Declan Rice dedicated his goal in Arsenal’s Premier League victory over Burnley to his aunt who died last month.
Goals from Rice and Viktor Gyokeres earned Mikel Arteta’s side a comfortable 2-0 win over newly-promoted Burnley on Saturday.
The Premier League leaders took the lead inside the opening 15 minutes as £64m summer signing Gyokeres scored his sixth goal for the club.
Rice added Arsenal’s second before half time and during the celebrations fell to his knees while pointing to the sky.
Speaking after the victory at Turf Moor, Rice said his celebration was in tribute to his aunt who recently passed away.
Get personalised updates on Arsenal everyday
Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro’s Football Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we’ll send you so we can get football news tailored to you.
‘My auntie passed away before the Fulham game,’ Rice told Premier League Productions. ‘I loved her to death.
‘She travelled everywhere to watch me with my mum. I know she’s watching down so that was for her today.’
On Arsenal’s win over Burnley, who had won their previous two games, Rice added: ‘They’ve maybe lost once in like 18 months.
‘We knew it was going to be tough, so we had to stick to our principles. Our quality shone through and we could have scored four or five in the first half.
‘It’s important we keep scoring goals. Two goals are perfect for us. If you look at the goal as a whole, we’re defending a long throw from our own half.
‘Big Gabby wins the ball and I keep running with the ball. I was like a traditional number nine!’
Arsenal’s win over Burnley left the Gunners eight points clear at the top of the Premier League ahead of Bournemouth and Tottenham’s fixtures later in the weekend.
Arteta heaped praise on his team after the victory, saying: ‘The first half was exceptional, we scored two goals and gave nothing away. That was the platform.
‘We had to make a few changes and didn’t have that much control in the second half. Defending was exceptional again, we didn’t give anything.
‘There is a reason they have lost one game in 18 months here, against Liverpool in the last second of the game.’
On Rice’s impressive performance, Arteta added: ‘He stepped up. He won I don’t know how many balls and tackles. It’s the evolution of a player.’
Arsenal will look to continue their perfect start to the Champions League when they face Slavia Prague on Tuesday before returning to Premier League action against in-form Sunderland.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.