Arsenal FC : How Does This Arsenal Squad Stack Up in the FIFA 13 Demo?

The FIFA 13 demo came out today and, as an avid fan of the game, I made sure to get it as soon as possible.

The full game will be released on September 25th in North America and on September 28th in the UK and Europe.

FIFA demos are always fun, but they are even more fun when your team is available and the FIFA 13 demo gives Gooners like me a chance to take a look at the squad's ratings.

Last year, I took a look at Arsenal's squad, you can see the article here, and that gives folks some comparison as to how the team was rated last year.

This year's demo features five teams—Arsenal, Manchester City, Juventus, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund.

Expect the ratings to stay the same in the full version of FIFA, as I recall that was the case in FIFA 12 last year.

Here's how Arsenal stacks up on this FIFA 13 demo.

EA Sports has two different ways to rate teams in a regular kickoff game. There is the normal, unadjusted team ratings and then Matchday ratings. (Matchday ratings are basically the updated stats of the team from their last game.)

In this case, the Arsenal players' ratings come from the Liverpool game. The starting lineup for Arsenal was the same as it was for that game and you could see that certain players had improved ratings compared to the "regular" Arsenal squad.

Here are the teams ratings for the Matchday squad:

Attack 80, Midfield 79, Defense 79

These are the ratings for the regular squad:

Attack 80, Midfield 78, Defense 77

The team as a whole was rated as a four-and-a-half star team and was set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

There is one big miss for the squad however as Santi Cazorla is in neither the Matchday squad nor the regular squad. That should be fixed later this week according to the official Twitter account for EA Sports FIFA.

Let's take a look at the individual ratings of the regular Arsenal squad.

These ratings are pretty similar to what these goalkeepers had last year. Wojciech Szczesny should have pretty good growth potential given his age, 22, and I'd say these ratings are pretty fair.

.

Overall, the defense is OK as 70's aren't the worst ratings for backups. Considering Gibbs and Djourou have some growth potential (they both got better in FIFA 12) it isn't bad at all. That's a pretty scary drop-off in terms off the right-back position with Carl Jenkinson though.

The only defenders with special skills are Sagna (tackling) and Mertesacker (aerial threat and strength).

This is a pretty solid group when you consider that Santi Cazorla is likely to top the list. He was rated an 84 in FIFA 12 with special skills as a dribbler and an acrobat. Maybe they'll have playmaker there as well this time around.  

Mikel Arteta also has special skills as a playmaker and a set-piece specialist.

Look for Wilshere to grow immensely if you play well with him throughout the game. That's if you are a career-mode guy like me. 

When you look at the top four, and the potential for growth in Oxlade-Chamberlain, that is a decent attacking group.

When you factor in their special skills things get even better.

Lukas Podolski is categorized as a distance shooter and clinical finisher, Gervinho is a dribbler and an acrobat, Theo Walcott is a speedster and Giroud is a poacher.

In a video game like FIFA, the player ratings help but what matters more is the person controlling things.

So, there's no need to worry too much about this squad, especially with Cazorla there. I will probably make changes in some areas, during Career Mode of course, but playing with this team straight up isn't too bad either.

I think the players are rated pretty fairly, though I don't get Mikel Arteta's one point dip, if anything he may have been a point higher.

What do you think about how this Arsenal team looks on the FIFA 13 demo?