Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice is set to go toe-to-toe with Granit Xhaka when England face Switzerland on Saturday.
England and Switzerland will contest their Euro 2024 quarter-final clash in Dusseldorf on Saturday.
Gareth Southgate’s side will have to improve significantly on their performances in the tournament so far if they are to stand any chance of getting past this impressive Swiss team.
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice will almost certainly start this match, as he has each game in the competition to this point, and will be crucial to the Three Lions’ chances of success.
The 25-year-old has not been able to produce his best Germany so far. Rice has come under fire from the English press for his performances at Euro 2024, but he remains an integral figure for the international team. No one else in Southgate’s squad can do what the former West Ham United man can.
What’s more, Rice is not entirely to blame for his struggles with England. Southgate’s tactics hinder him in a way that Mikel Arteta’s system at the Emirates Stadium doesn’t. Instead, the midfielder has been unshackled at Arsenal, and is free to express himself and make an impact at both ends of the pitch.
Conversely, Southgate’s setup restricts Rice, as he isn’t granted the space he needs to make his trademark forward runs with regularity, and he lacks outlet options to play progressive passes to.
Despite this, he remains an expert in breaking up opposition attacks and winning his duels in the middle of the park. These skills could make all the difference on Saturday, as he will face the task of stopping perhaps Switzerland’s biggest threat, former Arsenal star Granit Xhaka.
Declan Rice must win battle with former Arsenal star Granit Xhaka to give England hope v Switzerland
Xhaka has been in imperious form at Euro 2024. Whilst the 31-year-old is hardly a prolific goalscorer, he is still the heartbeat of the Switzerland team, the orchestrator and pace-setter of their play. Arguably, if you stop Xhaka, you stop Switzerland.
Xhaka recently joined such legends as Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo on a list of players with the most man of the match awards at European Championships. Now, Rice will have to find a way to interrupt the influence of the man he in many ways replaced at the Emirates Stadium last summer.
Arsenal fans will be fascinated watching this duel, which could easily define the outcome of the game. Rice boasts greater pace and physicality than the Bayer Leverkusen man. He is also more defensively aware and has the capacity to mark Xhaka out of the game.
If the 129-cap international can outsmart Rice, though, then he could carve a way through England.
This head-on-head collision may well inform Arsenal fans if Arteta in fact made a huge mistake in letting Xhaka go.
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