Arsenal’s new signing vs Emery’s 22-year-old target: A Statistical comparison to find out who’s better

Stephan Lichtsteiner became the first signing of the Unai Emery-era at Arsenal. The 34-year-old right-back, who arrived on a free transfer from Juventus, will compete with Hector Bellerin for the right-back spot.

Arsenal have also been linked with making a move for RB Leipzig’s right-back Lukas Klostermann and it will be interesting to see if the Gunners push to land him in the summer.

Here are the stats of Lichtsteiner and Klostermann from last season to see how they fared against each other.

Note: All the stats are accounted per 90 minutes played by the players.

The defensive side

Klostermann averaged an impressive 1.69 tackles per 90 minutes, while Lichtsteiner’s average stood at 1.40. The German beats the Swiss even more convincingly in terms of interceptions made as he managed to intercept the ball 1.73 times per game, while the former Juventus man only managed 0.79 interceptions.

Even in the air, the RB Leipzig man came out victorious with 1.73 aerial duels won per 90 minutes in comparison to 1.23 won by Lichtsteiner. The 0.23 blocks per game by Klostermann were also higher than the 0.06 of the Swiss captain. Both the right-backs were error-free as none were responsible for their side conceding a goal, owing to their mistakes.

Judging by the numbers, it’s fair to conclude that Klostermann is the clear winner and the youngster had a better season last term than Arsenal’s latest acquisition.

Going forward and technical ability

Lichtsteiner proved that he is more progressive than Klostermann when it comes to passing the ball forward as the former Juventus man made 35.29 forwards passes per 90 minutes, which is significantly higher than the German’s 22.36. However, Klostermann beat the veteran in terms of key passes and chances created as his 0.66 key passes and 0.66 chances created were more than Lichtsteiner’s  0.34 and 0.45 respectively.

Lichtsteiner emerged as the comprehensive winner in assists department as he averaged 0.11 assists per 90 minutes in comparison to Klostermann’s 0; the youngster failed to register any assists last season. Lichtsteiner also proved to be the better dribbler of the two with his 0.84 successful dribbles per game, which is double than Klostermann’s 0.42.

Lichtsteiner was much better going forward when compared to Klostermann as the veteran full-backs used his experience and technical ability to make a bigger impact down the right flank.

The winner

As indicated by the numbers, while Klostermann triumphed Lichtsteiner in some areas, the Swiss got the better of the German in other aspects. So, it’s not easy to name a clear winner between the two.