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It was a season of highs and lows for Arsenal. Having led the pack of Premier League title-contenders for an incredible 128 days it looked likely that Wenger’s men would finally be able to call themselves league champions once more. Ultimately a growing injury crisis proved that the Gunners squad lacked the depth of the big clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City and this meant that their run at the title came to an abrupt halt.
It was by no means all doom-and-gloom though: the north London side ended their humiliating nine year trophy draught with a victory over Hull in the FA Cup final. Furthermore, Wenger was able to rally his men in the final few weeks of the season to hold off Everton and ensure that his side would be playing Champions League football once more.
On the whole 2013/14 will go down as a successful season in the annals of Arsenal football club; in theory this should mean that the Gunners continue to be a dangerous side in FIFA 15 which will be released in just over a month’s time. Leaked player ratings recently posted online by Purely Footballsuggest that most of the squad’s player ratings have remained the same in the next FIFA instalment with a few notable upgrades, while new transfer Alexis Sanchez has been ranked as one of the squads greatest players.
Until the game is released or we see a demo we must take these leaked ratings with a pinch of salt, but it’s still interesting to get any update on how EA Sports might have rated some of the best Premier League players.
Here are the alleged leaked ratings of the 10 best Arsenal FC players:
10. Mikel Arteta – 82 (FIFA 14 – 82)
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Despite his progressing years, Mikel Arteta has supposedly retained his FIFA 14 rating of 82 in EA Sports’ next game. Arsenal’s vice-captain may now be 32-years-old and have become progressively slower over the past few seasons but his performances for the Gunners last year justify his rating staying the same. His pace is already rated at a lowly 55 (55 acceleration, 55 sprint speed) so it’s hard to justify this being lowered any further, as slow as the Spaniard may be.
Arteta has been the cornerstone of the Arsenal side since making the move to north London from Everton in 2011. He may not play with the flair and style of some of his teammates but Arteta’s contribution to the side cannot be understated, controlling the pace of the game from his deep midfield (or ‘pivot’) position. His loss of speed hasn’t affected Arteta’s ability to use his mastery of passing and distribution to dictate the way in which his side operates.
A solid season for Arsenal was made even better when Arteta captained Arsenal against his former club, Everton, in the FA Cup quarter-final. He was given the unenviable task of retaking a penalty when Giroud ruled his first effort void, but was still able to steady his nerves to score and continue Arsenal’s cup run which would ultimately end their trophy draught.
9. Jack Wilshere – 82 (FIFA 14 – 82)
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Jack Wilshere’s career has stagnated somewhat ever since he suffered a stress fracture ankle injury which would force him to miss the entire 2011/12 season. The 22-year-old had an adequate 2013/14 season at the Emirates but didn’t play well enough to warrant an upgrade of his rating of 82 in FIFA 14. The leaked information suggest that Wilshere’s rating has remained the same in FIFA 15 which is believable.
The graduate of Arsenal’s youth academy has always been a footballer who holds nothing back, playing with a fire and passion which makes him a fan-favourite at the Emirates. This attitude means that Wilshere is willing to put his body on the line, leading to many injuries. Just when he was finding his form in the 2013/14 season, Wilshere was ruled out for over six weeks after suffering a hairline fracture on his left foot, further adding to Arsenal’s injury woes.
He may not have done enough to warrant an upgrade but he certainly proved himself to be worthy of an 82 overall rating. Wilshere exhibited all of the movement, vision and passing skills which made him such a hot prospect back in the 2010/11 season.
8. Olivier Giroud – 82 (FIFA 14 – 81)
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One of the criticisms of the Arsenal squad of last season is that Wenger didn’t have a world class striker at his disposal. Arsenal certainly silenced these critics with the acquisition of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona for a reported £35 million but it must be remembered that Giroud is a perfectly capable striker in his own right. Indeed the physically imposing forward acted as the spearhead of the Gunner’s offence for most of last season, scoring a respectable 16 league goals.
The alleged ratings leak suggests that Giroud has been improved from his FIFA 14 rating of 81 in the next game. It may be a very marginal upgrade but it is hard to justify Giroud’s improved rating. A solid 2013/14 campaign was enough for Giroud to retain his 81 rating but was insufficient for an upgrade.
The Frenchman’s 91 finishing rating already seemed curiously high when someone like Suarez was only given 89 finishing; of course Giroud is a capable goal scorer but no one would argue that he is one of football’s great finishers. Similarly Giroud’s high free kick rating on FIFA 14 seemed ridiculous for a player who hasn’t scored from a set-piece during his time in north London.
7. Wojciech Szczesny – 82 (FIFA 14 – 80)
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After suffering a surprise 1-3 home loss to Aston Villa in the opening game of the season and conceding a penalty after tripping Agbonlahor, Szczęsny must have thought that last season was going to be an unwanted continuation of his disappointing 2012/13 campaign.
However, the Polish shot-stopper was able to rally after this nightmare opening game and ultimately deliver the finest season of his professional career. By the end of the season Szczęsny had kept an impressive 16 clean sheets meaning that he shared the Premier League Golden Glove award with Petr Cech.
Despite performing as well as Chelsea’s keeper on paper, Szczęsny is rated as being vastly inferior to Cech on FIFA 14. After the season Arsenal’s goalie has just had he most certainly deserves a statistical boost on FIFA 15 – the leaked ratings suggest that Szczęsny has been given this overdue upgrade. With the signing of Colombian keeper David Ospina, Szczęsny will have to make sure that he continues to show the superb reflexes and crisp ball handling which earned him his first Golden Glove award.
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