ENGLAND FACTOR!!! Daily Mail Rates Walcott Higher Than Willian, Fabregas & Wilshere = Draw

Previewing today’s Community between Arsenal and Chelsea, the Daily Mail have written up one of those illogical player v player pieces in order to ascertain which of the two sides is better.

Taking each player for each side and comparing them against their opposite number with scores out of 10 (keeper v keeper, full-back v full-back), the Mail came to the conclusion that Chelsea are better than Arsenal, 89 to 86 (as last season’s Premier League table would have shown you).

But when you look closely at each rating, a common theme emerges, and as was depressingly predictable, the Mail journo did the ratings with his Little Englander hat on.


In each case of an English player being compared to a foreigner, the English player comes out on top:

Gibbs v Azpilicueta = Gibbs; Azpilicueta is widely regarded as the best left-back in the league

Cahill v Koscielny = Cahill; who lost his place to Kurt Zouma last season

Wilshere v Matic/Fabregas= Draw (8.5 each); no comment necessary

Walcott v Willian = Walcott; the Arsenal man missed a whole year through injury and barely figured last season