With Rodri suspended, the England midfielder has a glorious chance to boss a game the Gunners need to win to send a message to their title rivals
Declan Rice was the picture of frustration after Arsenal's 2-1 loss in Lens on Tuesday night. He couldn't quite work out how the Gunners had lost a game that he felt they had "dominated". However, while he was disappointed by his side's first defeat of the season, he was far from despondent. "We're just warming up and getting into our rhythm," he told . "Our focus turns back to the league and it's a massive game on Sunday."
He's certainly not wrong about that latter claim. We may only be seven games into the 2023-24 Premier League campaign but the meeting between last season's top two at the Emirates already feels like a must-win match for the home side.
Arsenal were utterly outclassed in both of their games against City last season and those two defeats played a pivotal role in both the Citizens' initial resurgence and eventual title triumph. So, while the Gunners may have edged City on penalties in the Community Shield in August, the pressure is very much on Mikel Arteta's men to show that they can beat the treble winners when it really counts.
Remember, Arsenal have lost all seven of their Premier League clashes with City since Arteta took over in December 2019. "That is why," former defender William Gallas told , "they need to demonstrate they can handle the big occasion, show some balls, and show Man City that things will be different this season."
However, while Rice has made a positive start to his time in north London, he also has plenty to prove on Sunday.
Getty ImagesOutrageously overpriced
The 24-year-old knew before he'd even played a competitive fixture for Arsenal that his £105 million ($131m) move from West Ham meant that he would forever have a price tag "attached" to him. His hope was that he wouldn't be judged on the size of the fee. He obviously will be – that's just how both the media and fandom work in modern football – but, in truth, the numbers involved in the deal are irrelevant.
Rice clearly isn't worth £105m. When even the entertainingly reckless owners at Chelsea baulk at the size of the fee being demanded by the selling club, you know that the player is outrageously overpriced.
However, context, as always, is key. As Liverpool discovered during the summer, effective defensive midfielders are very hard to find these days – and are, therefore, incredibly costly. Arsenal, then, deserve credit for managing to land one of the best on the market during the off-season – and, rather significantly, in spite of interest from City.
AdvertisementGetty Where would Rice have played at City?
Of course, the treble-winners ultimately decided that they didn't need Rice badly enough to fork out a club-record fee – but that doesn't mean that he won't prove value for money at Arsenal.
City, in contrast to the Gunners, were already in possession of the premier player in Rice's position – Rodri, who is, rather incredibly, still only 27.
Given Pep Guardiola usually likes to send his side out with two No.8s that effectively play as No.10s, as well as a centre-back that serves as an auxiliary midfielder (John Stones), Rice was hardly a priority signing.
There would have been immediate questions over exactly where he would have played, with Rodri the obvious first-choice in the No.6 role.
Getty ImagesPep's problem in midfield
Still, City's refusal to match Arsenal's bid for Rice means that they're in a very awkward position this weekend – and Guardiola knows it too.
The Catalan coach was visibly disgusted with Rodri for stupidly getting himself sent off against Nottingham Forest a fortnight ago, glaring at the Spain international as he trudged towards the tunnel.
Rodri's straight red means that he will be suspended for the biggest game of City's season so far and given Guardiola appears to have little faith in Kalvin Phillips, it will be fascinating to see how his side lines up in north London.
Guardiola, of course, is a master tactician, capable of finding surprising solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems, but Arsenal absolutely have to take advantage of City's selection dilemma – and Rice is undoubtedly key in that regard.
Getty Images'We'll find out how good Rice is'
Let's face it, these are the kinds of games Rice was bought to help Arsenal win. This is why they paid the big bucks. They wanted a player of personality with the requisite quality to boss direct clashes with title rivals, in a similar fashion to Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira.
Rice, of course, is no Vieira – at least not yet. He is not the best defensive midfielder in the Premier League – that's obviously Rodri – and he's not even been the best midfield in north London this season – that's Yves Bissouma, who is one of the main reasons why Spurs have made such a sensational start to the season under Ange Postecoglou.
As the stats underline, Rice isn't as adept as either man at winning possession, duels or tackles. In fact, he's made fewer successful tackles than Bukayo Saka this season, and regained possession fewer times than Martin Odegaard.
He also offers less going forward. Both Rodri and Bissouma have completed more passes and are far better at beating players, which is why midfield icons such as Roy Keane and Graeme Souness both believe Rice has to add much more to his game if he is to go down as a truly great midfielder.
"Arsenal have obviously paid way too much for him," Keane said on at the start of the season. "He's certainly not worth over £100m but he is a good player: he turns up every week and he is a big strong boy.
"And we have talked about his physicality – Arsenal lacked that in the last month or two [of last season]. But we will find out over the next year or two how good Declan is. Has he got that really top quality in terms of seeing a pass and getting nine or 10 goals a season? We'll soon find out."