Arsenal: EA Sports completely screwed up rating this defense

EA Sports FIFA 20 player ratings have been “leaked” and while Arsenal got the shaft in a lot of areas, they conspicuously didn’t in one area.

I just went on a rant so long that I had to make it a slideshow, all honed in on how EA Sports yet again shafted Arsenal in the player ratings department. At least based on the leaked ratings that have everyone talking. It’s a travesty.

But the one position at Arsenal that is a travesty got a shocking reprieve from the EA overlords—centerback.

Despite having another poor season last year, and a poor start to this season, EA was unnecessarily gracious to our two starting defenders, giving Sokratis an 84 rating and David Luiz an 83.

By comparison, Chelsea, who gave up 12 less goals last year, only have one defender who matches that 84 rating for Sokratis, and that defender is Cesar Azpilicueta. They don’t have another defender over 82.

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And Liverpool, the defensive darlings, only have Virgil van Dijk rating higher. According to EA’s ratings, Sokratis or Luiz would be an upgrade to their defense.

What EA Sports has done here is put the Gunner’s defense in the same league with the other top teams when they absolutely do not deserve to be. Or, if they do deserve to be, it’s at the other end of the spectrum, where Rob Holding (76) and Calum Chambers (75) are tragically underrated, to the point that it feels like Luiz and Sokratis are an overcompensation, despite me obviously knowing that no one would ever overcompensate for underrated Gunners.

The point is, the future of Arsenal’s defense is so much better than the present, but EA didn’t seem to get that. In fact, they seem to think the opposite, that the present is much better than the future, and that’s where I get so confused. How anyone could watch this defense and think that it’s just as good as the other top teams in the Premier League, while their young defenders are so much worse than everyone else’s in the Premier League.

It’s baffling, but then again, no one really expects EA Sports to be that tuned in to the real world. Much easier to view everything through a purely numerical lens.

Meanwhile, we all know the truth. Holding and Chambers are much better than they’re given credit for and, oddly enough, Sokratis and Luiz are… worse than they’ve been given credit for.