Arsenal fans have heard it all before: Sandro Tonali is better than Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo is the best defensive midfielder in the country, and Rice is just a very good runner. Ten games into the season, the numbers and the weekend just gone say otherwise.
Arsenal beat Hull City 1-0 on Saturday and head into the international break top of the table on 27 points, five clear of Brighton. It was not a classic, and Rice was not the star of it, but that is part of the point.
The best midfielder in the Premier League is not the one who has the best afternoon now and then. It is the one you can count on every single week, in every role he is asked to play. Right now, that is Declan Rice.
Where did the Tonali and Caicedo debate start?
The comparison has followed Rice for over a year. Speaking on The Overlap in October 2025, Paul Scholes was asked to name the best midfielder in the league. His answer was Tonali, then at Newcastle. “I think he’s better than Rice,” Scholes said, adding that Rice can do everything but does not do it often enough. He was no kinder about Caicedo, saying he still did not class the Chelsea man as an all-round midfielder.
Scholes knows more about central midfield than almost anyone. But there is a suspicion among Gooners that the debate would look very different if the passports were swapped. Put an Italian accent on Rice’s numbers and he would be talked about as the complete modern midfielder.
What have Rice’s numbers looked like this season?
Rice has started all ten of Arsenal’s Premier League games. He went into the Hull game with five league assists, more than anyone else in the division and already as many as he managed in the whole of last season. He also scored against Bayern Munich, his first goal since March.
That comes after 69 matches for club and country last season. Arteta has been asked about his workload more than once, and when the question came up before Hull he was having none of it, pointing out that Rice was the only player left out of the squad for both Carabao Cup games. We covered that in full when Arteta hit back at the workload fears.
A role that keeps getting bigger
What stands out is how much Arteta trusts him to do. Rice drops deep to help build, carries the ball, arrives in the box and adds a threat from set pieces. Arteta put it simply: “We cannot restrict his qualities and his capacities. He can drop back, he can progress play. He can drop back, he can carry the ball. He can be incredible in transition. He can win duels.”
That is not a description of a player who only does the simple things. It is a description of a player Arsenal build around.
How did Tonali and Caicedo get on at the weekend?
Neither had a weekend to remember for their clubs. Tonali is now at Tottenham, who paid Newcastle up to a reported £100m for him in the summer, and Spurs lost 1-0 at Leeds on Saturday. To be fair to him, his form in recent weeks has been far better than his slow start, when Roberto De Zerbi admitted after the opening-day defeat at Brentford that he was not in his best physical condition.
Caicedo had a strange afternoon at the Stadium of Light. He had been carrying a knock in the build-up, and at half-time against Sunderland, Xabi Alonso took off Levi Colwill and moved Caicedo into a makeshift centre-back role. Chelsea lost 1-0.
That says something about how highly Alonso rates him. But it also left Chelsea without control in the middle, and that is the job Caicedo is meant to do best.
Why the Hull win still counts in Rice’s favour
Rice was quiet by his standards in the 1-0 win over Hull City. He went closest in the first half and was taken off for Mikel Merino after 63 minutes as Arsenal chased a goal, with Arteta saying afterwards that he was fine.
Even on an off day, though, he did not make a mistake that cost his team. Arsenal kept a clean sheet, Martin Odegaard swept home the winner, and the midfield around Rice kept ticking. Bruno Guimarães took the plaudits, and Arteta has made clear that the relationships between his three midfielders are still improving.
There is also something harder to measure. A year or two ago, 0-0 at the Emirates on the hour against a deep block brought nerves from the stands, the bench and the pitch. Against Hull there was a calmness about the place. Winning the league does that, and Rice was at the heart of the side that won it.
Arsenal’s problem is not in midfield
If there is a worry about this Arsenal side, it is in the final third. Too many good moves end with someone offside, a pass under-hit or a shot blocked, and Arteta admitted himself that his side need to turn their chances into goals. The midfield is not the issue. Rice and Guimarães are giving the forwards the ball in the right places, week after week.
Verdict: Declan Rice is the best midfielder in the Premier League
Tonali is very good, and so is Caicedo. Both would get into most teams in the league. But being better than Rice means doing more than Rice, more often than Rice, and right now neither of them is.
Nobody in the league had more assists than Rice going into the weekend, he is playing every week, and he does whatever Arteta asks of him without complaint. Scholes said a year ago that he does not do it enough. Ten games into this season, it is hard to find a week when he has not done it.
Next up for Rice is England duty against Croatia and Spain, and then Newcastle away when the Premier League returns. Expect the debate to start again. Expect him to answer it the same way.
