Head to Head: Fabregas vs Ozil at their playmaking peaks

With 16 assists to his name, Kevin De Bruyne was well on track to becoming the first Premier League player to reach 20 in a single season since Thierry Henry in 2003 prior to the postponement of the campaign. The Belgian may still have the chance to do so, of course, but truth be told his figures were heading the way of so many of the division's best creators before him.

Indeed, of the Manchester City star's impressive haul, just four have been recorded since the turn of the year, which inspired us to look back at two players in particular who had enjoyed particularly productive openings to the campaign.

While their team might not be at the standards of those in previous years - not by a long shot in all seriousness - it's fair to say Arsenal have boasted some of England's finest playmakers in the Premier League era. Along with Henry - who could do it all - and his enviable Invincible teammates, Gunners fans have witnessed exceptional creativity from the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Mesut Ozil in the past.

However, while the Spaniard enjoyed arguably the best spell of his career - from an individual perspective at least - at Arsenal, it wasn't until he made the move to Chelsea, via Barcelona, that his assist figures really rocketed in 2014/15. Fabregas registered an outstanding 18 in total in his debut league season at Stamford Bridge, though like De Bruyne this time around, the majority (13) came prior to the turn of the year.

It was a similar story across London the season after, when Mesut Ozil hit his stride and then some at the Emirates in 2015/16. Ending the campaign with a sensational 19 assists, at the time even that tally underwhelmed after the German had recorded 16 in 18 appearances before the turn of the year.

Nevertheless, the two campaigns were both remarkable in their own right, but who did it better?

Well, simply put, as far as the pair's rate of assists were concerned the figures are astonishingly similar. While Ozil registered one more (19) in 2015/16 than Fabregas the season previous (18), the German played more minutes, with their figures in terms of minutes per assist coming in at 160.6 for the Spain international and 160.5 for the Arsenal star.

That theme of Ozil marginally winning out remains consistent throughout the duo's creative stats in truth. He averaged 3.3 key passes per 90 minutes to Fabregas' 3, completed 12 accurate through balls to the Chelsea man's 11 and boasted a slightly superior pass accuracy to boot (86.3 per cent to 85.2 per cent).

In fact, the only creative category where there is a clear difference - and it's in Ozil's favour once more - is in terms of what Opta define as 'big chances created'. In that sense Fabregas' impressive tally of 16 was blown out of the water by the German's 28 the following season.

All in all, then, it's little wonder why it was Mesut Ozil that earned the higher WhoScored rating for his efforts in 2015/16 (7.66) than Fabregas in 2014/15 (7.62). Both players have subsequently and perhaps unsurprisingly failed to reach the same heights since, but will always have those remarkable stats to fall back on.



While we are reminiscing, what choice do we have right now after all, there was very little difference between the two but, ultimately, Ozil did it better...