Squawka’s Xmas advent squad: which No.18 had the best 2018?

The countdown to Christmas is picking up serious pace with just a week to go until the big day and so, Squawka’s advent calendar moves along another spot.

As we edge ever closer to Christmas Day, the excitement is becoming all the more real, and as part of the festive period, we here at Squawka have been creating an advent calendar, in which we compare players via the grouping of their shirt numbers and determining a top three for each across Europe.

While overall quality was obviously considered when ranking our top three players of the year, the deciding factors were how well they performed during the last 12 months, with notable weighting being given to the World Cup.

No. 1: Marc-André Ter Stegen
No. 2: Kyle Walker
No. 3: Giorgio Chiellini
No. 4: Virgil Van Dijk
No. 5: Raphael Varane
No. 6: Paul Pogba
No. 7: Kylian Mbappé
No. 8: Saúl Ñíguez
No. 9: Luis Suárez
No. 10: Lionel Messi
No. 11: Mohamed Salah
No. 12: Marcelo
No. 13: Alisson
No. 14: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
No. 15: Andrea Barzagli
No. 16: Manuel Akanji
No. 17: Kevin de Bruyne

Here are Squawka’s top three number 18s for 2018.

3. Olivier Giroud (Arsenal/Chelsea/France)

What makes him special? If a striker isn’t consistently scoring goal after goal, he must be darn good to stay in the starting XI. That was the case with Olivier Giroud for France at the World Cup, with the 32-year-old staying in Didier Deschamps’ side throughout the tournament despite not managing a single goal.

His true value came in his ability to physically challenge defenders, with that distraction creating space for Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe to cause absolute mayhem, with both forwards grabbing four goals as Les Bleus scooped the top prize in Russia.

Giroud played a similar role at the start of this season, linking play for Chelsea to allow Eden Hazard the freedom and space to show his many talents. The Belgian even described Giroud as ‘the best target man in the world’ back in September. It’s no coincidence that Hazard went two months without a league goal for Chelsea, with Giroud in and out of the side.

Key stat: Olivier Giroud has four assists in the Premier League this season; only Eden Hazard (9) has more.

2. Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich/Germany)

What makes him special?  Germany might have bombed out of World Cup, but that hasn’t stopped Joshua Kimmich from being an absolute don. The 23-year-old has very quickly developed into one of the best attacking right-backs in world football, while his ability to play in midfield also makes him incredibly valuable to the squad.

Kimmich was named in the Uefa Champions League squad of the season for 2017/18, while he also picked up yet another Bundesliga title with Bayern. The German champions may be struggling to keep pace with Borussia Dortmund this season, but Kimmich’s form has only improved.

Key stat: Joshua Kimmich has more assists (nine) than any other Bayern Munich player this season.

1. Jordi Alba (Barcelona/Spain)

What makes him special? Jordi Alba is just having a great time at Barcelona, isn’t he? Another La Liga and Copa del Rey double is safely tucked away in his trophy cabinet, and Alba has been fantastic in 2018.

The only mark on Alba’s copybook is Spain’s struggles at the World Cup, but that is hardly his personal responsibility and he has more than made up for it with his form for Barca.

This season, Alba’s attacking exploits have hit a new level and the 29-year-old has already provided six assists in all competitions; this has proved key as the Blaugrana finished above Tottenham and Inter to top a very tough Champions League group, as well as flying to the top of La Liga currently.

Key stat: Jordi Alba has provided three assists in five Champions League games this season, no Barca player has provided more in the competition so far.

Honourable mentions: 

Nabil Fekir (Lyon/France), Fabian Delph (Manchester City/England), Nacho Monrael (Arsenal/Spain),

The post Squawka’s Xmas advent squad: which No.18 had the best 2018? appeared first on Squawka News.

From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2BqRnas