“Rice has the edge” – The logic behind newspaper writers picking Arsenal midfielder over Caicedo | OneFootball

It’s the second Wednesday of the October international break. As far as slow new days go, this is about as bleak as they come. We cannot wait for Enzo Maresca’s press conference on Friday to spark things up again.

Until then, even the newspapers are indulging in the sort of idle chatter that’s usually reserved for Twitter in these dark times. If it’s not “who was better, Scholes, Gerrard or Lampard”, it’s “who is better, Caicedo or Rice.”

Well, that’s exactly what the Evening Standard have fired up today.

Rice and Caicedo compared in various ways

Declan Rice turns out for Arsenal

Simon Collings starts off by comparing their raw numbers – Caicedo has 28 tackles to Rice’s six. He also wins in blocks interceptions and ground duels.

But Rice wins on 12 chances created to 1. Rice has also carried the ball 1400m compared to Caicedo’s 837.

Dom Smith takes a more literary approach to the comparison:

“[Rice’s] quality on the ball is marginally better than Caicedo’s, but Paul Scholes was right when he said Rice can tend to touch the ball too much. He’s adding goals and assists to his game without neglecting defending, but he could still be slicker, swifter with the ball.”

Matt Verri uses some sort of logic trick for comparison:

“Perhaps a good way of thinking about it is who would be more successful if they swapped shirts and roles. You would back Rice in a Chelsea shirt to do Caicedo’s off-the-ball work and cover that ground. Could Caicedo do what Rice does for Arsenal as effectively, particularly in the final third? Maybe not. I think Rice has the edge.”

Don’t worry guys, just 3 days until Chelsea are playing a football match again.

In other news…

Chelsea’s Filip Jorgensen has given out some much needed international break fluff, but we’re worried about how little he may end up playing this season.