The stats show Arsenal's young midfielder is doing more defending than any other player in the top flight
Ask any Arsenal fan anywhere on the planet what they want most, and they will tell you the same thing.
A decent holding midfielder.
The common consensus is that Arsene Wenger's side desperately need a player who can do some of the dirty defensive work in midfield, while Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and all the other fancy dans do their thing further up the pitch.
Perhaps that's true. But our stats say Arsenal already have the midfielder doing more defensive work than anyone else in the ENTIRE Premier League: Francis Coquelin.
The Frenchman is still young and raw, sure. But since he made his Premier League debut on 28 December, no other player has made more interceptions or won more 50-50s.
Most interceptions
37
1 FRANCIS COQUELIN
33
2 Federico Fernandez
33
3 Daley Blind
Since 28 December, Premier League
Most duels won
97
1 FRANCIS COQUELIN
76
2 Ashley Barnes
75
3 Eden Hazard
Since 28 December, Premier League
It's doesn't end there, either. When you look at tackles, only Man City's Pablo Zabaleta has made more challenges in that period.
Most tackles
44
1 Pablo Zabaleta
39
2 FRANCIS COQUELIN
33
3 Fernandinho
Since 28 December, Premier League
Clearly, the fans claiming their team lack a defensive midfielder are wrong. True, the Gunners shouldn't be so reliant on a 23-year-old who was on loan at Charlton just three months ago - but Coquelin is currently doing more defensive work than anyone.
The more important point: Coquelin is so busy tackling, intercepting and duelling, he's clearly having to do the defensive work of the entire Arsenal midfield.
So, rather than worrying about buying a good holding player, maybe Arsenal fans need to worry about getting their other midfielders to take some of that defensive burden off of Coquelin's young shoulders.
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