Thread by @mitchcoyg

a look at xG stats of Houssam Aouar and James Maddison and how they could fit into Arsenal this season:

to start let's look at their positioning: Aouar is the more flexible of the two being able to play out wide as well as the 10 and as a CM, while Maddison also plays both the 10 and as an 8 and prefers to play there, both have played a lot more at that position than as a 10

this would be an interesting fit into arsenal's lineup. with either one likely lining up next to Partey most of the time with ESR in the 10 role. This will allow for Aouar or Maddison to play deeper with ESR in his prefered 10

now a look at their xG stats: they are very similar in a lot of attacking areas like shots per 90, assists per 90, goals per 90, and expected assists per 90.

they are very close and split the stats of buildup per 90 and KP90. Aouar has the edge in being involved in a large number of attacks and Maddison has the edge in key passes. Now Aouar has a huge lead in xG per 90 and xGchain90...

Aouar is the focal point of a lot of attacks for Lyon and the xG stats show it, as well as his goal-scoring ability. that being said, Maddison greatly exceeded his xG last season and scored a lot from hard positions and Aouar scored more sure-fire positions outside the 6 yd box

a look at their xG goal charts from last season will show how low the chances are that Maddison has scored from as well as bigger opportunities that Aouar scored from

Now, this data can be read in different ways: Maddison is overperforming what he's expected which means he could regress to the mean however he's done this both of the last two seasons.

It will be interesting to see what happens because they are both excellent players, Aouar's price tag and versatility, and skill in the build-up makes him seem like a great signing to me, Maddison is prem proven, great at set-pieces, and is very talented but I lean towards Aouar.

Thanks if you've read through all of this, all xG stats from understat.com likes and RT's appreciated!