Eni Aluko has hit back at the “racist, sexist and misogynistic” people who sent her abusive messages after she voiced a theory regarding Declan Rice’s potential move to Arsenal. The Gunners were seemingly struggling to agree a price with West Ham United for the midfielder and had two offers rejected before Manchester City entered the race. Arsenal then upped their bid to £105m as City decided against pursuing the transfer. Aluko’s theory was that City never wanted to sign Rice and that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta had asked his friend, and City manager, Pep Guardiola to put in a bid to force Arsenal’s owners to match the Hammers’ valuation and get the deal over the line. She added that this tactic was something she used to do while working as a director of women’s football for Aston Villa and sporting director of Los Angeles-based Angel City FC. “Safe to say I suspected Rice wasn’t going up the M6 to Manchester! I’ve had a lot of laughs on this today, it was very quiet from the pile-on brigade – somehow a lot of haters went missing. Apologies are much quieter than disrespect,” wrote Aluko in a thread on Twitter before adding: “Disagreement is part of the job. But disagreement should never be used by people to be sexist, racist, misogynistic to women in football. It’s an absolute disgrace and I won’t ignore it for the benefit of a lot of men who project their own jealousy & insecurity spouting abuse. Women in football are not going away. Get used to it. “We know our stuff, we speak from a place of professional insight and experience. Take it or leave it, agree, disagree but if you choose sexism, racism, misogyny to disagree, you are the problem and you’re exposing yourself. “If you spend your time attacking women in football, you are exposing the fact you can NEVER be at the same level. You’re entitled to opinion, don’t abuse it to be racist, sexist and misogynistic.” She also posted a video on Twitter with the caption: “My DMs are a bit quiet, looks like the clowns have run away #DeclanRice #TransferTea.” The video was accommpanied by several crystal ball and laughing emojis, followed by a clown emoji as she smiled and shook her head. Arsenal’s deal for Rice has been agreed in principle with £100m in guaranteed cash plus £5m in bonuses. Read More Havertz transfer leaves Chelsea fans conflicted: ‘You won’t be missed’ Arsenal winning race for Rice but Bayern face uphill struggle to capture Kane Rumours: New Harry Kane bid and Hammers target trio including Maguire Havertz transfer leaves Chelsea fans conflicted: ‘You won’t be missed’ Arsenal winning race for Rice but Bayern face uphill struggle to capture Kane Rumours: New Harry Kane bid and Hammers target trio including Maguire

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Mikel Arteta praised a “phenomenal” response from Arsenal after they fought back from two goals down in the final 13 minutes to earn a 2-2 draw at Chelsea and move level on points at the top of the Premier League. Chelsea looked to be sending Arsenal to a first league defeat of the season when Mykhailo Mudryk’s cross-shot put them into a 2-0 lead minutes after half-time, the Ukrainian’s effort drifting over goalkeeper David Raya who was unable to recover from a poor starting position as the ball dropped into the goal. That added to the lead given to them by a first-half penalty from Cole Palmer, increasingly influential in Pochettino’s revitalised attack following his move from Manchester City, who slotted home after William Saliba was adjudged to have handled from Mudryk’s header. It was a commanding and deserved advantage for the hosts, who were seeking a third straight league win, but as so often during Chelsea’s turbulent last 18 months it was an individual error that turned the game and cost them points. Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez rolled the ball straight to the feet of Declan Rice who cut the arrears from 30 yards, before Leandro Trossard got a lunging right leg to Bukayo Saka’s cross six minutes from time to salvage an unlikely draw. And afterwards Arteta praised his team’s powers of recovery as they extended their unbeaten start to the league season to nine matches to go level at the top with Manchester City. “I think what went wrong was the start of the game,” said the manager. “We didn’t play with enough purpose and clarity. We were just moving the ball without the intention to threaten them. That’s a really dangerous thing to do against teams like Chelsea. “Then we didn’t win enough duels, and in tight areas when we had them, they escaped from that and they attacked open spaces, and they are really dangerous things to do. “When we changed that and we changed the level after 20, 25 minutes, especially in the second half then it’s a different game. We became a much better team, even though we conceded the second goal and it’s a disappointment. “The way the team reacted to the second goal is phenomenal from the players on the pitch and the players on the bench thinking ‘how the hell am I going to change this game?’ I loved that. “I really liked as well going into the dressing room and it’s really quiet, after drawing 2-2 with Chelsea and coming back from 2-0 down, because I know that they wanted more. That’s the positive.” Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino reflected on perhaps Chelsea’s best performance since he took over in the summer, and refused to lay the blame at the feet of Sanchez for allowing Arsenal back into the match. “Too many games that we’re watching every week, always mistakes,” he said. “Football is about mistakes. If you want to score, you want the opponent to make a mistake. Ninety per cent of goals are because the opponent made a mistake. Football is about mistakes. “The only thing we can criticise a little bit is to read better the situation, the tempo and the timing. After 77 minutes, we’re trying to take some risks. OK, we can because it’s our philosophy. But maybe (we need) better decisions. So we can criticise a bit, but also this is football. “It’s not to blame someone. It’s only that in this type of situation you need to read better, but that will arrive with time. Teams need to manage and drive games. You need to read the game, when to be calm, when to play, when to take risks.” Read More Gary O’Neil insists Wolves win at Bournemouth not about revenge over former club Pep Guardiola hails ‘exceptional’ Brighton after Man City return to winning ways Thomas Frank: Five-year anniversary meal will taste better after Brentford win Rob Edwards salutes Luton super-sub Elijah Adebayo after equaliser at Forest England skipper Jos Buttler questions his decision to field first in latest loss A true gentleman – David Beckham pays tribute to ‘national hero’ Bobby Charlton

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