Rice was speaking after victory over Bournemouth.
Rice said: "It's massive. The prospect of playing with Thomas, he's been injured all season, I've been so excited.
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"Now he's back you can see the difference he makes. He's so calm on the ball and does these body feints that create so much space.
"With him sitting there it allows me to go forward more. You can see that with my goal and assist. The goal came so late in the game I thought I might as well shoot and it went in.
"I knew the type of players I was coming to play with. Martin (Odegaard) has been great. You can see the chemistry on the pitch. It's like one big family in there."