Wayne Rooney has been whinging for some time now about his best position being up top, so when David Moyes granted him his wish the pressure was on the former Everton man to deliver the goods – something which he has certainly done this term in the Premier League.
But while the England man has enjoyed a fine spell of form, Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud has also proved people wrong, so here we compare the two ahead of this afternoon’s big clash between the two clubs.
Both forwards have scored five goals so far, Rooney in nine games while Giroud in 10, but the former has created 15 chances to the latter’s 17.
The pair have both averaged two defensive actions per game but Rooney has the better shooting accuracy, hitting the target with 63% of his 24 shots compared to Giroud’s 41% from his 29 appearances.
Neither have very strong pass completion rates – Rooney (76%), Giroud (66%) – but there is a clear winner in terms of take ons. Rooney has been successful in 15/20 of his take ons, while Giroud has won just 8/20.
The clash is sure to be an exciting one and I can’t wait to see how the statistics compare after full time.
Stats provided by Squawka.