Arsenal defender William Saliba is set to miss their game against Nottingham Forest this weekend.
The Gunners won two of their opening three games in the Premier League before the international break, and they will return back at the Emirates. Arsenal will welcome Nottingham Forest to North London, with new manager Ange Postecoglou taking charge of the ‘tricky trees’.
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However, Arteta will have a tough choice to make as centre-back William Saliba has been ruled out of the Forest game with an injury, meaning he will have to replace the Frenchman with either of two new signings Piero Hincapie, or Cristhian Mosquera.
Both are young centre-backs with a lack of experience in the Premier League, but both are also very talented, and certainly expected to become world class defenders moving forward. So we decided to dive into the stats on Whoscored.com to work out which one Arteta should choose to start…
General stats: Hincapie wins
In terms of both players when it comes to their general stats last season, there is a gap with Hincapie seemingly the better option.
The former Bayer Leverkusen defender made 28 Bundesliga appearances last season, scoring two goals, and providing two assists. He had an average match rating of 6.9/10, which is also very impressive as a consistent average.
Mosquera made more appearances for Valencia last season in La Liga (37), but his goal contributions were less so, as he managed to score just one goal, with no assist. Furthermore, his average rating is 6.54, so overall a win for Hincapie here when looking at the general stats.
Defensive stats: Hincapie wins
This is no knock on Mosquera, as the 21-year-old is two years younger, and also a very talented defender, who could easily start on Sunday without consequence.
But, Hincapie does have better defensive stats based on last season. He had 1.6 tackles per game, one interceptions per game, and 3.1 clearances per game.
The only stat out of those three that Mosquera wins at is in clearances as his stats are as follows: 1.5 tackles per game, 0.9 interceptions per game and 3.3 clearances per game.
Analysis: So, according to last season’s statistics, Mikel Arteta should start Piero Hincapie on Saturday, rather than Cristhian Mosquera, but only time will tell.
Click here to see Arsenal’s predicted XI against Forest this weekend.