Jermaine Pennant right to say Douglas Luiz is better than Declan Rice as Aston Villa take on Arsenal
Two of the finest midfielders in the Premier League this season are set to face off on Saturday (9 December) when Aston Villa host Arsenal.
Declan Rice has grabbed plenty of headlines since making a £105million move to Arsenal in the summer, with his displays to date justifying that fee.
In the view of former Arsenal player Jermaine Pennant, however, Rice is not even necessarily the best central midfielder in the division.
Pennant, speaking on talkSPORT [8 December], argued that Villa star Douglas Luiz is an even better player on the form he has shown this term.
“Any team would dream to have Rice, but there are better sixes in the Premier League at the moment,” he said.
“I would say Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa – I think he can do everything that Rice can do and better. He assists more, he chips in with more goals.
“Creativity wise he’s better, flair is better, he can put in a tackle just like Rice, break up play just like Rice.
“So I think if someone said to me you can have Douglas Luiz for £60m or Declan Rice for £100m, easy every day of the week, Douglas Luiz.”
Pennant’s comments may well rise eyebrows given how well Rice has settled in at Emirates Stadium, but the statistics do back up his point.
Rice and Luiz have started all 15 of their respective sides’ games in the Premier League this season, with the latter playing one minute more.
As per FBref, Luiz has scored five goals and assisted two more, compared to three and one respectively for Rice.
That means Villa’s Brazilian star contributes directly to a 0.49 goals per 90 minutes, which is a clear improvement on Rice’s return of 0.28 per 90.
What must be factored into that, though, is that three of Luiz’s goals have come from the penalty spot.
Taking those out of the equation, Rice comes out on top in terms of goal involvements per 90 (0.21 v 0.14).
One telling metric does point to Luiz being the better creative force, though, as he has a non-penalty xG of 0.25 per 90, compared to Rice’s 0.22.
Luiz, for what it is worth, also comes out on top for progressive carries (2.36 v 1.46), which is defined as carrying the ball 10 yards or more up the field.
In terms of the more defensive aspects of their games, which Pennant also touched on, there are once again plenty of similarities.
Incredibly, they win possession the exact same number of times per 90 in the defensive (0.83) and middle thirds (0.97) of the field.
There is a clear winner in terms of overall tackles won, though, as Luiz has a figure of 2.29, whereas Rice ‘only’ registers 1.94 per 90.
Luiz is also the superior player in terms of number of dribblers tackled per 90 (0.97 v 0.83) and aerial duels won percentage (61 v 38).
To give Rice his dues, the England international does record more interceptions – 1.60 per 90 minutes versus 0.63 for Luiz.
There is ultimately very little between the two, but Pennant does have a fair point with what he says.
Given Rice cost nearly seven times as much as Luiz, there can be no denying that Villa got the better value for money with their business.
In other Aston Villa news, the Villans’ 89% colossus is right to be thankful to one of his team-mates.