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Comparing Ryan Fraser’s 2018-19 stats to Arsenal’s current midfielders

Bournemouth‘s Ryan Fraser has just enjoyed a career-best campaign, which will reportedly earn him a move to a top six side this summer.

Reports have suggested that Manchester United are interested in the Scotland international, but The Independent are amongst a whole host of outlets suggesting that Arsenal will be putting in a bid for him.

Would he be worthy of the move? We’ve taken a look at the midfielder’s 2018-19 stats in comparison to see how he compares to who Arsenal currently have playing in a similar role: Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Goals and assists

Assists are the main area that Ryan Fraser excelled last season. Not only did he set up more goals than any of Arsenal’s players, but with a total of 14 he provided more assists than any player in the Premier League apart from Chelsea’s Eden Hazard.

It’s also more than Iwobi (six assists), Mkhitaryan (four) and Ozil (two) combined.

Unlike those we’re comparing him with, he was an ever-present for Bournemouth last season, which helps. But his average is still very impressive – one assist every 226 minutes. In comparison, Ozil provided an assist every 871 minutes, Mkhitaryan every 411 minutes and Iwobi every 329 minutes.

He was handy as a goalscorer too, registering seven Premier League goals, one every 453 minutes. Again, that’s more than Mkhitaryan (six goals), Ozil (five) and Iwobi (three).

In terms of goals-per-minute though, he’s behind Mkhitaryan’s average (one every 274 minutes) and Ozil’s (one per 348 minutes) but not Iwobi’s (658 minutes per goal).

Passing and attacking

Fraser averaged 2.4 key passes (the final pass before a team-mate takes a shot) per game, which generally correlates with his fine assist record. He’s ahead of Ozil (1.9 key passes per match), Mkhitaryan (1.2) and Iwobi (1.1) in that regard, too.

The Bournemouth man completes just 0.6 dribbles per match but averages a foul 1.6 times a match. Ozil in comparison averages one dribble a match, but wins half as many free-kicks and penalties (0.8) which is a similar story to Iwobi (1.3 dribbles, 0.4 fouls conceded) and Mkhitaryan (0.8 dribbles, 0.4 fouls).

Mesut Ozil is unsurprisingly the pass king of this lot. The German has an impressive 88.6% pass completion rate in the Premier League, a significant increase on Fraser (76.9%), as well as his Arsenal colleagues Mkhitaryan (79.9%) and Iwobi (77.8%).

READ: Ryan Fraser: Another of football’s small dogs underestimated by opponents

Defensive contributions

Unai Emery famously likes his teams to work together, demanding they defend from the front and trackback. This was reportedly his problem with Ozil, who spent long spells out of the team this season.

The opinion-splitting mercurial playmaker makes 0.8 tackles per ninety minutes but just 0.1 interceptions, which certainly doesn’t refute his reputation. Elsewhere at Arsenal, Mkhitaryan makes 1.1 tackles per match and 0.6 tackles, while Iwobi averages 0.8 tackles and 0.3 interceptions.

Ryan Fraser is not actually much different in this regard, and surprisingly makes fewer tackles per ninety minutes than Ozil, averaging just 0.5. He averages 0.6 interceptions per game, though.


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