Leeds vs West Ham: Rice and Phillips do battle in early England audition

While Leeds in particular have drawn in plenty of neutrals this season as they prepare for their Friday Night Football clash with West Ham, there will be one man casting a very keen eye over proceedings in England manager Gareth Southgate.

The match pits two England hopefuls up against one another in the middle of the park, where Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice will be hoping to exert their dominance and strengthen their respective cases for a place at next year's European Championships.

In truth, both players look more than likely to make the cut next summer, but in terms of establishing their place in the starting XI, there may only be room for one. The two partnered up in what was Phillips debut earlier in the season but there were concerns that their profiles were too similar.

In reality that isn't the case, but having both in the lineup does prevent the selection of a more attack minded player in the system that Southgate has been implementing. It's Rice that has been something of a mainstay in the side for some time, though injuries to Jordan Henderson have certainly helped his cause.

The West Ham man is a shield to his defence first and foremost, capable of keeping play ticking over with what one might consider a more safety first approach in possession. By comparison, Phillips eanred the tongue in cheek nickname of the Yorkshire Pirlo due to his ability to dictate play from deep in midfield and get the ball forwards or out to the flanks with an impressive range of passing.

The Leeds man does the dirty work very well too, but it's their passing game that separates the two, and the aforementioned system that Southgate is deploying will be key to which of the two is more likely to get the nod alongside Jordan Henderson.

If the England boss sticks with a two man midfield, it's a role that Rice is certainly more accustomed to at club level, operating deep alongside Tomas Soucek. Phillips is instead often the spare man in the Leeds midfield, picking up the ball from in front of the defence with two pressing midfielders ahead of him.

Given Leeds' set up and his own skillset, it's little wonder Phillips averages significantly more passes per game than Rice, nor that his accuracy is slightly inferior. He does, after all average more than twice the number of long balls per game as his England counterpart.

It's Phillips that actually averages considerably more tackles than Rice too, though the defensive side of the latter's game has developed somewhat this season. His role has been more about reading the game and anticipating the pass rather than thundering into tackles. As such he has made a modest 19 tackles this season compared to 25 interceptions.

This is where you would hope Southgate would display some tactical flexibility. Against stronger opponents it may well be the right thing to do to offer more protection to a suspect defence. However, in matches where England will be facing a lower block, Rice's defensive attributes shouldn't be a priority.

Instead, utilising Phillips' range of passing and allowing the likes of Henderson and the ever improving Mason Mount to make the running ahead of him is a system Southgate must surely have considered.

He'll be watching the events at Elland Road, undoubtedly, so regardless of their differences, both Phillips and Rice will see this as an audition for a starting berth. If one has a notably stronger game than the other, they may take an advantage in the England pecking order.