Manchester City take on Arsenal this weekend and there’ll be some top players on display across both sides.
Both City and the Gunners will have identified key battles they need to win.
Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta are both meticulous in their work. And with that, we can expect a tactical battle and certain one on one situations to become key.
Of course, one of the key areas of the battle being won or lost is going to be in midfield.
Arsenal have their ideal number six now in Declan Rice. While over at Man City, they have the outstanding Spanish star, Rodri, anchoring proceedings.
One man who knows just how to play in midfield is former Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas. And the Spaniard has been assessing things ahead of the weekend
Cesc Fabregas speaks on Manchester City v Arsenal midfield battle
Fabregas was speaking on the Planet Premier League podcast this week ahead of the crunch clash.
When assessing the midfields, he touched on both Rice and Rodri.
And when it came to talking about City star Rodri, Fabregas believes he is just perfect in that midfield role.
“I think it’s perfect. He was always playing in a double pivot at Villarreal or Atletico Madrid. He’s now proved to everyone he can play by himself and it’s more than enough. Obviously he plays in a team that dominates the ball week in week out. But you see his game intelligence.
“Again you go back to the Rice situation, he plays deep midfield, but he scores lots of goals because he understands the game better than anyone. He has this feeling, a perception of where the ball is going to go. He understands he needs to occupy and fill the gaps, offensively and defensively. If Bernardo Silva comes deep, you can see he goes forward to occupy the space. This is what Pep teaches you, you know.
“For me, the biggest thing about Rodri is the stat that says when he plays, City win, and when he doesn’t, they don’t. So that is the biggest compliment,” Fabregas said.
Rodri v Declan Rice battle will be key
A lot has been made of Rodri and Rice already this season but it’s pretty telling just how important both players are for their teams.
City paid a whopping £63m for Rodri back in 2019 and he’s more than repaid that. Arsenal, of course, splashed out north of £100m on Declan Rice and he’s on his way to proving value for money as well.
Paul Merson has recently said that Rice is right up there with Rodri in terms of top midfielders.
Rice himself, though, has lauded Rodri and said he believes the Spaniard to be the best in the world at what he does.
The battle on Sunday, then, is set to be a huge one.
