Santi Cazorla vs David Silva - at their best, who was better?

The latest edition of our fantasy match-ups saw us compare the best league seasons of Robin van Persie and Harry Kane. Both are considered two of the best strikers to have ever played for Arsenal and Tottenham, respectively, and their peak campaigns of the last decade drew a close comparison.

This weekend's instalment of our fantasy head-to-head series compares two of the Premier League's best imports of the last 10 years. David Silva is widely recognised as the best Spanish player in Premier League history and Santi Cazorla would surely not be far behind him had injuries not ruined his final years at Arsenal.

However, that is the beauty of this series. We are not looking at sustained success. With four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and five League Cup winners' medals to his name, Silva has hands down been more successful in England than Cazorla over the last decade. But how do the two match up when you just compare their best individual league campaigns? The results are interesting.

Cazorla's peak year actually came in his debut season for Arsenal. Signed at the age of 27, it's perhaps not a surprise Cazorla had his best campaign but it's impressive nonetheless considering it was his first in English football. In that season Gareth Bale exploded and promptly earned a world record move to Real Madrid. Luis Suarez had also emerged as one of the best in the world at that time starting to emerge and 12 months later he would also go to Spain.
In fact, only Bale (7.92) and Suarez (7.89) garnered higher WhoScored ratings than Cazorla (7.86) in the Premier League in 2012/13.

His impact on Arsene Wenger's side was so great that there was a WhoScored rating difference of 0.49 between Cazorla and the second top rated Arsenal player. He claimed 29% of the WhoScored Man of the Match awards Arsenal won in the league that season (9/30) and the third most in the league.

Cazorla impressively reached double figures for both goals (12) and assists (11) - one of four players in the division to manage the feat. It didn't take long for Cazorla to show just how devastating a passer he could be. He finished the season with 15 clear-cut chances to his name an an average of 2.6 key passes per 90 - both enough to claim top-10 rankings in the Premier League for each statistics. Not only that, but Cazorla completed at least 13 more accurate through balls than any other player (30). Despite his less-than-imposing physique, only Suarez (95) completed more dribbles than Cazorla (86).

It is a shame that severe foot problems would rob Cazorla of his final few years at Arsenal but he has fortunately managed to get back on the pitch consistently since moving back to Villarreal in 2018. 7.86 is the best WhoScored rating acheived in a player's debut Premier League campaign since we started collecting Opta data in 2009.

David Silva has never managed to live up to that standard in a one-off campaign but his sustained success over the last decade at City is something to marvel. Whereas Cazorla signed for Arsenal during his peak years, City snapped up Silva when he was on the up. Silva joined City from Valencia for £24m when he was 24 and he was a hit ever since. He broke the 7.50 mark for the season three times in his first four league campaigns for the club and peaked at 7.58 in 2017/18.

That campaign was the year everything clicked for City under Pep Guardiola. The previous season was the first of Guardiola's career where he failed to win a single piece of silverware but the following campaign they responded with a league and EFL cup double. Silva was as instrumental as ever that season. He just missed out on double figures for goals and assists for the first time in his Premier League career but did still manage a direct hand in 20 goals (nine goals, 11 assists) in 29 appearances.

Silva finished with 14 clear-cut chances in 2017/18 compared to the 15 registered by Cazorla and key passes per 90 (2.3) were just behind his compatriot (2.6). While Cazorla may have done things by greater volume than Silva, it is perhaps fitting the City legend did so with greater efficiency. For example, Silva completed a great percentage of his passes in the final third (82.3%) than Cazorla's peak year (81.8%) and also had a far superior dribble success rate in 2017/18 (77.6%) compared to Cazorla in 2012/13 (65.6%). Even though Cazorla completed more dribbles per 90 (2.3) than Silva (1.4) in the seasons in question, it was the City midfielder who proved more difficult to dispossess.

Cazorla missed Spain's 2010 World Cup triumph through injury but was part of the 2008 and 2012 Euro-winning sides alongside Silva. It's no surprise Spain dominated international football for four years when they had Cazorla and Silva among several other world class players to call on. However, when comparing their peak individual league campaigns of the last decade, Cazorla has Silva's number.