Joining the 100 Club

This week our statistician Josh James looks at those players who have played 100 or more Premier League games for Arsenal.

Aaron Ramsey made his 100th Premier League appearance when he played against Fulham at the weekend – becoming the 39th Arsenal player to reach the milestone.

The Welsh midfielder made his Premier League debut four and a half years ago – aged just 17 – against Blackburn Rovers on September 13, 2008. His century consisted of 57 starts and 43 sub appearances while he was also taken off in 21 games. Overall he played 5,560 minutes during the 100 matches, at an average of 55 minutes 36 seconds per appearance.

Ramsey has so far netted six goals, and added 10 assists in his Premier League career.

According to Opta stats he has also created 118 goalscoring chances, been successful with 4,072 out of 4,644 passes (87.7 per cent) and won 124 tackles (76.6 per cent success rate).

He's won 74 free kicks, conceded 95 and been booked 10 times. He's yet to be sent off. Opta also calculate he has taken 5,873 touches.

He has played in 54.6 per cent of the league fixtures possible since his debut in 2008, and his record for the 100 games is: won 56, drawn 22, lost 22 for an average of 1.9 points per game.

In the 83 games he didn't feature in since making his debut, Arsenal have won 43 and taken an average of 1.83 points per game.

Since he made his Premier League debut, only five players (Sagna, Walcott, Song, Arshavin and van Persie) have made more appearances for Arsenal. This is despite the lengthy injured-enforced absence he suffered between February 27, 2010 and March 19, 2011, when Arsenal played 38 league games - in effect a whole season.

Aged 22 years and four months, Aaron is the third youngest player to reach a century of Premier League appearances for the Club, following Cesc Fabregas (who was just shy of his 20th birthday) and Theo Walcott (who was 21 years and 10 months old). Walcott marked the occasion with a goal - in a 3-0 win at West Ham in 2011.

Thierry Henry and Paul Merson also celebrated their Premier League centuries with goals, while Kanu netted twice. Lauren trumped them all though, by winning the league at White Hart Lane on his 100th outing.

The average age of an Arsenal player when he plays his 100th Premier League game is 27 years and seven months. However this includes the likes of David Seaman and Tony Adams, who had already played a number of first division matches before the Premier League was set up in 1992. So, looking purely at those who made their Gunners debut during the Premier League era, the average age for a player making his 100th appearance is almost exactly 27 years old - nearly five years older than Aaron Ramsey.

Ramsey has now drawn level with Marc Overmars in terms of Premier League appearances, but is some way behind Ray Parlour who leads the way for the Gunners with 333. Next is David Seaman – 325 of his 564 overall games for the Club came in the Premier League, and he was the first to reach a century for Arsenal in the competition, back in 1995.

Of the 39 members of this particular '100 Club' 12 (31 per cent) of them are English, while 10 (26 per cent) are French. There are 14 different nationalities in all.

Ramsey is the 12th midfielder to reach the milestone, there are 14 defenders, 10 forwards and three goalkeepers among the 39.

Overall Ramsey has played 146 matches for the Club, and is fifth among the current squad (not including players out on loan) in terms of most games for Arsenal.

Looking at matches in all competitions, Wojciech Szczesny and Kieran Gibbs recently reached a century of Arsenal appearances, taking the total number of players to reach three figures to 203.

That represents exactly 25 per cent of all players to have represented the Club in history.

The first ever player to make 100 appearances was Gavin Crawford, who played for Woolwich Arsenal between 1892 and 1898.

An outside right, Crawford joined from Sheffield United, and became one of the Gunners' very first professionals. He captained the team for several seasons and played in the Club's very first league season, and scored in the first ever league win - a 4-0 triumph over Walsall in 1893.

He later moved to Queens Park Rangers and then became the groundsman at Charlton Athletic, a position he held up to his 80th birthday. 

 With thanks to Opta. All stats correct as at April 23, 2013