If Arsenal had to choose between Ozil and Alexis?

Arsenal are yet to tie down Alexis Sánchez and Mesut Özil to new contracts despite their current deals both expiring in 2018. Stats released today by daily Fantasy Football game Oulala.com have revealed which player the club must keep hold of, if it was a choice between the two.

While Özil is reported to be waiting on the future of Arsene Wenger before putting pen to paper, Sánchez has regularly been linked with a move to a host of Europe’s top clubs including Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid.

In such uncertain times at the Emirates, we have taken a look at a number of the duo’s key stats in the Premier League since joining the Gunners in 2013 and 2014 respectively, to reveal which player’s signature is the more important of the pair.

As Özil has been at the Emirates for a season longer and has made 15 more league appearances (100 to 85), our analysis in a number of areas has been made on a per game basis.

It’s no surprise to see that the German averages more successful passes per game than the Chilean (55 to 34).

Again Özil comes out on top for creativity having created more chances (3.4) per game than Sánchez (2.3). This has led to almost double the amount of assists from the midfielder (36), compared to the forward (19).

Sánchez comes out on top when directly taking on opponents, averaging 3.1 successful dribbles per game to Özil’s 1.6.

In front of goal Sánchez excels. The Chilean registers almost triple the amount of shots per game (3.4 to 1.3) and has scored double the amount of league goals (42 to 20). However due to Özil registering far fewer shots he narrowly edges Sánchez when it comes to conversion rates (15% to 14%).

Overall, Sánchez has been involved in 61 Premier League goals (42 goals, 19 assists) of the 180 Arsenal have scored since he joined the club in 2014, a contribution of 34 per cent. In comparison, Özil has had involvement in 56 of the club’s 248 goals since he joined in 2013, a contribution of 23 per cent.

Having been involved in a third of all the league goals Arsenal have scored since he joined the club, the Gunners must make Alexis Sánchez their number one priority.

Do you agree?

Russell Cane

17 Comments

  1. We shouldnt have to choose between either one, we are SUPPOSED TO be a club in contention for top honours, perhaps we should stop messing around and take some of the missing 150 million we got from the BT sports deal and secure both players services for another four or five years. Instead this missing money sits somewhere earning the club and by default the board huge interest while the club continues to buy in the bargain basement area of the market and pleads poverty at every turn.
    It occued to me the other day that we sold Van Persie …who at the time was our talisanic striker for just six million short of what we paid for Lucas Perez, am I the only person in the wold that see’s this as odd?. The club is a bloody goldmine for the board and manager, everybody else has to sit and wait for a lucky break when everybody else drops the ball. This happend last season and we still make a balls up of winning the league.

  2. Love them both and this term its like they have set out to make each other better by always looking for each other on the field and linking up well.

    But if pressed to pick its Sanchez all day long. Having said this I wonder how the players would feel if they came across such polls at a time when they are considering their futures.

  3. ozil has a huge tendency to go missing when things are looking rough where as Sanchez makes his presence felt continually so if pushed Id have to say keep Sanchez…however I feel that with PSG lurking in the background and Wengers notoriously frugal nature, it’ll be the other way around

  4. OT: just wanna send a shout out to England Womens Legend Kelly Smith who won 5 FA cups with Arsenal and i believe she is Englands all time goal scorer!

    1. I think Arsenal girl might be Kelly.

      We’ve Sanchez, Alexis Sanchez, I really don’t think you understand, he’s Arsene Wengers man, he’s better than Zidane. We’ve got Alexis Sanchez. Ozil can have Wilshere’s number, if

  5. So basically this analysis boils down to overall contribution which stands at 34% for Sanchez vs. 23% for Ozil. Seems like a no-brainer, except that think about how many more assists Ozil would’ve had if we had a prolific striker up front. I like Giroud… a lot I might add. He’s an important player, and god bless his soul, he really works hard on and off the pitch. But how many chances has Ozil created for him (especially last season) which he failed to convert? The answer is: A TON. So in reality, the difference in contribution between Alexis and Mesut is marginal. Both are extremely important players, and bring different qualities to the table. For me, personally, I’d give the edge to Ozil, because of his versatility. No one can create chances like he does. Sanchez can be a bit one-dimensional at times, but I don’t want to take nothing away from him as well. Final Verdict: We MUST keep them both.

    1. Stats are useless. We all can see who can carry the team in field and worked harder.

      Sanchez is more versatile, he can play as winger (right or left), central attacking midfielder, playmaker and central forward. Ozil can only play well as a central attacking midfielder, and he is not even our playmaker. Ozil cannot dictate the tempo and control the game, whereas Sanchez can do it if he is deployed in the central position. Let Sanchez play behind Giroud or Welbeck centrally in a few games and compare his performance with Ozil in the same position.

      Sanchez will be one-dimensional if he plays as a left winger. I wish Wenger listens to Thierry Henry and put him in the central attacking midfielder position. There will more chances converted into goals by our inverted wingers.

  6. if I were to choose, I will choose both. the reason being the fact that a game of soccer is all about team work. what makes sanchez better is the other players around him. when he gets the ball, ozil will be in space to give him options. so to me they complement each other including the whole team, manager and the system of play.

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