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Declan Rice is reflecting on the pivotal moment of his season so far, the one when plenty of people thought it was about to go wrong for him and Arsenal. It was a narrow and painful defeat for them at Manchester City in mid‑April, which meant the clubs were stride for stride with each other at the top of the Premier League. The momentum was with City. Were Arsenal about to blow it?

The TV cameras picked out Rice on the Etihad Stadium pitch and, as he shook his head, he was easy to lipread. “It’s not done,” the England midfielder said. It was not. Arsenal won all of their remaining league games, finding a way through unbearable levels of tension. City did not and Arsenal were champions for the first time since 2004. “It could have gone either way,” Rice says with a smile. “That would have lived with me for ever.”

It was in the same territory as Steven Gerrard’s “We do not let this slip” comment from 2014 as Liverpool closed in on the title. Which was just before he and they did slip. Imagine the memes. “Exactly,” Rice says. “I’ve got enough of them. Luckily, it went the way I wanted it to be perceived, even though it was crazy how that all came about.”

The point, as Rice and England prepare to face the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32 of the World Cup in Atlanta on Wednesday, is that things never run smoothly in the pursuit of rare achievement. There will be stress. There will be doubts and doubters. Fine margins. Moments when it is purely about resilience. Finding a way, no matter how.

It feels as if this is where England find themselves at the World Cup. Rice is a part of surely the most valuable midfield three in international history – or at least he will be when Elliot Anderson’s £116m transfer from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City goes through. Rice cost £105m when he went from West Ham to Arsenal in 2023. Jude Bellingham’s move from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid the same summer was valued at £88.5m; his price could reach £115m with add-ons. The trio are ready to cut loose, Rice says. All they need are opponents who want to press high and go man for man; to be proactive. But that did not happen in the second and third group matches against Ghana and Panama respectively – certainly not against Ghana – and nobody in the England setup is expecting much different from the DRC.

There was an element of relief among England fans when it emerged that their team would play them rather than Senegal. Not only did Senegal beat England in a friendly last June in Nottingham, they also have a bigger reputation. But the DRC impressed during the group phase, when they held Portugal to a 1-1 draw and lost by the only goal against Colombia. They made things difficult for both nations before they beat Uzbekistan 3-1.

The DRC can call upon Premier League players such as Aaron Wan‑Bissaka, Axel Tuanzebe, Noah Sadiki and Yoane Wissa. England’s first do-or-die game of the tournament could be attritional. Rice will lean into his experiences with Arsenal because it will be a test of mentality.

“There’s going to be moments where we have setbacks, where we have to get through,” he says. “It’s going to be tough and we need to be ready for everything that comes.”

Rice has to be sick of tightly packed defences. Arsenal have faced them routinely and their solutions have not always been easy on the eye. They have been criticised and there is a parallel with England. But as Rice discussed the themes of realism and sacrifice, he knows what it is to have the ultimate vindication.

“It’s hard because when you play against low blocks you have a structure the manager wants you to play in,” he says. “And sometimes you have to do something for the good of the team, even though you feel like you don’t want to do it because you feel a bit stuck. You have to do it because it might help out a teammate.

“When you look at the quality that we have across the whole squad, you would say: ‘Right, how are we not scoring four or five?’ But Ghana were incredibly well drilled and so were Panama. The boss [Thomas Tuchel] was saying they’re the same ranking as Wales and Serbia; they’re not terrible opposition. It’s down to us to break down these low blocks and to be patient.

“It’s tough but this is the World Cup. I understand the heat [on England], I understand how teams have a way of playing against us and [it is] anything to win, I suppose. We need to find ways to keep counteracting that.”

It has been a tumultuous period for Rice, the joy and release of the Premier League title triumph followed by the heartbreak of Arsenal’s penalty shootout defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.

There has also been the struggle with neural pain in a hamstring. It has been ongoing since Christmas and he was forced off in the 72nd minute of the World Cup opener against Croatia.

Rice played the 90 minutes against Ghana but sustained a “dead calf” at the end, which “blew up for three days” and led to his missing the Panama game. It was the first time since the beginning of Euro 2020 that Rice had not been in an England starting XI at a tournament – a run of 21 matches.

“It [the nerve pain] is strange because you can just feel it like sitting there,” Rice says. “It’s not a pain that happens [just] during football. You could be sat at home and you’d feel a little pain shoot up your leg. I’ve managed it in a good way, trying to get my rest when I can and prioritising games. When you play that many [club] games, you’re hardly training. It’s just: recovery, games, recovery, games.

“I played the Champions League final, had a week completely off‑feet, where I did nothing, and then I got myself back into a rhythm. The body had a little bit of a shock. That’s why I started to feel the pain a little bit [against Croatia] because towards the end [of the season] it was starting to ease off. It’s just something I’ve got to keep managing. Once this season’s done, I’ll get my rest and I’m sure I’ll go into next season fine.”

Rice says the calf knock is not an issue and Tuchel will be happy to welcome him back to the lineup against the DRC because Anderson looked isolated at times against Panama. Bellingham, who played as a box-to-box No 8, will revert to the No 10 role. Rice’s relationship with Anderson has developed quickly – they began playing together for England only last September – and he is well placed to offer advice on record‑busting nine‑figure transfers. Rice is on record as saying he struggled at first after joining Arsenal.

“We had a great chat the other day at the hotel in Kansas City,” he says. “We were sat outside on the beanbags. I said to Elliot that he can’t control the price he’s going for. But why he’s going for that price is because he’s been one of the best players in Europe this season. The price tag is just noise. I said: ‘Go to City, do what you’ve been doing and you’ll be fine.’ Elliot wants the ball and if he doesn’t get it he has a little dig at you. He’s one of the best I’ve played with.”

Rice’s confidence always shines through, along with the sense that he is constantly progressing, moving inexorably towards his goals. He remembers feeling nervous before he took a penalty in Arsenal’s Carabao Cup quarter-final shootout win against Crystal Palace last December, although he did score. When he stepped up against PSG, there was only assurance and an emphatic conversion. If England were to go to penalties in the coming weeks, Rice believes they would be heavy favourites. To him, it would go only one way.

“I look at this group now and I don’t think there’s a better crop of penalty-takers that England have probably ever had,” Rice says. “I look at Harry [Kane], Ivan [Toney], Marcus [Rashford], Anthony Gordon, [Bukayo] Saka. I can take one. Jude, as well. You hear the stat about how you have to win a penalty shootout to get to a final or win the tournament, so you know that might come along. We’re going to be fully prepared for that.”