5 Impressive deep-lying midfielders in the Premier League (So far)

5. Mathieu Flamini

Flamini joined Arsenal for free, exactly 5 years after leaving the Gunners back in 2008. The move didn’t exactly help cool down the tensions surrounding the Emirates stadium as fans expected a high profile transfer to join Arsenal. Nevertheless, his old school approach towards every game has made him a fan favourite in the red half of North London. He is always vocal, energetic and brave on the field. He is the type of player Arsenal have lacked since the great Patrick Vieira left Arsenal. He is one of the reasons why Arsenal have been playing good attacking football and producing consistent results. The abilities of this experienced, old school football professional are as follows:

Strengths

a) He has very good organisation skills.

b) He loves to pass short.

c) He always sticks to his task and rarely joins the attack.

d) He intercepts opposition attacks brilliantly.

e) He has very good tackling ability.

Stats

Apps	Goals	Assists	Pass success%	Avg key passes	Avg passes	Avg pass length	Total chances created	Avg duels won %	Avg defensive actions	Tackles per game
17	1	-	92	0.4	44	16m	6	52	5	1.7

Best performance (so far) = 2-0 win against Napoli at the Emirates

Overall rating = 8/10

Honourable mentions: Gary Medel, John Obi Mikel

Summary : The performances of these 5 deep-lying midfielders have been very impressive and they have helped their respective teams to climb up the premier league table. Deep-lying mid-fielders, sometimes,get ignored because of the fact that they are neither prolific scorers nor providers. But, they do their job throughout the match and demonstrate high concentration levels along with an impressive ability to link the defenders and attacking players. Performances of these 5 players remind us that how invaluable a deep-lying midfielder can be. !