Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka's stats compared prove there's a clear winner between Man City and Arsenal stars

The stats behind the performances of Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka prove there is a clear winner between the two.

Manchester City's Foden and Arsenal's Saka are arguably the two most exciting attackers English football has produced in years.

The pair have been key players for City and Arsenal over the last few seasons, and last season's title tussle between the two clubs resulted in inevitable comparisons between the two youngsters.

Foden's quality was once against thrust under the spotlight this week when he scored a hat-trick in City's 3-1 win against Brentford.

Saka enjoyed a successful weekend too, scoring the opener in Arsenal's 3-1 downing of Liverpool on Sunday.

Both results mean that City and Arsenal are neck-and-neck in the Premier League table on 49 points, two behind leaders Liverpool, although Pep Guardiola's side have a game in hand.

Both Foden and Saka are enjoying impressive campaigns, but the stats - provided by Squawka - suggest that the City star has the edge.

Both attackers have scored eight goals in 22 Premier League games this season, though Foden has played 153 minutes less than his England teammate.

Foden's goal return is arguably more impressive because he has played a number of games in a midfield role, while Saka has played exclusively on the wing.

In addition, all of Foden's eight goals this term have come from open play, while two of Saka's have come from the penalty spot.

Ball retention is an important element of both Guardiola's and Mikel Arteta's playing philosophies, and it appears that Foden has the edge in that regard too.

Foden playing for City- Getty

The 23-year-old has registered a pass accuracy of 88.52% this term, while Saka has managed 82.67%. Foden hasn't just padded his stats with easy short passes though: he has completed 60.53% of long passes he's attempted this term, while Saka has completed just 42.22%.

Foden has achieved those impressive figures despite attempting more passes than Saka, 958 this season compared to 860.

The City academy graduate can count himself unlucky not to be ahead of Saka in the scoring charts. He has hit the target with 66.67% of his shots in the Premier League this season while Saka is lagging behind on 61.76%.

Saka exclusively plays on the flank for the Gunners, but his take-on success rate of 43.66% is well behind Foden's 53.33%.

While the argument could be made that Saka is more important to Arsenal's chances of success than Foden is to City's, the data suggests that Foden is the better player.

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