Ranking the 10 Best Midfield Pass Masters in the Premier League Right Now
Every team needs them, but who are the best midfield pass masters in the Premier League right now?
We've teamed up with the EA Sports Player Performance Index to bring you the best and most accurate passers in the first 10 weeks of the 2015/16 season, and whilst you'll be able to guess some of the names who make it into the top 10, there are others who'll surprise you...
- All players have played at least seven times in the Premier League this season and attempted at least 168 passes
- Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Official Player Rating Index of the Barclays Premier League
10. David Silva (Manchester City), 89.5% Pass Completion Rate
1 of 10
Passes attempted: 344
Passes completed: 308
One of the less surprising names on our list, Manchester City’s creator-in-chief David Silva makes the top 10 thanks to his stylish approach and his unerring ability to find his team-mates.
What is most impressive about the Spaniard is that the vast majority of his passes are played forward as he attempts—and usually succeeds—to get City on the front foot.
Currently out injured, Silva was certainly missed in the goalless Manchester derby at Old Trafford last week, and Manuel Pellegrini will know that getting him back fit and firing will be crucial as he seeks success on four fronts this season.
A World Cup and European Championship winner with Spain, Silva has been a consistent force in the Premier League ever since he first joined City from Valencia in 2010 and has to go down as one of the club’s greatest-ever signings either pre or during the Sheikh Mansour era.
A player anyone would pay to watch, this list would appear to be made for him, and he rightly takes his place on it.
9. Ki Sung-Yeung (Swansea City), 89.6%
2 of 10
Passes attempted: 269
Passes completed: 241
Perhaps a little underrated by the majority of Premier League and world football fans, Swansea City’s South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung has been a crucial element of manager Garry Monk’s plans ever since he was recalled from his loan spell at Sunderland in the 2013/14 season.
Ki has made eight Premier League appearances this season, and usually stationed in the centre of midfield alongside the more expansive Jonjo Shelvey, his passing has been on point as he seeks to keep things ticking over in the centre of the pitch and help enforce a pleasing style that has been the Swans’ trademark over a number of years now.
A £6 million signing from Celtic in the summer of 2012, Ki is yet to score this season but weighed in with eight strikes in the last campaign. But even if he isn’t contributing in front of goal, he remains an important player for Monk and surely one of the first names on his teamsheet each week.
8. Michael Carrick (Manchester United), 89.9%
3 of 10
Passes attempted: 445
Passes completed: 400
If the summer arrivals of Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger were supposed to see Michael Carrick phased out of the Manchester United midfield, then obviously no-one told the veteran Englishman.
Carrick has appeared in all but one of United’s 10 Premier League games this season as the “Schmidfield” has often been rotated in and out of the side, and now in his 10th season at the club, he has become a vitally important figure for Louis van Gaal.
His ability to slow things down in the centre of the pitch is a very important one for United’s manager who, as will become apparent from this list, clearly values accurate passing above plenty of other traits that he wants his team to show.
Perhaps a little undervalued and underused by his country over the years, plenty feel that Carrick should have more than the 33 England caps he currently has to his name, and he certainly isn’t guaranteed a place in Roy Hodgson’s squad for the Euro 2016 championships in France next summer.
7. Juan Mata (Manchester United), 90.2%
4 of 10
Passes attempted: 469
Passes completed: 423
The second Manchester United player to make the top 10, Juan Mata has combined his accurate passing with three Premier League goals as he’s featured in all of his team’s matches in the division this season.
The Spaniard is a wonderfully stylish player to watch when he’s at his best and is perhaps the only memory of David Moyes’ unhappy time at Old Trafford that United fans care to remember—given that it was the Scot who signed him from Chelsea in January 2014.
Although often overlooked by his former Stamford Bridge boss Jose Mourinho, Mata has nonetheless gone on to prove himself a top-class performer during his time at United as he’s become a big hit with the fans.
His ability to drift into dangerous positions and provide United with yet another attacking outlet has become a crucial one for Van Gaal, and as his place on this list shows, the fact that he can combine that with the tendency to very rarely waste a pass makes him a wonderful asset to have.
6. Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), 91.0%
5 of 10
Passes attempted: 832
Passes completed: 757
The sheer number of passes he attempts makes Santi Cazorla’s position in this top 10 perhaps the most impressive aspect of it, as the Arsenal midfielder continues to set the tone for his increasingly impressive side this season.
The Spaniard—a sometime captain of the side—has become a huge hit with the Gunners supporters after signing for Arsenal from Malaga in 2012, and he now looks more at home playing in a deeper role and supplying the ammunition for the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil ahead of him.
Seemingly popular in the dressing room, too, Cazorla—who’ll be 31 in December—is perhaps an example of a midfield player who has got better with age, as his experience allows him to read a game better and contribute in both the attacking and defensive thirds.
