Since Francis Coquelin’s return to Arsenal, questions have been raised as to whether he is the answer to the Gunners midfield problems. Goal attempted to tackle that query head on and emerged some astonishing statistics.
Goal compared the Gunners ace to former Arsenal man Alex Song, who returns to the Emirates tomorrow with West Ham, after questions were asked as to whether the Gunners should have signed the Cameroonian when he left Barcelona.
In fact, in turns out Arsene Wenger made a great call as Coquelin is superior to Song in many ways as stats from Opta reveal.
Coquelin also generally compares favourably to Song. His pass completion rate currently stands at 83.47%, comfortably higher than Song’s 76.83%, and he also makes more interceptions and tackles than the West Ham man: one of the former every 22.22 minutes compared to Song’s average of one every 55.93 and one of the latter every 19.8 minutes as opposed to Song’s one per 25.75. Coquelin is also a more disciplined player; Song is liable to go wandering off when stationed as a pivot in front of the back four.
The graphic comparing Arsenal’s performances with an without Coquelin this season can be found below, whilst the full article from Goal can be viewed here.
