Share
Johnny Edward and Peter Akinbo.
Alex Iwobi is officially the best passer of the ball in the Premier League, according to the league’s official website, premierleague.com, with the Everton midfielder topping the rankings as a forward, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The Nigeria international is also the joint-second player with the most assists in the EPL (five), along with Manchester City’s Bernado Silva.
Iwobi has turned his Everton career around and has been their best player since the end of last season.
Iwobi put up a master-class performance against Crystal Palace Saturday, as he sprinkled his creative passes, assisting two goals and spraying forward passes throughout the game in the Toffees’ 3-0 win.
He had 53 touches, three key passes, 87 percent pass success rate, created two big chances, 13 final third passes, and two successful long balls. Defensively too, the former Arsenal man had a 100 per cent tackle success rate and four-ball recoveries to emerge as the Man-of-The-Match.
The balance in midfield has allowed Iwobi to get forward more, and he’s started turning this into returns, with one goal and five assists in his last eight matches.
The 26-year-old, who has made 476 passes this season, beat Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka (352), Gabriel Jesus (287) and Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane (265) to the top spot.
Other players in the Top 10 are Newcastle’s Joelinton (381), Fulham’s Bobby De Cordova-Reid (362), Brighton’s Leandro Trossard (333), Roberto Firmino (324), Ivan Toney (267), Jadon Sancho (285) and Demarai Gray (265).
At the start of the season, Iwobi was deployed in the No.6 and he did not disappoint. Comfortable in possession and rotating the ball around, Iwobi has thrived in the central role.
Even when pressed by the opposition, he was able to break the press or remain calm in possession.
His numbers speak for his resurgence and so far he is Everton’s best player in the following metrics: shot-creating actions, goal-creating actions, passes into the final third, assists, successful pressures, carries and successful dribbles.
Interestingly, the very people who questioned the Nigerian’s price tag of £28m years back, are now singing songs about his excellent performances.
He is expected to continue his outstanding form when Everton travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham in a Premier League game on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Iwobi has hailed manager Frank Lampard’s tactics for Everton’s comprehensive 3-0 victory over Palace.
“Everyone’s been buying into the manager’s plans. When something comes to life which we do on the training pitch – the patterns of play – you have to commend him and say, ‘Thank you for giving us the ideas.’ It’s just up to us to put them into action,” Iwobi told the club’s website.
He also spoke on his role heading into the tie.
“My role for the team was to get involved in our attacking patterns and make those triangles on the side (of the pitch). I had to be disciplined but also attack.
“Whenever we got the chance, it was about trying to get the ball in the box and hurt them. We did that against West Ham when we won at Goodison recently and we were able to do that again.
“As I said, I think everyone stepped up. We were able to keep a clean sheet against a very attacking Palace team and the back four played very well. It’s a collective effort. The team defends well and the team scores.
“Now, we have to keep this hunger and this motivation. It’s another test away at Fulham next weekend and we’ll go again.”