Nuno Tavares has been a breath of fresh air to the Arsenal first-team beyond simply his impressive performances. Last season saw an unorthodox role given to Granit Xhaka with Kieran Tierney out injured.
This questionable tactical decision from Mikel Arteta ultimately cost Arsenal any hope of qualifying for Europe and the left flank suffered greatly. Bukayo Saka, with the benefit of hindsight, would have likely been a better candidate.
Technical director Edu also shoulders a portion of the blame for not addressing the lack of depth in January after loaning out Sead Kolasinac. However, his pursuit and eventual success in signing Tavares this summer have led to significant praise for his find.
Tierney inevitably faced an injury issue in the early part of the new campaign and Tavares’ two starts against Aston Villa and Leicester City have coincided with two strong victories.
In fact, Tavares impressed supporters so much, some have called for the Portuguese youth international to keep his place should the established 24-year-old return from his time on the sidelines.
Assessing the two, in his short spell in the team, the statistics support the argument for the younger left-back to keep his place in the starting eleven. In fact, in 13 different metrics averaged per 90 minutes this season has seen Tavares has come out on top.
Defending:
Tierney’s defensive ability has always been the area of his game questioned the most stringently. Tavares too faced questions upon his arrival however so far has not shied away from a challenge.
In fact, so far Tavares has more than double the number of defensive duels, according to Wyscout, this season (5.71) compared to Kieran Tierney (2.72).
Tavares’ height advantage over the Scot means it is little surprise to see him win in both aerial duels frequency (5.71 > 1.61) and percentage wins of aerial duels (52.9% > 7.7%).
The Portuguese wins in interceptions (4.37 > 3.09) and recoveries (8.06 > 5.07) too.
Passing:
The synergy Nuno Tavares has had with Emile Smith-Rowe, in particular, has stood out. The pair recorded 31 passing combinations against Aston Villa, 14 more than any other pairing on the pitch.
His passing accuracy (83.7%) outscores Tierney’s (77.6%). Furthermore, if a theory might have suggested this was because he played safer passes his passing accuracy into the final third is greater than Tierney’s (70% > 60%) as is his pass accuracy into the box (55.6% > 46.7%).
Attacking:
When Tavares arrived he mentioned how he liked to shoot and proved it with a goal on his unofficial debut against Rangers in preseason with his weaker foot.
His shooting has been more frequent than his left-back counterpart (2.01 > 0.87) and more accurate (16.7% > 14.3%).
Dribbling wise, Tavares has proven he loves to run with the ball at his feet and it, therefore, should not shock anyone to see he more than doubles Tierney’s dribbling frequency (6.04 > 2.84).
Following onwards from this, his progressive run frequency also outranks the 24-year-old (3.36 > 2.47).
His physicality and height mean he is comfortable engaging in scraps with opposition players when in possession, shown in his offensive duel statistics which again more than double the Scot for frequency (9.74 > 3.96).
Lastly, for the thirteenth metric, Tavares is winning more fouls for the Gunners (1.34) compared to Tierney’s (0.99).
Conclusion:
Does all this information mean that the Portuguese is a far better player than Tierney? No, not at all. Contextually, this information is averaged per 90 minutes and so far the 21-year-old has played just 268 Premier League minutes compared to Tierney’s 728.
The sample size is far too small to conclusively indicate that Tavares should be starting in the long term over Tierney.
However, it does provide Mikel Arteta with a great problem to solve and having two quality players in the same position is always a plus. A huge improvement on the situation he failed to overcome last season.
For Watford, Tavares has done enough to warrant keeping his place, but the experience of Tierney could rightly see him re-enter the frame when Arsenal face Liverpool after the international break.
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