After an 8th consecutive trophyless season, talks of crisis at Arsenal are ringing around the Emirates Stadium once more.
However, according to the latest statistics on passing, one player in a Gunners jersey has stood above all others in the Premier League this season: Mikel Arteta.
Mikel Arteta tops the list in terms of number of passes per game, having averaged 84.6 passes throughout his 25 Premier League appearances this season.
As for pass completion rate, Arteta has successfully completed 92.4% of his attempted passes for the Gunners this year.
Second in the list is Swansea’s Ki Sung Yeung who has achieved a pass completion rate of 92.3% in an impressive first Premier League season at the Liberty Stadium.
Surprisingly, Per Mertesacker and Jamie Carragher also make the top 5 for pass completion, although they both have averaged only 0.1 key passes per game and are mostly responsible for passing the ball around the defence or to a team-mate dropping from midfield.
Widely acclaimed Swansea midfielder Leon Britton lies in 7th place, having completed 91.1% of passes this season.
Yaya Toure, Michael Carrick, Steven Gerrard and Santi Cazorla perhaps unsurprisingly join Arteta in the top 5 for average number of passes per game whereas David Silva leads the charts for the average number of key passes per game at 3.3, closely followed by Leighton Baines with 3.2.
Source: www.whoscored.com
The Mazy Run
It should not be the number of passes that are counted but the quality of them, and in this aspect Arteta is one of the worst in the premiership as most of his passes are backward or simple short latitudinal . There is no way to compare him with Toure, Vieira. Gerard, Kean, or other pivotal midfielders even Parker who would have been a better bargain for Wenger had not he been English!!! . Arteta is a lucky average player , as Wenger is relying on him where he does not deserve that trust and this is one of the main reasons of Arsenal decline . Hopefully Wenger or his successor ! next season would get rid of him as he should be one of several players that need to be forced out or sidelined ( Santos, Fabianiski, Mannone, Djourou, Schillaci, Diaby, Arshavin, Denilson, Chamack, Park ) as no team can win any thing with such names in the first team even as substitutes. Opposite to that five reliable players should be brought in ( a goalkeeper, a defender, a holding midfielder, a creative attacking midfielder, and an instinctive goal scorer ), other than that next season it will be all over again and the fans dilemma will continue for an inflated directors and Wenger's pockets