Matic (Chelsea) vs. Coquelin (Arsenal): A Surprise Awaits

The Premier League is full of tough tacklers and it is the norm to have one tough tackling midfielder in the team. Arsenal and Chelsea have two of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League at the moment, while Chelsea knew they had a great player in Nemanja Matic, Arsenal would be pleased to see the progress of the young Francis Coquelin.

Coquelin might not have been in the plans for the first team at the start of the season but that completely changed thanks to his brilliant performance for the club in recent weeks. This might seem like a one-sided comparison between Matic and Coquelin but you might be in for a surprise.

Coquelin better at defending than Matic?

With the help of Squawka stats we could compare the likes of Matic with a youngster like Coquelin, while Matic has played 27 games this season and Coquelin has played only 15 Premier League games we only would consider averages per game looking at the stats.

When comparing the average number of tackles won per game, it is Coquelin, surprisingly who shades the stat. The Frenchman averages 2.93 tackles per game compared to the 2.81 tackles per game. While that stat might be close, another stat does pop out; Coquelin loses an average of 2.8 tackles per game while Matic loses 4.07 tackles per game.

The surprising defensive stats continue with the youngster leading Matic in the aerial duels won, he wins 3.07 aerial duels per game while Matic only wins 1.81 aerial duels per game, it might have been a surety that the larger Matic would win more aerial battles but the stats don’t lie. Coquelin also intercepts the ball more than the Serbian; Coquelin intercepts the ball nearly 3.13 times in a game on average while Matic only has 2.11 interceptions per game, again showing that Coquelin cuts out more passes and gets the ball more often.

It is in the passing stats that Matic comes out on top when compared to Coquelin. Matic averages 42 forward passes per game compared to Coqeulin’s 28 passes per game. Matic even has a better pass completion rate with 87% passes completed, Coquelin fares just a little worse with 83% passes completed, that stat is even more impressive for Matic as he has 55 successful passes per game compared to 33 for Coquelin.

The defensive stats pop out surely when comparing the two midfielders, of course, Matic has played more games and has had to play in more tougher games but Coquelin doing so well and actually beating Matic in quite a few defensive stats does show that he has the ability to become one of the best players in the defensive midfielder role.