Statistical Analysis: Who is the best playmaker in the Premier League?
Raheem Sterling, Cesc Fabregas, Mesut Ozil, David Silva and Juan MataThe 2014-15 Premier League season has kicked off in style. The world’s most popular league has already seen some thrilling matches and some praiseworthy performances from the underdogs.So before the season resumes next week after the international break, we take a look at the statistical comparison of the playmakers of the five big guns in the league, namely – David Silva (Manchester City), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) and Juan Mata (Manchester United) based on five different parameters using their statistics from the 2013-14 season. Soure of statistics: Squawka – Only Premier League stats have been considered.
#1 Pass Completion
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal is arguably the best team when it comes to possession based football. Hence, for such a team it is very important to keep the ball and not give away the ball even if it’s in the final third. The Gunners’ Mesut Ozil had a pass completion percentage of 88% per game last season.
Although Brendan Rodgers insisted on playing possession based football at Liverpool, the Merseyside club played the most deadly counter-attacking football in the league last season, which is probably why Raheem Sterling averages the least pass percentage in comparison to the other players in the list with just 82% of his passes per game finding a teammate.
Cesc Fabregas played for Barcelona last season, who are the masters when it comes to possession based football. The current Chelsea man averaged a pass completion percentage of 87% per game. His compatriots Juan Mata and David Silva who play for the Manchester Clubs, have a slightly better pass completion percentage than him with 89% per game and 88% per game.
Juan Mata averages the highest pass completion percentage amongst the others, but he only played 15 league matches last season – the fewest number of games played in comparison with the others. But even then his pass completion percentage is impressive when you look at the kind of football Manchester United played under David Moyes. Under Moyes, Manchester United were hoofing the ball up the ground way too many times instead of playing it out from the back.
City on the other hand arguably play the best football in the league; it is is easy on the eye and very effective, they keep the ball when they have to and counter when there is an opening, which accounts for Silva’s good completion percentage.
With three games into the 2014-15 season, the Manchester United number 8 still averages a better pass completion percentage than the others. Mata leads with 91%, followed by Mesut Ozil (89%), Cesc Fabregas (88%), David Silva (85%) and Raheem Sterling trailing with just 79%.
Except for Sterling, the others have a good completion percentage, the teenager needs to work on this aspect of his game.
| # | PLAYER | GAMES | PASS% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Mata | 15 | 89 |
| 2 | Mesut Ozil | 26 | 88 |
| 3 | David Silva | 27 | 88 |
| 4 | Cesc Fabregas | 36 | 87 |
| 5 | Raheem Sterling | 33 | 82 |