Mathieu Flamini vs Mikel Arteta: Who has performed better for Arsenal?

Mikel Arteta (L) and Mathieu Flamini (R)

With all the style, speed and suave that Arsenal play with, they need to operate with a defensive midfielder. Despite having the equal second best defence in the Premier League they have conceded eight in their last five Premier League matches including two against Southampton and five against Liverpool while their 10 men were completely over run in the Champions League encounter against Bayern Munich.

The defence need a bit more protection from those playing in front of them and there appears to be two obvious options in Arsene Wenger’s squad. Summer signing Mathieu Flamini, now in his second spell at the club, or Mikel Arteta who played a more advanced role in his Everton days but has dropped deeper since joining the Gunners.

Comparing the duo using Squawka’s Comparison Matrix, it gives us a good indication as to which one Arsene Wenger should pick in the defensive midfield role.

Arteta has played one more game that Flamini and has a better Squawka Performance Score with 499 compared to 332. However Flamini has a better Defensive Performance Score with 75 compared to 58.

However, in other defensive areas, Arteta wins over double the amount of tackles as Flamini. The former Rangers man has won 46 tackles this season whereas Flamini, more well known as a defensive midfielder, has only won 21 and while Flamini has won a higher percentage of aerial duels, by about 14%, Arteta has won a higher number of headers, 22 compared to 17.

Arteta also shows a much better reading of the game than Flamini as he has made nine more interceptions than the France international.

Looking purely at the defensive side of things Arteta is clearly the better option winning more tackles, more headers and making more interceptions.

But winning the ball back is not the be all and end all of the role and once regaining possession they need to distribute the ball excellently and efficiently.

Both players have excellent pass success rates in excess of 90% with Flamini edging it with 93% of his passes finding a team-mate compared to Arteta’s 92%. However, the Spaniard actually attempts far more passes and completes a higher number if not a higher percentage. Arteta has completed 1157 passes in the Premier League while Flamini has completed 749. This makes the marginal difference in pass completion percentage a bit irrelevant as Arteta is a more prolific passer of the ball. He has also made more key passes by seven but neither have an assist.

It is also worth noting that while both have a red card to their name this season, Flamini has six bookings and Arteta just two.

Both have played five games in the Champions League and the data in that competition is far more even with Flamini actually slightly better in Europe.

Given the talent at Wenger’s disposal and the way that Arsenal play he is likely to play only one of the two in any one game to allow another creative and attacking player to get into the starting eleven.

The best option would be Arteta, while he scores lower than Flamini in a couple of areas he has had a better season over all, after all he attempts more passes and wins more tackles while in terms of picking up bookings and suspensions is less of a liability.