He’s played in all 10 of the Gunners’ Premier League matches during what has been a strong start to the season, and if Arsene Wenger’s men are going to sustain that form and make a title challenge, then Cazorla’s role will be crucial.
5. Daley Blind (Manchester United), 91.1%
6 of 10
Passes attempted: 485
Passes completed: 442
Although usually stationed in defence this season, the EA Sports Player Performance Index recognises Manchester United’s Daley Blind as a midfielder, and as such, he takes his place on the list.
The versatile Dutchman has undoubtedly been a success ever since arriving at United from Ajax last summer, and it has become increasingly clear just why Louis van Gaal was so keen to bring him to Old Trafford having managed him with the Netherlands at the 2014 World Cup.
Blind’s reading of the game is superb, and he has been able to showcase that as he’s played for the majority of the campaign as the centre-back partner to Chris Smalling.
However, with Phil Jones now fit and with the wealth of midfield option available to Van Gaal, it remains to be seen just where Blind will fit into the manager’s plans for the challenges ahead—with a spot at left-back in place of the unconvincing Marcos Rojo perhaps the best option in the short term.
4. Morgan Schneiderlin (Manchester United), 91.5%
7 of 10
Passes attempted: 531
Passes completed: 486
With the second most passes both attempted and completed after Cazorla, Morgan Schneiderlin is the fourth and final Manchester United player in our top 10.
The Frenchman has made a quick impact at Old Trafford ever since arriving at United from Southampton in the summer, with his status as perhaps his club’s best central midfield player seemingly growing by the week.
Schneiderlin has featured in nine of United’s 10 Premier League games this season and scored his first goal for the club in the recent 3-0 victory at Everton.
It is his reading of the game and his passing ability that has so impressed his new supporters, though, and the 25-year-old would appear to be ready to forge a long and successful career at United having come up through the divisions with Southampton.
A place in France’s Euro 2016 squad also looks assured, and he could well be an important player for Didier Deschamps and the host nation in the summer.
3. Francis Coquelin (Arsenal), 91.6%
8 of 10
Passes attempted: 476
Passes completed: 436
A year ago, if you’d have told Arsenal fans that French midfielder Francis Coquelin was an important and, in many ways, vital part of their first team, then they would surely have just laughed at you.
The 24-year-old was on loan at Charlton Athletic—his third temporary spell away from the Emirates Stadium—this time last year, and it appeared as though he had no future with the Gunners, having failed to make a consistent breakthrough under Arsene Wenger.
However, injuries to the likes of Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere opened the door for Coquelin, and as the club’s only real specialist defensive midfielder, he was able to take his chance with both hands.
Indeed, his mere presence in the team seems to be improving the performances of those around him, so much so that Coquelin has almost become one of the first names on the teamsheet for the Gunners’ biggest matches in both the Premier League and Champions League.
Football has a habit of surprising you and none more so than with a player who used to be Arsenal’s forgotten man.
2. Ibrahim Afellay (Stoke City), 91.7%
9 of 10
Passes attempted: 168
Passes completed: 154
The player with the fewest amount of passes both attempted and successfully completed in our top 10, there is little doubt that Stoke’s Ibrahim Afellay is benefiting from having a relatively small sample size compared to others.
Having said that, the Dutchman’s displays in his first season in English football certainly deserve some recognition, with his position at No. 2 on the list showing that he is a stylish performer who very rarely gives the ball away—just 14 times in the Premier League all season, to be precise.
Afellay has featured in seven of Stoke’s 10 Premier League games this season, picking up a red card on just his second appearance at the Britannia Stadium in a home loss to West Bromwich Albion, but despite that, the former Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven man has quickly become a favourite with his new supporters as he continues to add a little bit more glamour to the club.
1. Samir Nasri (Manchester City), 93.0%
10 of 10
Passes attempted: 200
Passes completed: 186
You weren’t expecting this, were you?
That’s right, the midfielder with the best passing accuracy in the Premier League so far this season is none other than Manchester City’s Samir Nasri, who has misplaced just 14 of his 200 passes over seven appearances in the competition.
Of the top 10, only Afellay has attempted fewer passes than the Frenchman this season, and so again we have to take into account the small sample size, but regardless of that, it is still a pretty impressive achievement for a player who is perhaps a little better than he is often given credit for.
Injuries and the form of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and fellow top 10 member David Silva have made it tough for Nasri to consistently shine in Manuel Pellegrini’s team this season, but clearly when he has played, he has contributed impressively.
Nasri’s only goal of the season so far came in the win at Everton back in August, and whilst that side of his game could certainly do with a tune-up, there is clearly nothing wrong with his use of the ball.
