Arsenal have already signed their own Caicedo & he cost £45m less than Rice

This week could not have gone any better for Arsenal, so can they now claim another statement win?

So far, the Gunners have hammered Tottenham 4-1 in the North London derby, Eberechi Eze scoring a hat-trick against the side he turned down in the summer, before beating Bayern Munich 3-1 in the Champions League, maintaining their perfect record in Europe.

The big games though keep on coming, taking on the side who start the weekend as their nearest challengers in the Premier League Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in Sunday’s blockbuster, currently unbeaten in six visits to the Bridge, having lost eight of their ten previous visits beforehand.

The midfield battle, as always, will be crucial in determining the victors in this London derby, but is an under-the-radar member of Mikel Arteta‘s midfield unit truly the key man?

Declan Rice vs Moisés Caicedo battle at the Bridge

A lot of the pre-match discussion ahead of this game on Sunday revolves around the two teams’ respective midfields.

Speaking on CBS on Wednesday, Declan Rice himself was asked about this battle by Jamie Carragher, stating that he has a lot of respect for Caicedo, noting that he was “outstanding” last season and that he has started this campaign “incredibly well”.

Well, the Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo partnership is certainly the strength of Chelsea’s team, with Michael Cox of the Athletic labelling the latter a ‘true all-rounder’ who is excellent at winning the ball but can also ‘surge into attack and make positive forward passes’.

However, Arsenal’s midfield is not bad either, spearheaded by Rice, who has started 14 of 16 Premier League and Champions League matches to date, rested against Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos, scoring two goals and registering six assists.

In that aforementioned CBS interview, Rice asserts that he’s probably playing the best football of his career right now, and Arsenal will need that to continue if their wait for a first Premier League title since 2004 is going to come to an end.

However he, of course, cannot do this all on his own, and the England international may have found his perfect partner.

Arsenal’s answer to Moisés Caicedo

After both Jorginho and Thomas Partey departed in the summer, Arsenal needed to replace the former’s exceptional passing as well as the latter’s tenacity and ability to drive forward, but have seemingly found one player who can do all of that and more.

While many summer signings across the Players League are still yet to adapt to their new surroundings, pretty much from day one, Martín Zubimendi has seamlessly slotted straight into the Arsenal team as if he had been there for years.

The Spaniard has been a near-ever-present in the Premier League this season, earning widespread praise for his performances.

Midfield partner Rice asserted on Wednesday that it has been “so easy to play with him”, adding “from the first moment… I could just tell that I was going to play some good football with him”.

Zubimendi’s most eye-catching display so far came during September’s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, scoring twice, with this rocket that broke the deadlock awarded Premier League goal of the month.

Thus, even this early on in his Arsenal career, the £60m paid to Real Sociedad – £45m less than was dished out on Rice – to secure his signature appears to be an absolute bargain, with Zubimendi instantaneously establishing himself as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League.

That status is only reinforced by his likeness to Caicedo, with the Spaniard deemed to be the most statistically and stylistically similar midfielder to the Ecuadorian in the top-flight this season, as per FBref.

Zubimendi vs Caicedo PL comparison
Stats	Zubimendi	Caicedo
Minutes	1,028	945
Assists	1	1
Chances created	9	6
Big chances created	1	1
Pass completion %	88%	91%
Forward passes	196	161
Duels contested	93	106
Ground duels won	27	56
Ground duels success %	48%	60%
Interceptions	13	26
Ball recoveries	37	57
Touches per 90	78.3	76.3
Average rating	7.13	7.45
Stats via Squawka and SofaScore

As the table documents, Zubimendi and Caicedo’s statistics are generally pretty similar across the board.

The Ecuadorian international does come out on top in terms of out of possession metrics, namely duels, interceptions and ball recoveries, but the Spaniard is not too far behind, while coming out on top for most in-possession statistics, including chances created, forward passes and touches per 90.

Given that the other members of Sunday’s midfield battle, Rice, Fernández and Caicedo, all cost in excess of £100m, the £60m Zubimendi cost looks like an excellent piece of business by Andrea Berta.

If the Gunners are going to claim a statement win at Stamford Bridge, and ultimately go on to pick up silverware in May, Zubimendi will continue to be a key figure.