Sunday 14 August 2016 18:31, UK
Arsenal take on Liverpool on Sky Sports' Super Sunday with two of their summer recruits set to face each other.
Granit Xhaka and Georginio Wijnaldum both showed the positive aspects of their play last season but they will also be looking to improve in other areas. For Xhaka, his disciplinary record, and for Wijnaldum, his inability to reproduce his prolific home scoring form in away matches.
Arsenal have certainly added some bite to their squad with the £34m capture of Xhaka. The 23-year-old Swiss midfielder captained Borussia Monchengladbach to a fourth-place finish in the Bundesliga last season and in doing so picked up as many red cards as he did goals. His three red cards were the most in the Bundesliga in 2015/16. In fact, he has seen red six times in all competitions in the last three seasons.
No player has picked up more cards in the Bundesliga than Xhaka in the last three seasons (2013-16).
Perhaps Arsene Wenger is looking for a more combative edge to his team this season. The Gunners received the fewest yellow cards in the Premier League last season and only four sides put in fewer tackles than them.
Xhaka joins the Gunners with a CV of two Swiss League titles, 47 Switzerland caps and having playing in three previous Champions League campaigns.
The stat which stands out in the comparison table below is Xhaka's fondness for getting on the ball. He averaged 88 passes per 90 minutes last season, only Dortmund's Julian Weigl (93.9) and Bayern duo Arturo Vidal (89.5) and David Alaba (88.5) averaged more passes in the Bundesliga.
Liverpool's Wijnaldum signed from Newcastle in a £25m deal last month. The 25-year-old Dutchman top scored for Newcastle last season with 11 Premier League goals, all coming at St James' Park. He became the first man to score 11+ goals in a Premier League season with none coming away from home. Only Leicester's Riyad Mahrez scored more from midfield in the Premier League last season.
Wijnaldum had an overall shot conversion rate of 27 per cent last season and at home it was 39 per cent - this was the highest shot conversion rate at home of any player in the Premier League last season (minimum five goals).
However, Liverpool fans at the Emirates on Sunday can take heart that when Wijnaldum captained PSV to the Dutch league title in 2014/15, nine of his 14 league goals that season came away from home.
The former Dutch Footballer of the Year, capped 30 times by his country, will hope to kick his Liverpool career off with a first ever Premier League away goal. But he'll have to break free from the tough-tackling Xhaka first.
