This season, only Patrice Evra has started more games (27) than Michael Carrick, whilst Evra and Van Persie have both had more minutes on the pitch. Carrick has made 1843 accurate passes this season with an accuracy of 88%. Of those passes, 37% of them have gone forwards and just 8% backwards. In the opposition half, he has completed 1035 passes, with an accuracy of 82%. In the final third, he has been accurate with 429 passes (74%). Carrick has 4 assists this season, which is only bettered by Rooney (9) and Evra (5).

When you compare Carrick’s stats with other midfielders at the top clubs in the league, including those at United, Carrick comes out of it well. Only Scholes and Arteta have completed more passes per minute than him and only Gerrard has more assists than him.

In the the 24 games Carrick has played 90 minutes in this season, he has completed more passes than anyone else on the field 14 times (58% of the them). In 2/24 games only one player completed more passes and in 6/24 only two players completed more passes. In the remaining two games, he completed more passes than any United player against City, and three United players completed more passes than him against Everton.

vs Everton
61 passes completed (91%) – three players with more (Kagawa, Cleverley and Scholes)

vs Fulham
65 passes completed (97%) – two players with more (Cleverley and Rafael)

vs Southampton
115 passes completed (91%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Wigan
48 passes completed (84%) – two players with more (McCarthy and McArthur)

vs Liverpool
51 passes completed (85%) – two players with more (Gerrard and Allen)

vs Spurs
93 passes completed (86%) – only one player with more (Scholes)

vs Newcastle
66 passes completed (86%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Stoke
82 passes completed (87%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Chelsea
63 passes completed (90%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Arsenal
65 passes completed (84%) – two players with more (Mertesacker and Cazorla)

vs Villa
119 passes completed (89%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Norwich
98 passes completed (88%) – more than anyone on the field

vs West Ham
110 passes completed (95%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Reading
90 passes completed (84%) – more than anyone on the field

vs City
43 passes completed (74%) – more than any United player (Toure, Nastasic, Clichy and Silva with more)

vs Swansea
88 passes completed (94%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Newcastle
62 passes completed (79%) – more than anyone on the field

vs West Brom
60 passes completed (88%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Liverpool
56 passes completed (84%) – two players with more (Agger and Cleverley)

vs Spurs
39 passes complated (85%) – two players with more (Dembele and Phil Jones)

vs Southampton
45 passes completed (80%) – only one player with more (Jack Cork)

vs Fulham
62 passes completed (89%) – more than anyone on the field

vs QPR
52 passes completed (80%) – more than anyone on the field

vs Norwich
112 passes completed (94%) – more than anyone on the field