My analysis today is to analyse which player is the best centre back in Premier League so far this season by comparing their statistics this season. To compare the best centre-backs in the Premier League I have taken the two most prominent centre backs of each of the top 10 clubs in the Premier League. By doing this we should come to the conclusion of which centre back is the best in the Premier League statistically. As a starting point, I have ranked the players with different factors and given them points on how well they perform. The points are given as follows:
The best defenders in the Premier League are seen in the table below. Gary Cahill tops the table with 21 points, just 1 point ahead of Evans, Nastasic and Jagielka. The analysis is sensitive due to included factors and I cannot say that Gary Cahill is the best centre back in the Premier League but from a statistical viewpoint he is.
This just shows that these six players are, statistically, among the best centre backs in the Premier League. Nastastic has an incredible tackle win per cent, whilst Jagielka dominates the ground duels and McAuley is the best in the air. What these six players have in common is, that they make very few mistakes and that none of them have received any red cards.
These players also reflect those centre backs, who have scored the most goals, with Jonny Evans scoring 3 goals. Nastastic, from this analysis, has done well this season and overshadowed his captain, Kompany. What also may surprise you and maybe also explains why West Bromwich is in top 10 of the league, is that Gareth McAuley has been one of the best centre backs this season. Mertesacker has been good this season and has played way better than his partner Thomas Vermaelen. Mertesacker also has the highest passing accuracy % of all defenders analysed.
The next table shows the players in the middle. They are not the best centre backs at the moment but they are still good defenders. Most of them are also make very few mistakes, but they are not dominant in the other areas of their play. Jan Vertonghen and Chico Flores are new to the Premier League and from this it shows that they have had a good first season. Jan Vertonghen though, has played nearly as many matches as a left back as at centre back. Vincent Kompany, who was one of the best defenders last season, has not been as prominent this season. Daniel Agger is playing a season without injuries and is showing that he is one of the best defenders in the league.
The last table shows the worst centre backs from those analysed. David Luiz has played many of his games at the DM and this maybe explains why he is in the bottom of the centre back list. This analysis also shows that Martin Skrtel, Thomas Vermaelen and Ashley Williams are the worst centre-backs in the Premier League’s top 10 clubs. What these players have in common is that they make way too many mistakes and this implies a lack of concentration.
A concluding remark is, that this analysis is very sensitive to the factors included and that my analysis could show other results if any of the factors were changed or if more were added. However all things being equal, this shows a fair picture of who has been the best centre back in the Premier League this season.
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Categories: Arsenal (NN), Chelsea, EPL Index Featured Article, EPL Index Statistical Comparisons, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester Utd, Swansea City, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion
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I notice that the tackling percentage of the England trained centre backs fare quite poorly compared to the rest, the highest being Cahill. Is it fair to assume that there is a deficiency in their upbringing?
you could well assume that based on the stats, yes!
I find the idea that Cahill is the best defender in the league laughable. Why don’t you include the goals conceded statistic? Would indicate that Cahill is perhaps the worst defender for Chelsea. Goals conceded with him was 1.47, Terry 1, Luiz 0.78 and Ivanovic 0.96 Dawson is better than him even!
I think that the fact Coloccini has not been mentioned once highlights a flaw in your methodology
I think that the fact Colloccini has not been mentioned once highlights a flaw in your methodology
Sorry but statistically your analysis doesn’t seem to make any sense.
You would have to give a points ranking for each value from 1-20 and then see where the players are placed after combining the scores.
Otherwise with your method you could be the fourth best defender in every category and conceivably get zero points (and be considered the worst defender somehow).
It’s very important to consider that certain defensive statistics can favour top defenders at teams which are inefficient at limiting chances. Especially stats such as interceptions and total tackles made will be higher for players which face more attacks. This makes it more difficult to analyse the top defenders since the context of data becomes vital. A good example of this is for teams who employ more possession based strategies will see better passing percentages, this does not necessarily make them better passers than the top players who attempt more ambitious passes.
Another example would be clearances, is a defender who attempts less clearances worse at getting the ball away or do they have a calmer head and can play the ball out. Mike Williamson has the highest number of clearances in the league, mainly due to being prone to panicking. These factors can also effect the relevant percentages.
More value should be places upon the percentages such as tackles won etc since these are the real measure of a quality defender. Also a total errors evaluation would be nice.
That said cream floats and the top four are probably the four most consistently in-form defenders this season. There are others in the argument however and this is by no means a finished and complete rating and ranking system, but it is a start.
Hey Tom, Thanks for your constructive answer and i see some of your points. i reckon that in some areas my analysis is superficial in some areas.
It is difficult to find out who is the best defender because the some factors etc. interceptions, not neccesary is positive. What i also found in a previous analysis was that there was a positive correlation between having high possession and making defensive errors. which means that Arsenal and Liverpool was exposed to more pressure on their defence.
But that said i still think this analysis gives an intuition on who has performed the best this season. not said that Cahill is the best defenders, but given his stats he has been doing good so far this season
You can’t compare the total values of different stats (unless they are %) when players have played different minutes. Agger’s 2 goalls in 2200 minutes is not as good as Skrtel’s 2 goals in 1800 minutes etc etc.
Compare like for like, or not at all.