Arsenal vs Manchester United: The midfield battle

Carrick key to United’s play

An embarrassed Manchester United travel to the Emirates on Wednesday night, where they will face a wounded Arsenal side, with both clubs looking to recover from humiliating results at the weekend.

All eyes will be on the returning Robin Van Persie and his teammates as they look to bounce back from their 2-2 draw with Fulham. David Moyes’ team dominated the match at Old Trafford but struggled to break down the Premier League’s bottom side, despite the best efforts of Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney and Adnan Januzaj.

The Gunners fared far worse that their Wednesday night opponents over the weekend as they were thrashed 5-1 by Liverpool at Anfield. Questions are now being raised about Arsenal’s title winning credentials with Mesut Ozil starting to feel the heat from the expectant Emirates fans.

While both sets of managers will be hoping that their array of creative players can unlock the oppositions defence, the role which Michael Carrick and Mikel Arteta will play can not be underestimated.

The pair are expected to do the less glamorous work in the holding role in front of the defence for their respective sides, so how do they compare in their similar roles?

The duo both like to break up the opposition play and start their sides attacking moves from their deep lying position. Carrick has the higher performance score of the two, with 510 from his 17 appearances while Arteta has a score of 416 from his 18 appearances, suggesting that over the course of the season it is the Englishman who has been involved with more positive on-the-ball actions for his side .

Carrick interceptions vs Crystal Palace

However, Arteta is arguably the more aggressive of the pair, an observation demonstrated by his willingness to tackle. The Spaniard has attempted 95 challenges this season but has only won 42% of them, although His United counterpart doesn’t boast a particularly impressive success rate either, having won 41% of his 56 attempted tackles.

Rather than winning the ball directly from their opponents, both players look to read the play and make interceptions. This is a specific feature of Carrick’s game with the England international averaging more than three interceptions per match this season.

Early on in the season when Man United hosted a struggling Crystal Palace, Carrick produced a master class in anticipating the opposition’s play, performing an impressive eleven interceptions, a good deal of which came within important central areas and, as such, he enabled his side to steal possession and launch their own attacks from the middle of the pitch. Additionally, four of these came in Palace’s own half, which allowed United to maintain an intense and extremely helpful pressure over their opponents.

Arteta Passing Accuracy – PL 2013/14

In comparison, over the course of the season Arteta has made 30 interceptions, giving him an average of 1.6 per game.

Both players are famed for their passing ability but it’s the Arsenal midfielder who leads the way in terms of his ability to distribute. The 31-year-old has an average passing accuracy of 92%, while Carrick averages 87%. It’s perhaps not surprising that Arteta has the better pass completion rate, though, given Arsene Wenger’s renowned doctrine of play, which involves neat passing and between nearby team-mates.

Carrick Passing Accuracy – PL 2013/14

Meanwhile, Carrick is more noted for his long range passing ability and his stats show why; with the former Tottenham midfielder completing 106 successful long balls compared to Arteta’s 72.

Due to their deep lying position neither player creates that many chances, with Arteta having managed just 10 key passes this season while Carrick has 16 to his name.

This is largely due, however, to the fact that both players rarely venture toward the oppositions penalty area and in turn, for the same reasons, their goalscoring opportunities are reduced. Arteta is often on penalty duty for Arsenal, though, and the midfielder has bagged himself two goals from the spot this season. But outside of his penalties he has only mustered three strikes on goal.

Carrick vs Arteta Comparison Matrix

Carrick appears to be have been more willing to take shots on goal from open play, though, having managed 10 efforts this season but his deflected goal last time out against Fulham was his first in the league.

Overall, the battle for possession in the middle of the park may not be the main focus of Wednesday nights game, but it could be the one that decides who comes out on top.