Three Arsenal players and Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez named as best in the Premier League in their position so far this season
Despite the team's unsure start to the season, three Arsenal players have been named as the best-performing Premier League players in their respective positions so far.
Read more: Arsenal 2014/2015 player stats
Laurent Koscielny, Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil have been deemed to be the league's best performing players at centre-back, defensive midfield and attacking midfield respectively in a new study from the CIES Football Observatory.
The academic research group based at the International Centre for Sports Studies also named Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez and Southampton's Cedric Soares as the best forward and full-back in a study that measured performance based on the following six key performance indicators sourced from the OptaPro database:
- Rigour (strength in defensive duels)
- Recovery (Interception work)
- Distribution
- Take-ons
- Chance creation
- Shooting
Algerian winger Mahrez has been the breakout star of Leicester's surprisingly strong start to the season, having netted five times and assisted three goals in seven games.
Having lost twice and drawn once, Arsenal have yet to truly convince as a collective unit this season, but according to CIES Observatory Ozil, Koscielny and Cazorla – playing in a more withdrawn role – have all excelled.
Meanwhile, Liverpool midfield anchor Emre Can and former winger Raheem Sterling – now at Manchester City – have been named as two of the best players aged 21 or under in the league.
The study, which only takes into account players who have played in 60 per cent of their team's minutes, weighs its determined KPIs based on their relevance to position. So Koscielny is not being judged for shooting skills, nor Riyad Mahrez for recovery.
| Position | All players | U-21 players |
|---|---|---|
| Centre-backs | Laurent Koscielny – Arsenal | Chancel Mbemba – Newcastle |
| Full-backs | Cedric Soares – Southampton | Jordan Amavi – Aston Villa |
| Defensive midfield | Santi Cazorla – Arsenal | Emre Can – Liverpool |
| Attacking midfield | Mesut Ozil – Arsenal | Nathan Redmond – Norwich |
| Forward | Riyad Mahrez – Leicester City | Raheem Sterling – Manchester City |