season. It is truly "pull your socks up" time in north London.