Gary Neville suggests one Arsenal player could dominate James Maddison today

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Gary Neville believes that Arsenal star Declan Rice could ‘eat up’ Tottenham Hotspur playmaker James Maddison today.

Neville was previewing the match on Sky Sports (24/9 12:35pm) with huge excitement building at the Emirates.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was forced into one change with Leandro Trossard ruled out with an injury.

The Belgian was replaced by Gabriel Jesus who is finally fit enough to start in the Premier League.

Ange Postecoglou has no such fitness issues in his squad but has handed Brennan Johnson his Tottenham debut.

Arguably the biggest battle of the day is going to come in midfield between two of the best signings of the summer.

Declan Rice and James Maddison have hit the ground running at their respective clubs and Gary Neville can’t wait for their battle.

He thinks Rice might seek out his England teammate when his side don’t have the ball.

He’s given Maddison some advice on what to do today to avoid his attention.

Neville previews Rice vs Maddison battle

Speaking about the midfield pair, Neville said: “I’m thinking today about James Maddison for Tottenham and how he’ll try to drift into spaces.

“If I was Maddison I would try and stay away from [Declan] Rice as much as possible.

“The other players in midfield are nowhere near as good defensively, try and stay 15 or 20 metres away from Rice so that he’s always away and off his shoulder.

“If he stays near Rice I think Rice could eat him up a little bit and Rice might go looking for him as well so that might be an interesting battle today.”

Rice has been backed to become a legend at Arsenal but needs to put in a good performance today in order to start creating that legacy.

The signing of James Maddison by Spurs has been universally praised and easy to see why.

He’s filled a creative void that’s existed at the club for years and hit the ground running in North London.

Arsenal and Tottenham fans will be joining Neville in anticipating the battle between Rice and Maddison.

Whoever comes out on top will almost certainly lead their side to victory today.