Walcott v Bale: A Statistical Comparison With Interesting Results

With Tottenham’s Gareth Bale potentially moving to Real Madrid for a world record transfer fee, Arsenal blogger Gooner Daily compared the Welshman to Gunners star Theo Walcott.

Games between Arsenal and Tottenham are always intense and last season was no different. In the North London derby that took place in November 2012, an early Spurs goal was cancelled out by a Per Mertesacker equalizer. Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla extended Arsenal’s lead before Gareth Bale scored a consolation goal to reduce the deficit. Right at the death, Theo Walcott scored the match clincher that was the icing of a well-baked cake.

In the return fixture in March 2013, two quickfire goals from Aaron Lennon and Bale were enough to seal victory as Mertesacker’s headed effort was nothing more than a consolation. Shortly after the Tottenham victory, AVB was quick to blow his trumpet about how Arsenal were on a downward spiral. However, the Gunners picked themselves up from the precarious situation of being seven points below Tottenham and went on a spirited run that saw us collect 26 points from a possible 30 to clinch fourth place from our bitter rivals.

Walcott v Bale

With Robin van Persie departing the Emirates for greener pastures, Arsenal needed some forward players to step up their game last season and while the likes of Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski should be commended for their efforts, Theo Walcott was arguably our most effective attacker. At the other end of North London, it was undoubtedly the Gareth Bale show as he single-handedly carried Spurs throughout the season.

Both players are best known for their time on the wings but there were also periods last season when their roles were changed with Walcott getting a brief stint as a center forward while Bale had some game time on the right wing as well as the hole behind the striker.

Bale matured well as the season went on and his influence grew in the Tottenham squad while Walcott went from strength to strength, fighting his personal demons, his protracted contract saga and his fair share of critics.

Here’s a statistical comparison of the two players from last season. All stats were provided by Who Scored, Index Football, EPL Index and101 Great Goals.

STAT	Gareth Bale	Theo Walcott
Appearances (Subs)	41 (0)	27 (10)
Goals Scored (All competitions)	24	21
Goals Scored (Premier League)	21	14
Overall shots (Shots per Game)	165 (4.7)	87 (2.4)
Shot to Goal Conversion %	15.8	22.6
Assists (All competitions)	8	15
Assists (Premier League)	4	10
Total Passes (Key Passes)	1131 (75)	531 (38)
Pass Completion %	78.4	83.1
Headers (Won/Attempted)	57/139	7/24
Total Crosses (Accurate Crosses)	272 (62)	173 (29)

Interesting isn’t it? In as much as Gareth Bale was hailed as the best player in the Premier League and won the PFA Player of the Year Award, these stats clearly show that Theo Walcott gave him a run for his money in terms of end product. Yet nobody even mentions how well Theo did last season, and he wasn’t even close to making the team of the year never mind the individual award.

As long as Bale was fit, he was the first name you would expect to see on the Spurs team sheet but there was a period Walcott was frozen out of the squad by Arsene Wenger when he rejected the initial £75,000 per week deal Arsenal offered him early in the season. Bale scored 24 goals in 41 games while Walcott scored a career best 21 goals in 37 games, with him coming off the bench in 10 of those matches, so Bale had played far more minutes than Walcott did.

Even if Bale managed more shots than Walcott in each game, the Englishman had a better conversion ratio than his Welsh counterpart. Walcott also provided far more assists than his former Southampton team-mate and had a better pass completion rate. Obviously Bale came out top in headers and crossing – possibly two of Theo’s weakest areas.

Both players had excellent performances in the last campaign and while Walcott is set to stay at the Emirates a long while, Bale’s future at Tottenham hangs by a thin thread. But it does make you wonder when you look purely at end product how Bale can be regarded as a £100m player, yet Theo is still drawing critics left, right and centre?