Danny Murphy has had his say on who was better between Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and Tottenham Hotspur playmaker, Christian Eriksen.
Danny Murphy has stated that he would have Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil over Christian Eriksen and he thinks the German has had a ‘better’ Premier League career than the recently departed Tottenham man.
Speaking to Drive on TalkSport (28/01/20 at 5:15 pm), Murphy feels Arsenal’s creative spark has been more ‘successful’ than the 2013 Tottenham signing.
Murphy was asked, who has been a better Premier League player and who has had a better PL career: “If you were asking who I would have in my team, I’d have Ozil ahead of Eriksen,” Murphy told TalkSport. “It’s a tough one. [But] Ozil is better.”
“A lot of the time Eriksen’s best stuff comes when the team is doing well and the players around him are playing well. A bit like Ozil. [He cannot] grab a game by the scruff of its kneck on his own. He’s not a physical presence. But he’s a technically a good player, who could bang in a good free-kick.
“I think he has done brilliantly at times for Spurs. Football is about opinion. Mine isn’t right and yours isn’t right. We have all got our own. I just think that Ozil in a big game in the past [has played well], he’s won World Cups, and he’s done more than Eriksen. He has been more successful.”
Both Eriksen and Ozil arrived in the Premier League at similar times. Spurs secured the services of the Denmark international from Ajax in August 2013 for £12 million [BBC Sport].
Whilst Ozil moved to Arsenal during the same window as Eriksen, but the World Cup winner arrived in September, from Real Madrid and for a much larger fee of £42 million, as reported by BBC Sport.
Whilst Ozil has more trophies to his name, with the most obvious one being his World Cup win with Germany, he has won more domestic trophies in England than the now-Inter player. Either way, both are high-quality performers.
Three FA Cup trophies in total Ozil has won, whereas Eriksen left North London empty-handed, and given the quality of players and manager Spurs had at the time, they should have at least bagged one domestic trophy.
Nonetheless, as individuals, Ozil has played 180 Premier League matches, scoring 32 goals and supplying 57 assists to his teammates [transfermarkt].
On the other hand, Eriksen has more Premier League matches to his name, 226 in total, with 51 goals and 66 assists to his CV in England’s top-flight [transfermarkt].
Both are technically gifted and rely on that quality to thrive during games, but one thing that has perhaps been levelled at them both is their performances during the so-called big games.
They have produced on occasions, but questions have been raised when it has come to those big moments and neither seems to step up for their side.
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