Eriksen and Ozil’s two very different attacking approaches for Spurs and Arsenal

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Arsenal and Tottenham stars are often compared but their two differing styles were illustrated at the weekend.

The ‘who is the better signing’ Mesut Ozil or Christian Eriksen debate, is one which has often been raised in North London since the two summer additions, focusing on the contrasting value between the pair.

Mesut Ozil, an established world star, signed for Arsenal for £42 million – while Christian Eriksen, a younger international playmaker with outstanding potential, was bought by Tottenham for £11 million.

But how similar are the pair actually in their approaches?

A look at their games from the weekend, Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace and Tottenham’s 1-1 draw at Hull shows a real difference in their passing games.

While Mesut Ozil completed 43 passes in the opposition’s final third, more than any other player in the Premier League all weekend, most of these were around the edge of the box.

In fact just five of the 43 were passed into the penalty areas, under 12 per cent in total.

By contrast Christian Eriksen’s passing stats are very different. He made just 17 successful passes in the final third, yet 10 of these were into the opposition box – a far more direct approach.

Despite the differing approaches, Eriksen and Ozil still made the same number of key passes, each unfortunately as unproductive as each other with no assists.

It perhaps reflects Arsenal’s possession game, of which Ozil is a key part, helping to retain the ball in the final third, which Arsene Wenger previously described as wearing the opposition down.

The other thing to address is whether the weekend’s results were a one-off, with Arsenal playing at home and Tottenham away. A look at the overall season stats suggests different:

Ozil, in four more matches, has completed a staggering 395 more passes in the final third than his Spurs rival. Yet remarkably of these, only 14 more have found their way into the penalty box.

The Arsenal man records more key passes and assists than Eriksen, but the difference in their games is plain to see.

Arsenal retain only narrowly more possession than Spurs as a team in general (56 per cent to 54 per cent), yet Ozil is clearly a more key component in the final third illustrated by his higher passing numbers, compared to how Eriksen is utilised at Tottenham.

Eriksen is clearly more direct in his approach, but Ozil appears more composed, measured, and as seen by his key passes statistics, more incisive when it matters.

While Ozil may be seen as the master by many and Eriksen an apprentice, the two players are by definition in their own right standout talents, who have different skill sets to offer despite playing in similar forward positions.

image: © Jon Candy