The fact that there has already been one article on Just Arsenal today with a wildly different Premier League team of the season based on statistics shows you that as well as not telling the whole story, stats can show very different results depending on which ones you use.
But after the Sky Sports duo of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher rammed their tongues firmly up the rear end of Jose Mourinho by selecting almost the whole Chelsea team in their picks, I think it is worth us looking at a more balanced view, as shown in a report by The Guardian. Their team is based on all the stats compiled over the season by whoscored.com and it looks like this.
Pantilimon
Ivanovic, Smalling, Koscielny, Monreal
Alexis, Cazorla, Fabregas, Hazard
Costa, Aguero
So Arsenal have the same number of players in it as Chelsea and if you think this is a bizarre anomaly due to the way their stats are compiled, consider also the fact that, statistically speaking, the Gunners were also the best team over the course of the season according to Squawka.com.
What Arsene Wenger needs to do now though, is to make sure that Arsenal win the Premier League trophy as well as the battle of the stats next season.
Wow! 4 arsenal players in the lineup! Our critics are either going soft, or they are finally giving us the credit we fairly deserve! Coyg!
There are so many arsenal connected players who had brilliant seasons
Gk
Fabianski overall was the best keeper in the league (whoscored) he also had 14clean sheets to his name not far of golden glove winner haart who plays for a better team. He also made the most saves this season.
De gea
6.89season has been over hyped when considering United faced the least amount of shots on average per game, he is the type of keeper that can make world class saves but he was very poor early season(eg szezney)
Ospina
7.14has been the best since he has gone in net if he sustained that over a season he would have been an contender.
Szezney
Poor season but he had an unsettled defensive line and only flamini as defensive mid. He made the 6th highest saves averages inside the penalty box of any keeper.
Defense
Rb
Chambers 7.45and bellerin 7.31were the highest scoring right backs in the premiership. When considering we also had debuchy and jenkinson scoring high it shows the strength in depth we have for this position
Cb
Koscielney 7.39 (4th highest rating),3rd highest interceptions/90min,3rd best at the offside trap. Overall he finished as the 5th best arsenal player the mvp defender.
Gabriel 7.36 although only playing 4 games he has showed promise that he could eventually partner the kosc. Finished 6th overall for arsenal if he can produce that over a season per will be benched
Mertesacker 7.06 also had a solid season. The compertition between him and Gabriel for starter will be really interesting next season.
Chambers7.00 good season for the young lad who was the best points scoring right back this season from the games he featured in. An excellent squad player to have
Lb
Monreal 7.33 (only clichy got higher) he also featured in the top 10 for interceptions.also covered really well at cb. Our most improved defender.
Gibbs 7.06 equal to last season. He haS 3 assist to his name Aswell showing he is a threat going forward.His performance vs work was his best ever
Midfield
Dm
Coqulan 7.36 a contender for team of the year. Finished 6 in premiership for tackles/90min.the most interceptions/90min. ranked the top dm this season.4th best arsenal plAyer. Definetly the surprised package of the year.
Flamini/arteta 6.73 with flamini playing x2 more games this suggest he isn’t as effective as arteta so flamini time should come to an end. What was interesting is that flamini got the highest pass accuracy in bpl. As captain arteta should be restored as a back up.
Cm
Carzola7.60 he has7goals/11assist (Only fabrigas got more),4th highest ave pass/game. 5th best player in bpl. the best cm score 7.77 in bpl (one of the highest across Europe)
Ramsey7.07 not exactly the same player as last year but still played well.6goals and 6assist to his name.
Wilshire 6.84 started the season poor came good since the comeback. Goal of the season again. Hopefully he stays away from injuries.
Diaby…….no sign of diaby.jokes aside this lad needs to be put on a pay for play or released. He could also be a player coach for reserves
Attacking mid
Ozil 7.57 great season for him.ranked the best am I bpl and our 3rd best player. The most key passes/game in the bpl.6th highest ave pass/game. 4th best crossing/game in bpl. 4goals & 5 assist couldnt have asks for more, if he had more clinical team mates he would triple his assist.
Rosicky6.69 2goals &1assist in 5 games. Underused this season still has bags of energy/xp and is a great player to have in the squad.
Attackers
St
Giroud7.23 (5th best Cf in bpl) 14goals,3assist. 6th highest scorer in bpl. 7th highest through ball/game in bpl. Excellent season for Ollie and judging by his performance he could have had close to 20 had he played more.
Sanogo/Akpom 6.42Had brief intros to the squad. Could do with a loan. Sanogo is 22 so he could be sold. The only thing that’s saving him is that he is a potential target man successor to giroud in the future.
Lfwd/St
Sanchez7.81(Only hazard played better) fans player of the year,signing of the season, our mVp.defensivley,work rate one of the best attackers across Europe.8th in the assist table setting up 8.7th highest key passes in bpl. Made the 3rd highest amount of through balls/game in bpl.16 goals(5th overall)3rd highest shot/game. 3rd best dribbler. The fourth most fouled player.
Welbeck7.19 solid effort from him. Next season he should Aim for 10-15 goals and assist.
Podolski 6.32(only Joel played worse)
Didn’t offer anything in terms of contributions. This was mainly down to lack of game time, but he may of been poor in training.He is on th de line and we should sell him to recoup transfer fee.
Rfwd
Chamberlain7.15 His contribution was solid would love to see him start scoring and assisting. He is the first choice rm this season.he was the highest performing right mid in bpl. 2nd Dribbles/gameOnly hazard got higher.Alongside bellerin should be mentioned as our young player of the year.
Walcott 6.61Got his chance to play up top got 3. He shows he is a valuable plan b and it was great to see how well the team adapted to a different type of St.
Campbell 6.24 worse player this season he should have been loaned out for the full season he has waisted a valuable year in his development.
Smalling?
Pantilimon Smalling 🙂
Monreal 🙂
No Toure or Matic 🙂
I don’t know why people underestimate Monreal. He has been one of the best LB if not best in league. He has done great job and stats also prove it
De Gea
Ivanovic, Terry
Koscielny, Azpilicueta
Toure Matic
Hazard Ozil Alexis,
Aguero
Toure? He’s been average this season.. He scores a few great goals but other than that he barely contributes to the team. There’s only two choices for CM – either Fabregas or Cazorla.
He has the most completed passes in the premiership (toure)
I rate Coquelin over Cazorla this season. Cazorla has undoubtedly been amazing, but we rely alot more on Coquelin, as shown by statistics I can’t be bothered to dive in to link you to at the moment.
Surprising no de gea?
Can’t wait until Saturday
Winning back to back FA Cups would be so awesome
Let’s hope everything goes well
COYG
That does not make a difference. We are third, that’s it. You can’t console me. We did not win the league. Am after that. And please let Wenger and the Board know.
sevilla has won the uel back to back and i bet arsenal can do that better.
Yes, lets finish third in the group stage of next Champions League, just so that we can win the EL!
It is meant as a joke, but seeing how we would be granted CL by it, it does not really sound that senseless.
I think we should be more concerned with the cup final and not this filthy stats, the league is over and the dust is settling down. Let’s get behind the team and keep Maureen’s mouth zipped come end of next season. COYG ROLL OUT YOUR BANNER OF VICTORY TO WEMBLEY