SEASON REVIEW: STATS

Samir Nasri... Frenchman racks up superb stats in his first season in England

Season Review: Statistical analysis

By Declan Taylor
 
You’ve read the review, you’ve seen who played where and you’ve voted for your Player of the Season. Now for the cold, hard facts.
 
Below is a compendium of Arsenal’s stats for Premier League season 2008/09 and we’ve divided them by position for easy digestion.
 
See which defender won the most tackles, which midfielder found the ‘killer ball’, which striker scored and provided the most goals and who had most reason to curse the woodwork.

All the answers and more lie in wait so immerse yourself in the stats and draw your own conclusions on Arsenal’s Premier League campaign.

GOALKEEPERS
  Almunia Fabianski Mannone
Appearances 32 6 1
Minutes 2868 462 90
Goals conceded 26 9 1
Successful distribution 209 33 8
Unsuccessful distribution 118 19 3
Distribution success % 64 63 73
Clean sheets 15 2 0
Penalties conceded 1 0 0
Total saves 147 38 1

It’s easy to forget that this was Manuel Almunia’s first season as Arsenal’s No 1. As such, the Spaniard enjoyed the lion’s share of minutes between the sticks, racking up some impressive stats in the process. Lukasz Fabianski proved himself a worthy understudy when Almunia was hampered by an ankle injury in the final few months of the season with six Premier League appearances. Although he did find himself on the wrong end of two four-goal hauls – against Liverpool and Chelsea. Vito Mannone was handed his senior Arsenal debut on the final day of the season when the Gunners ran out comfortable 4-1 winners against Stoke. Although the young Italian did not claim a clean sheet, it’s worth noting that he was only beaten by a penalty kick.

DEFENDERS
  Sagna Clichy Toure Eboue Gallas Djourou Silvestre Gibbs
Appearances 35 31 29 28 23 15 14 8
Minutes 2937 2656 2280 1538 2070 1203 1091 534
Assists 1 0 1 4 0 0 1 0
Blocks 8 8 13 0 6 4 7 1
Bookings 4 7 3 1 3 1 0 1
Clearances 44 40 38 13 32 22 22 32
Goals 0 1 1 3 2 0 2 0
Interceptions 5 10 3 5 7 2 3 4
Own goals 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
Complete passes 163 151 120 90 93 54 59 30
Incomplete passes 83 89 49 55 35 15 24 21
Pass success % 66 63 71 62 73 78 71 59
Tackles lost 13 11 2 8 7 1 0 2
Tackles won 32 16 19 15 14 11 5 5
Tackle success % 71 59 90 65 67 92 100 71

Maybe in a statistical analysis of a defensive unit it’s wise to draw a line between the central defenders and full-backs because of their different responsibilities. However, where you might expect the ‘stoppers’ to boss the clearance and bookings table, the more forward-thinking defenders rule the roost. Similarly, the full-backs usually pose the greater goal threat but in fact Arsenal’s four centre-halves boast more goals and assists than the wide men.

In the tackling department it’s a similar story. In fact Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy have made by far more tackles than any of the men in the middle. That said, Mikael Silvestre hasn’t put a tackling foot wrong in his 14 appearances and Johan Djourou has only lost one of his 12. And, although Sagna has completed 32 tackles, certainly the most consistent in the challenges this term has been Kolo Toure who has racked up a 90 per cent success rate over 29 appearances.

When it comes to passing, the full-backs have been the busiest but they were unable to match the accuracy of the centre-backs who all managed pass completion rates over 70 per cent this season.

