Declan Rice Reflects on Mentally Tough Season Ahead of 75th England Cap

Declan Rice has lived the season every midfielder dreams of and dreads at the same time. A title with Arsenal, a relentless schedule with club and country, and now a World Cup campaign with England that shows no sign of easing off.

Yet as he stands on the brink of his 75th cap, the 27-year-old insists he has rarely felt better.

Rice is expected to start for the Three Lions against Ghana on Tuesday, just days after being withdrawn as a precaution in England’s 4-2 win over Croatia. That substitution sparked concern, but the Arsenal midfielder cut a calm, assured figure as he spoke to ITV Sport about the reality of his year.

He has made 63 appearances for Arsenal and England this season. Sixty-three. It is the sort of workload that breaks some players. Rice has been carrying more than just minutes in his legs too, revealing he has been playing with “neural pain” in his hamstring since the turn of the year.

That admission would usually sound alarm bells. Rice framed it differently. For him, this is what he has been building towards.

“I have been lucky enough to play in Europe for the last six years,” he said. “My last three years with West Ham, my first three with Arsenal. My body has been conditioned and built for this moment for playing long seasons.”

The physical strain is obvious. The mental grind, he says, has been even heavier.

“I would probably say this season has been more mentally tough than physically,” he admitted. “The emotions of a football player is crazy. The feelings and emotions you go through in a season are up and down, you need to find that balance.”

The balance, right now, feels right. Rice speaks like a player who has come through the storm rather than one bracing for it.

“This moment in time I am mentally in a very good space, and physically I feel really good as well. I want to keep taking this into the end of the tournament.”

For Arsenal, he has become the heartbeat of a title-winning side. For England, he remains the anchor Gareth Southgate turns to when the stakes rise. A long, draining season has not pushed him away from the spotlight; it has dragged him closer to the centre of it.

On Tuesday, against Ghana, Rice is set to hit 75 caps. Another landmark, another high-pressure night, another test of that “very good space” he talks about.

After a season this “mentally tough”, he now steps into the sharpest end of a World Cup. The question is no longer whether his body is built for it. It is how far that hardened mentality can carry England.