Christian Eriksen Vs Mesut Ozil, who has been a bigger hit?

Vs

Christian Eriksen and Mesut Ozil will walk out at White Hart Lane for the north London derby between Tottenham and Arsenal on Saturday knowing they can be the catalysts that launch their team to victory.

Eriksen has emerged as Tottenham's star man this season alongside Harry Kane. He has hit nine goals in the Premier League so far and played in every domestic match under Mauricio Pochettino.

For Ozil, his campaign has been tumultuous. The World Cup winner has been criticised for failing to scale the heights that justify the £42.5million transfer fee paid by Arsene Wenger to Real Madrid in the summer of 2013.

But last Sunday, the German international propelled Arsenal to a 5-0 victory over Aston Villa with one of his finest displays in a red shirt.

He provided an outrageous back-heeled flick to assist Oliver Giroud's opener, scored the second and had another ruled out in a relentless display of creative attacking football.

Spearheading Arsenal's victory against a Villa team on an alarming slide is one thing, but Ozil was brought in to provide the platform for victories in games like Saturday's against Tottenham. 

In his eight appearances in the league this season (Ozil missed three months with a knee injury), he has completed 420 passes as well as 22 successful dribbles. 

In comparison, Eriksen has made 993 passes and 33 dribbles in 23 games in a style under Pochettino that is aligned with Wenger's passing philosophy.

But the Denmark man clearly poses more of a goalscoring threat than Ozil, with 16 goals in 48 games during his Premier League career, an average of one in three.

Ozil, who arrived in north London two days after Eriksen signed for Spurs in 2013, has netted seven times in 34 Arsenal league appearances.

Eriksen has also covered 259.7km in the Premier League, the most of any player this season and two kilometers more than second placed Nemanja Matic of Chelsea.

He is emblematic of the high-intensity pressing game that Pochettino employs and has swiftly become a figurehead of his new manager's regime.

The 22-year-old is playing his best football yet at White Hart Lane, where as across north London at The Emirates, Arsenal supporters will argue that Ozil's zenith is yet to be seen.

They will be the key men in Saturday's encounter as one side will look to deal a major blow to the other's Champions League hopes.  

In the fearsome atmosphere that is often produced when these two teams collide, both Pochettino and Wenger will hope their creators do not wilt in the heat of the encounter and lead the way in putting the other to the sword.

     

Source:Dailymail and Goal.com.