MIDFIELDERS
  Denilson Song Nasri Diaby Fabregas Walcott Vela Arshavin Ramsey
Appearances 37 31 29 24 22 22 14 12 9
Minutes 3148 2061 2405 1465 1900 1274 418 997 223
Assists 7 1 2 2 10 2 1 7 1
Unsuccessful dribbles 5 4 7 9 4 21 3 4 1
Successful dribbles 10 6 25 13 13 21 6 8 3
Goals scored 3 1 6 3 3 2 1 6 0
Complete passes 164 110 132 88 118 74 30 58 19
Incomplete passes 90 50 78 46 95 45 13 34 7
Pass success % 65 69 63 66 55 62 70 63 73
Shots off target 14 10 8 9 15 20 4 8 3
Shots on target 19 7 29 14 30 20 7 23 4
Shots on target % 58 41 78 56 67 50 64 74 57
Tackles lost 13 4 18 10 8 9 5 5 0
Tackles won 23 13 9 11 14 7 0 3 2
Tackles success % 64 76 33 52 64 44 0 38 100

Given that a number of key midfielders missed large chunks of the season – and Andrey Arshavin only made his debut in February – the stats from this section were always likely to look a little skewed. Indeed only three players managed more than 2,000 midfield minutes. Unsurprisingly, flying wingers Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott were the most accomplished dribblers. For every one of the Englishman’s successful dribbles, one went astray. The same cannot be said of Nasri who finished with a 78 per cent success rate.
 
Considering 2008/09 was the 21-year-old’s first season in English football, his overall contribution was simply excellent. Arshavin, who spent a lot of time up front, was the only midfielder to score as many goals as Nasri. In addition, the former-Marseille man also racked up the best shooting accuracy and a very competitive 63 per cent passing success rate. Denilson, boasting more appearances than any Arsenal player last season, completed 164 passes – more than anyone in the squad – but Alex Song was more accurate with the ball at his feet. The Cameroonian’s 69 per cent is the highest of any regular midfield starter.
 
But when it comes to finding that ‘killer pass’ one midfield maestro stands head and shoulders above the rest.  Despite missing nearly four months with medial knee ligament damage, Cesc Fabregas managed a staggering 10 assists in 1900 minutes on the pitch – one every 190 minutes. Arshavin made a late rush for the top of the chart with seven in only 997 minutes but he was unable to catch the captain.

STRIKERS
  Bendtner Van Persie Adebayor Arshavin
Appearances 31 28 26 12
Minutes 1758 2213 1906 997
Total goals 9 11 10 6
Minutes per goal 195 201 191 166
Assists 2 10 7 7
Unsuccessful dribbles 8 8 12 4
Successful dribbles 10 8 18 8
Dribble success % 56 50 60 67
Penalties scored 1/1 2/2 1/1 0/0
Offsides 7 11 43 3
Complete passes 94 102 89 58
Incomplete passes 51 57 40 34
Pass success % 65 64 69 63
Shots blocked 6 10 10 5
Shots off target 25 51 25 8
Shots on target 35 50 34 23
Shots on target % 58 50 58 74
Woodwork struck 2 6 2 1

After relying heavily on Emmanuel Adebayor’s 24 Premier League goals in 2007/08, Arsenal’s final-third threat was shared around rather more last term. Again Arshavin made a big impact in the final few months of the season but the trio of Robin Van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner and Adebayor were mainly responsible for leading the line. Various injuries hacked into the game time of the Dutchman and Togolese – who both managed double figures in the League – while Bendtner spent many of his minutes on the wing.
 
As well as topping the goalscoring chart, Van Persie joins Fabregas at the summit of the assist league too. And it could have been much better for the 25-year-old who struck the woodwork six times – more than anyone else in the squad. That said, he trailed his fellow strikers in successful dribbles success and shooting accuracy while Arshavin’s sparkling performances saw him top of both. A sign of what’s to come next season perhaps?

AT A GLANCE
Goals Assists Tackles
1. Van Persie (11) 1. Fabregas, Van Persie (10) 1. Sagna (32)
2. Adebayor (10) 2. Arshavin, Adebayor, Denilson (7) 2. Denilson (23)
3. Bendtner (9) 3. Eboue (4) 3. Toure (19)
4. Nasri, Arshavin (6) 4. Nasri, Diaby, Bendtner, Walcott (2) 4. Clichy (16)

Please note that outfield players with less than five appearances are not included. All percentages are rounded up to the nearest whole number. All statistics are based on the Premier League only.

[Tuesday, June 02, 2009]

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