These statistics compare the passing success of Arsenal captain, Cesc Fabregas, Paul Scholes and Anderson in the games they’ve played against each other for Manchester United and Arsenal.

The stats are taken from all the games where at least two of the three players featured and show how many passes per minute were successfully completed, as well as what percentage of their attempted passes were completed.

The purpose of the diagrams is to show the range of passing. Players like Denilson have a high completion rate, but unlike Scholes, Fabregas and Anderson, doesn’t attempt many long range passes.

[edit] For all the overly sensitive Goons who have come flocking in, desperate to comment on a Manchester United blog (?), I’ll stress that at no point in this article does it say which player is better than another. This article simply compares the effectiveness of the passing between the key midfielders when the teams meet. Given that Cesc Fabregas will soon play for the best team in the world, it is interesting for Manchester United fans to see how our players compare. So put your dummies back in and feel free to provide any other statistics/arguments about anything else related. [/edit]

Conclusions
– Scholes has the highest passing success rate with an average of 89% completion (90%, 96% and 82%). Anderson has the second highest passes success rate with an average of 82% completion (93%, 89%, 78% and 66%). Finally, Fabregas with an average of 73% completion (77%, 72%, 76%, 75%, 73% and 65%).
– Fabregas has the highest number of successful passes per minute on the pitch, 0.6 (284 passes in 476 mins). Scholes has the second highest number of successful passes per minute on the pitch, 0.48 (111 passes in 233 mins). Then Anderson, 0.34 (91 passes in 266 mins).

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