As the arrival of Jorginho to Arsenal gives them more bite and much legs, it also gives the manager a headache on who to start in the midfield when the club’s midfielder, Thomas Partey is put into consideration. Or would the manager fancy a situation of partnering one with the other?
Let’s take an heads up look on that;
Thomas Teye Partey and Jorginho Frello Filho play in similar fashion with both being defensive minded midfielders. And Mikel Arteta who would want to squeeze out every juice from both players, hence, he might rely on statistics to determine the player that will start ahead of the other if they can’t play together.
Jorginho has got better qualities than Partey which puts the Italian above the Ghanaian on which player is superior to the other.
In the Premier League this season, both players are tied in terms of goals and assists with Thomas Partey only playing two games less than the deep line playmaker, Jorginho.
Jorginho has made 18 Premier League appearances so far and Partey has featured in 16 Premier League games in the 2022/23 league season.
Both players have scored two (2) goals and have made no assist so far in the Premier League this season but Jorginho edges Partey in various angles and aspects ascribed to their roles as defensive midfielders.
Thomas Teye Partey and Jorginho Frello Filho analysis by statistics:
This season in terms of total tackles per 90 minutes,
- Jorginho Frello Filho has made 2.95 total tackles
- Thomas Teye Partey has made 2.32 total tackles
For interceptions in the 2022/2023 Premier League season per 90 minutes,
- Jorginho Frello Filho has better numbers with 1.48 interceptions made
- Thomas Teye Partey has made just 1.23 interceptions.
Ball recoveries this season in the Premier League per 90 minutes,
- Jorginho still trumps party with 8.36 balls recovered
- Thomas Partey has made 8.01 ball recoveries.
For passes completed, Thomas Partey leads but it can also be down to the way each teams has played this season. Arsenal play in a manner that shows control and possession of the ball over their opposition while Chelsea have been largely defensive.
- Thomas Teye Partey has completed 58.24 passes.
- While, Jorginho Frello Filho has completed 52.48 passes.
In terms of forward-passing percentage per 90 minutes this season,
- Jorginho Frello Filho has better forward-passing percentage with 30.9% than
- Thomas Teye Partey with 28.98%
All of these points show that Jorginho is superior to Thomas Partey but the manager can still play both intelligent defensive maestros together as we saw at Chelsea under Mauricio Sarri and a few managers after.
Ngolo Kante played alongside Jorginho in the heart of Chelsea’s midfield and they indeed produced magic many times.
With Jorginho Frello Filho calmness in addition to knowing when to play a decisive pass, be it a through ball or a defense splitting pass – and Thomas Teye Partey solidity in the heart of midfield, they could produce greatness for the gunners.
Mikel Arteta could enjoy the dividend of having both in the heart of his midfield with each of them being assigned unique roles that would bring out handsome performances from both.