Gary Neville says Chelsea have a player who is comfortably better than ‘top’ Arsenal star

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Gary Neville compared one Chelsea player to the rest of the Premier League after the Blues gave Arsenal a helping hand in the title race.

Liverpool suffered a second consecutive Premier League defeat on matchday seven of the season, seeing Arsenal leapfrog Arne Slot’s side to take top spot. 

Mikel Arteta’s squad sit top of the table heading into the international break, thanks to the Gunners’ win over West Ham. 

Despite Arsenal comfortably beating their London rivals, all talk is on the Premier League champions’ defeat to Chelsea, where one player earned all the praise.

• READ MORE: Forget Saka and Rice, Arsenal fans all think ‘world-class’ star was the real Man of the Match vs West Ham

Gary Neville says Moises Caicedo is better than Declan Rice 

18-year-old Estevao scored an injury-time winner against Liverpool to Arsenal’s delight, with Moises Caicedo scoring the first with an impressive strike. 

Arteta wanted to sign Caicedo before the midfielder joined Chelsea, but given how things worked out at the Emirates through the arrival of Declan Rice, the Gunners won’t be overthinking the transfer miss too much. 

Though Paul Scholes described Rice as a ‘top’ player for Arsenal, Gary Neville actually thinks the Chelsea star is better. 

Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast after Chelsea’s win over Liverpool, Neville said that he’s ‘comfortable’ with calling Caicedo the best midfielder in the Premier League right now.

“I’m trying to think of players like Declan Rice and others in the league, but I think he’s [Caicedo] the best midfield player in the league at this moment in time, and I think I’m comfortable saying that.”

Neville mentioned Rice and other midfielders alongside Caicedo, but concluded that, at this moment, the Ecuadorian is above the rest.

“I think Gravenburch last season and maybe Declan Rice and the two boys up at Newcastle, Rodri obviously for the last few years, but now I think at this time that we are here today getting into October 2025, I think we can say that Caicedo is the best midfield player in the league and he’s performing like that.”

It was a bold statement from Neville, and one that plenty of fans won’t agree with, but after what happened on matchday seven, neither player will care for comparisons. 

How Rice showed West Ham what they’re missing

While Caicedo helped Chelsea secure a decisive win over Liverpool, Rice punished his former club.

The Englishman recorded his third goal contribution against West Ham since joining Arsenal, opening the scoring to give the Gunners a lead to take into half-time.

What truly would’ve rubbed salt into West Ham’s wounds, however, was how complete Rice’s performance was going forward.

From creating chances to scoring to completing dribbles, Rice was running the show against his former club.

It was an afternoon for the England international to remember, taking the Gunners top of the pile heading into the break.