Comparing Declan Rice and Rodri's statistics this season as Jamie Carragher picks his favourite | OneFootball

Highlights

Jamie Carragher has weighed in on the debate that has gathered pace over the opening third of the 2023/24 season between Declan Rice and Rodri. The two defensive midfield players have been key to the early season form of both sides and the Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender has given his views on which player he would rather have in his side.

Arsenal and Manchester City look set to be heavily involved in the Premier League title race for the second half of the 2023/24 campaign. Both sides went head-to-head for the 2022/23 crown, but Pep Guardiola's team came out on top as City wrapped up a third successive league trophy.

One of the key differences between the two teams during that run-in was that City had the ever-reliable Rodri putting out fires all over the place. In contrast, the Gunners never had a reliable option that could perform to that standard in front of the back line. This meant that William Saliba's injury was even more costly than it could have been, as Thomas Partey's loss of form exposed the Arsenal defence.

Mikel Arteta decided to take action in the ensuing summer transfer window as Arsenal made Rice one of the most expensive signings in Premier League history in a £105 million deal to see the West Ham captain make the move to North London. That looks to be one of the best moves made by any club in world football - despite the hefty price tag - as the English midfielder looks to have bridged a gap in quality between the challengers and the champions.

During the opening 15 games of the league season, Rodri has missed three games due to suspension and the Citizens have lost all three encounters, against Wolves, Arsenal, and Aston Villa. This gives a big indication of the importance of such an integral figure in the middle of the park to hold everything together.

But who would Carragher choose between the two dominant stars? Fresh off the back of firing back at Guardiola for some heated comments, the ex-Liverpool man has given his thoughts...

In his column for the Telegraph, Carragher went into the aforementioned debate between the two best defensive midfield players in the Premier League. He labelled Rice as "a bargain for Arsenal," which may initially raise some eyebrows due to the enormous sum of money exchanged for the 24-year-old.

Carragher would justify this comment by explaining: "There are certain players who move for astronomical fees and are almost guaranteed to be successful," citing Roy Keane and Alan Shearer for their moves to Manchester United and Newcastle respectively as examples.

The 45-year-old was full of praise for both men, but he was definitive in his answer regarding which player he would take in his team over the other, saying: "There is no bigger compliment I can give to Rice than this: I would rather have him in my team than Rodri. The Manchester City midfielder has been arguably the best player in the Treble-winning side, alongside Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva, and he scored the winner in the Champions League final. He is a brilliant player, but I would still rather have Rice."

But do the statistics of both players' individual seasons to date back up his decision? We decided to take a look at exactly that.

Comparing Declan Rice and Rodri's statistics in 2023/24

Using Squawka's comparison matrix tool, GIVEMESPORT has looked into the statistics of both Rice and Rodri to get a better understanding of how each man has performed in the 2023/24 campaign to date. It is important to remember that while Rice has started the first 15 league games of the season, Rodri has been absent for a few games due to the previously mentioned suspensions. Thus, it is only fair to compare the players on a per-90 basis for the most part. See the results below...

Attacking statistics

While neither man's main responsibility within their respective team is to get forward and contribute vast amounts of goals and assists, they do both naturally get the opportunity to have an impact in an attacking sense, as they each represent extremely possession-dominant teams. It isn't where their true value lies, but Rice and Rodri have both managed to score three times with Arsenal's star midfielder grabbing goals against Manchester United, Chelsea, and in a dramatic late win against Luton Town. Rodri scored a similar late winner against a newly-promoted side in the form of Sheffield United and also netted against Burnley and Chelsea.

The Manchester City midfielder has a slight edge in terms of assists as the Spaniard has set up two goals for teammates in the league, while his English counterpart has only registered one assist. There is a significant difference in chance creation statistics as Rodri has provided his teammates with 1.1 goal-scoring chances per 90 minutes in the 2023/24 season, but Rice has only set up 0.8 chances per 90 minutes.

This stems from the volume of forward passes each player makes, as Rice plays the ball forward 16.4 times per 90 in comparison to Rodri's 21.9 on average per game. As already mentioned, however, neither man is selected on a weekly basis to contribute going forward, although it will no doubt be appreciated by their managers.

Defensive statistics

Here we go, the real bread and butter of the defensive midfielder. Man City and Arsenal are blessed to have two of the very best anchor men in the entire world of football and the best two in the Premier League. The statistics for the defensive side of the game are very close between each player, who both have their own strong points. Rodri comes out on top of metrics such as ball recoveries, tackles made, and aerial duel success.

The Spain international has been the busier man remarkably, despite featuring in a City side that won the three biggest trophies on offer in the previous campaign, contesting 9.3 duels per 90 minutes. In contrast, Rice gets directly involved in duels 8 times per 90. Of those duels, some are on the ground and some are in the air. Rodri dominates aerial duels with a success rate of 73.68% in comparison to Rice's 35.9%. This is a massive difference and even suggests that Arsenal could have an issue with their English midfielder being too easy to beat in the air.

Making 2.2 tackles and 7.8 ball recoveries per 90, Rodri is very proficient when winning the ball back on the ground, with Rice averaging slightly less in both metrics. The former West Ham star does come out looking better in ground duels though, winning 56.58% which is better than his rival (53.57%). The Gunners' summer signing has also made more interceptions (1.6) and clearances (1.7) per 90 minutes than Rodri (1.1 and 0.9 respectively).

This proves that the two players are very even when it comes to protecting their defences, with very little to separate the duo.

Passing statistics

Man City's rock in the middle of the park dominates when it comes to the passing statistics. This may come as no surprise for a man who plays a pivotal role in two of the most possession-dominant teams in world football in City and Spain. He has completed 99.1 of his 105.4 attempted passes per 90 which is sure to be one of the best in the entire league. This gives him a pass completion rate of just over 94%.

Arsenal's system may differ from City's as Rice is tasked with attempting much fewer passes per 90 (66.5) and the Englishman has managed to complete 60.8 of those on average. This still results in an impressive 91.52% completion rate. It proves that Rice is very capable on the ball, but is thus far struggling to keep up with one of the best passers of the ball in the world.

Rodri comes out on top of the statistical battle

Of the 13 metrics highlighted in previous sections, Rodri came out on top on nine occasions. The Spanish midfielder still appears to be the most dominant and talented defensive midfielder in the Premier League at the present moment.

That is not to take away from the opinion of Carragher and many fans that believe Rice to be very quickly catching up to the 27-year-old. If Arteta's men were to usurp Guardiola's juggernaut of a Man City team in the title race, there would be an even bigger spotlight placed upon this debate. It's one to keep an eye on.