West Ham captain Declan Rice says Arsenal can win the Premier League after last night's 3-1 defeat.

The Gunners extended their advantage at the summit to seven points with a 3-1 win in the London derby on Boxing Day.

Afterwards when asked if Arsenal could go all the way, Rice said: "100%. They are a top team you can see they are coached incredibly well, have a lot of attacking talent, a young squad and they can go the whole way for sure.

"First-half we tried as hard as we could to stop them, we came up short and it's frustrating."

Rice added: "It's a tough one because first-half even though we didn't have much of the ball we defended really well, had a plan, went one-nil up but you can't sustain that for 90 minutes against a team like Arsenal, it's the same against City. In the end one of their chances will lead to something, with their free-flowing football they managed to get through.

"Then your backs are against the wall and it's down to us to keep going and we tried to do that but we couldn't, we couldn't get up the pitch, they smothered us."

Rice insisted West Ham were not in a relegation fight despite sitting just one point above the drop zone.

He said: "No I don't think it is a relegation fight, every team has a blip, every team has a period of not plain sailing but it's down to me as captain to keep everyone going.

"No way we are down and out, we still believe we are a top team but we need to stop showing that now. The signings we have made and the players we have got is about having that perception of being a top team."