Even though he was doing brilliant things for Arsenal in the second half of last season, after the injury problems to Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta forced Arsene Wenger to cut short his loan spell with Charlton, there were still a lot of doubts about the French midfielder Francis Coquelin.
Arsenal fans were happy that he came in and steadied the ship and showed that he really could do a defensive job for the team. But after all the years it had taken Coquelin to show this strength and with some parts of his game, namely his passing ability, still lacking, the articles I wrote about his brilliant stats putting him right up there with the best in the Premier League were often dimissed.
Well this season the 24-year old is showing that he was not a one season (or half a season) wonder, with his defensive stats continuing to match and even beat the best in England. Not only that, but Coquelin has now improved the technical side of his game to the extent where his passing accuracy is also right up there.
A Metro report that compares his numbers to those of Matic, Schneiderlin and Fernandinho shows that as well as being the best in terms of tackling, winning duels and making blocks, Coquelin has the highest pass completion at 91 percent, so can we now start to believe that Arsenal really do have the best holding midfielder in the Premier League?