The assist kings in BPL

One of the stand-out performers for Arsenal this season has been Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla.
The diminutive Spaniard has improved every season at Arsenal and Cazorla has been excellent in a central midfield role this campaign.
At Newcastle on Saturday, Cazorla was one of the players to appear behind Olivier Giroud and once again the former Malaga man chipped in with an assist.
Cazorla set up the second Arsenal goal at Newcastle, finished off by Olivier Giroud.
As a result, the graphic above appeared, showcasing how Cazorla has set up more goals in the Premier League, compared to anyone else, since he joined from Malaga.
Cazorla is three ahead of Eden Hazard and Wayne Rooney whilst he comfortably outstrips both Steven Gerrard and Juan Mata.
Hugely impressive considering how highly rated both Hazard and Rooney are as well as the fact that at the start of his Arsenal career, Cazorla did not play every game.

Team news: Ox, Jack, Flamini and Gabriel

Arsène Wenger has revealed the following team news ahead of Saturday's game against West Ham United:

on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain…
Chamberlain has a hamstring strain, the only thing we don't know is how bad it is because usually the scans are only done 48 hours after the accident. That will be done today [Wednesday].

on Jack Wilshere…
Jack is progressing well, he is not back in training yet.

on Mathieu Flamini…
Mathieu is training, he could be available for the squad on Saturday.

on Gabriel…
Gabriel may be [available] next week, he should come back into training on Sunday or Monday.

on whether the Monaco game will affect his team selection…
No. We were at a high level of fatigue because we played against Monaco, Everton, QPR, Manchester United, all very physical games. I will have to test medically, physically, how the players are on Friday, and I will make my decision then. The big priority is of course West Ham.

Arsenal's Francis Coquelin does more defensive work than any other Premier League player

The stats show Arsenal's young midfielder is doing more defending than any other player in the top flight

Francis Coquelin: Arsenal's one-man tackling, intercepting, duelling machine

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.

Premier League STAT from December 28

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.

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.

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.

If you are looking for Arsenal tickets then there are some for most matches available here, they are not cheap though.
http://www.livefootballtickets.com/english-premiership/arsenal-tickets.html

Following the emergence of Francis Coquelin, do Arsenal need to sign a defensive midfielder?

• YES
• NO