Liverpool vs Chelsea – Who Has Got The Better Midfield Warrior?

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has bought a new revelation to the Anfield soon after his arrival at the club. He took no time to assert his authorities on the ground and in his first eight months with the club, he took the Reds to two cup finals. It is no secret that every Liverpool fan is expecting to see their beloved side challenging for the title, and with Jurgen Klopp on the helm, the dream looks a reality.

Since his arrival at the club, many players have observed a great growth in terms of playing, and this could really help the team on a long term. Talking specifically, then Emre Can is one of those many names, who has developed into a beast for Liverpool, and it is safe to say that the club might have finally found a perfect replacement for Xabi Alonso. Can like most of the current players, had a stiff start to his Liverpool career, but right at this very moment, the German international has proved all his critics wrong.

On the other hand, we are observing a major change in Chelsea’s squad as their new manager Antonio Conte has given the task to rejuvenate the squad after a very forgettable last season in the Premier League. His side recently defeated AC Milan in the pre-season tour, and that can be a huge lift in their pursuit for the next season.

The Blues have recently signed Leicester City’s star N’Golo Kante and his arrival at the Stamford Bridge has endangered the game time Nemanja Matic, who was a key figure in Chelsea’s Premier League triumph two seasons back. The Serbian international faced a major setback last season as he dipped his form entirely, and now with Kante on his spot, the manager will now have to decide the fate of Matic.

Until then, we will compare both the defensive midfielders (Can and Matic) to try to figure it out that who amongst both had a better 2015-16 season:

Matic vs Can:

Comparing both the midfielders from the stats taken from Squawka. For the starters, Liverpool’s midfielder Emre Can played 30 games in the Premier League, while the Chelsea star played 33, and in their number of appearances, Can scored one goal and Matic bagged two. Talking about created chances, it was Can, who comes out as a winner as he created 31 chances, while Matic created just 19. But we all are aware of the fact that goals are the most important stats when it comes to the beautiful game, hence, it is fair to say that Matic is the winner in the round as he bagged two assists to his name, while Can failed to name any.

Furthermore, when talking about the individual awards, it is Matic who comes out as a winner as he was named as the man of the match twice last season, while Can has only one such honour.

When it was about the distribution, we have Matic as a clear winner here as he averaged a passing accuracy of 88% and completed 1386 passes, while Can averaged a passing accuracy of 81% and completed 1431 passes.

But when it is about the real deal, i.e., defending, Can is way ahead of Matic as he won 52% of his average duels, while Matic just won 47% of it. Can won 69 tackles out of 141, and Matic won 63 out of 142, this surely is a close call, but we cannot deny the stats. Both averaged 4 defensive actions per game and when it comes to the disciplinary act, it was Can who was a little bit out of hand as he had 9 yellow cards to his name, while Matic had just 5 yellows and also, one red.

As stated earlier, this surely is a close call and both the players have given each other a run for their money, and if the stats are taken into the consideration, then we must say, it is a draw but we also want to point out that Can was more influential to Liverpool than what Matic did to Chelsea last season.