Which Premier League team has the best defence? (2024)

Which side has the best attack in the Premier Leagueright now? What about the best midfield, defence, and goalkeeper? When you split the team up into its parts, it’s not such an easy question to answer. But, here atThe Athletic, we have tried.

Starting with the midfield,our writers nominated the sides they feel have the best set of players in that area. Then it was the turn of the goalkeepers. And now it’s the defences. There will be a follow-up article on the attackers later in the week.

Don’t agree? Come and let us know in the comments and vote for thePremier League’s best defence in the poll at the end of the article…

Manchester City

You’ve been hearing quite a lot from me in this series because City have so many good players.

City’s defence hasn’t always had the best reputation, often known as better players than defenders, but that’s slowly changing, perhaps as a result of Ruben Dias arriving on the scene.

He got the credit for galvanising City’s back line last season and it was probably the Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain where he, John Stones and Oleksandr Zinchenko all celebrated the latter’s block on Neymar.

Zinchenko might not be the sexiest name and it’s hard to imagine him being picked over Andrew Robertson, Ben Chilwell or Luke Shaw at last season’s other top-four sides, but he does his job perfectly for City. He brings so much to their game in that left-back/central midfield hybrid role that has become a trademark of Pep Guardiola’s successful City sides.

Kyle Walker’s consistency speaks for itself; he was one of the best players at the European Championship this summer and has been a mainstay at City since his arrival four years ago. With his recovery pace, he can shut down counter-attacks by himself but his positioning is also vital to that, and he can fulfil different duties as a right-back, whether staying wide or tucking in. He’s seen off the challenge of Danilo and even Joao Cancelo, who revolutionised City’s play at the start of the year but still couldn’t stop Walker from coming back into the team.

Cancelo is another reason City’s defence has to be considered the best, as he offers great variety at right-back and left-back.

And then there’s Aymeric Laporte, who has shown since losing his place to the excellent Stones that he’s still an exceptional defender, including for Spain this summer. Nathan Ake also adds variety and could do that Zinchenko hybrid role if required. Not bad!

Sam Lee

Chelsea

OK, nice try, Sam, but let’s start with some good old-fashioned facts. Since Thomas Tuchel took charge of Chelsea in January, they have conceded the fewest goals (14) in the Premier League.

They took this form into Europe too, setting a new Champions League record of conceding only four times on the way to winning the competition last season.

Naturally, the numbers only tell part of the story. It is who Tuchel has to choose from which makes Chelsea such a difficult prospect to score against.

Thiago Silva may be turning 37 this month, but he is one of the best centre-backs in the division. It is a measure of Andreas Christensen’s form that he has started the season instead of Silva in the middle of the back three. But he is versatile and can play on either side of Silva if needed.

For the most part, though, Antonio Rudiger will be the left-sided centre back. His performances in 2021 have been outstanding. The Germany international is more than happy to stop opponents by fair means or foul.

Captain Cesar Azpilicueta keeps setting the standard too, either as a right-sided centre-back or at right wing-back. No one has a greater will to win at the club.

At the end of last season, Reece James proved he was just as assured as a centre-back as he is when operating as a right wing-back.

Meanwhile, at left wing-back, Tuchel has had the luxury of picking Marcos Alonso while England international Chilwell gets fully up to speed after being away with England at Euro 2020.

How good has this guy been so far! 👏 pic.twitter.com/MFiueRofki

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 4, 2021

And it shouldn’t be forgotten how the Chelsea coach isn’t afraid to select attacking players in Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic on the flanks, so they provide even more cover.

What makes Chelsea so ominous to face is it doesn’t seem to matter who is in the line-up, Tuchel has them so well drilled, you don’t notice the difference. The way 22-year-old academy product Trevoh Chalobah has also slotted in comfortably is a tribute to his ability but also the coaching.

Just finding the net against Chelsea is an achievement, let alone beating them.

Simon Johnson

Liverpool

Liverpool’s defensive unit has been restored after the injury crisis that wrecked last season and it is a truly special quartet.

Virgil van Dijk remains the greatest centre-back in world football. He has already proved that he’s made a full recovery after being sidelined for nine months by a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

The Dutchman is a talismanic force for Liverpool. He wins aerial battles, he is quick and he reads the game so well, sensing danger and always being in the right place to deal with it. He also gives the team an extra dimension with his pinpoint diagonal passes, which help launch attacks.

Joel Matip has flourished since battling back from his own injury issues. Van Dijk barks orders and cajoles those around him while the former Cameroon international quietly goes about his business. There’s a great understanding between them.

What depth Klopp now has at centre-back, too, with Joe Gomez fit again and Ibrahima Konate patiently waiting for his debut following his £35 million move from RB Leipzig.

Out wide, Liverpool possess the two most dynamic, exciting full-backs in European football. Klopp wouldn’t swap Trent Alexander-Arnold and Robertson for anyone. They provide so much creativity for the team with their marauding runs down the flanks. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, they boast a remarkable 63 top-flight assists between them.

James Pearce

Brighton

It’s easy to try and make a case for the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea for having the best defence because, simply put, they should have “the best”everythinggiven the resources they have at their disposal.

Everyone likes an underdog though, and one that’s punching well above its weight and should be recognised for doing so is Graham Potter’s Brighton.

The numbers tell a clear story: this is a very good Premier League defence. They conceded just over nine shots per 90 minutes last season, a figure only bettered by Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City. Looking at the quality of the chances they conceded, their non-penalty xG against of 0.8 was the third-best in the league and easily the best of all non-top-six sides.

The 2021-22 season is only three league games old, so any numbers will be skewed heavily by game state, quality of opposition and such. Nevertheless, their non-penalty xG against of 0.83 is still best for fifth in the league.

Potter’s side are stingy without the ball, comfortably switching from a back three to a back four and are tough to break down. Pound-for-pound they have the best defence in the Premier League.

Tom Worville

Manchester United

The writer David Roth once said the New York Knicks of the 1990s reminded you “of getting elbowed in the throat, repeatedly, on a crowded city bus”.

At their best, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United side defend similarly: a heady mix of aggression and area denial from four defenders who like to dominate their opposition.

There’s Shaw, the barrel-chested left-back who serves as one of his team’s best creators and canniest defenders. The 26-year-old has the grace and guile to calmly dispossess an attacker when they take a heavy touch. He also has a cynical edge, pressing at opportune moments and making a general nuisance of himself.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka guards the right flank and is considered by many to be the best one-v-one defender in the league. Such is the right-back’s skill for locking up wide players through well-timed tackles, that general guidance from opposition scouts is not to try going past him, but around him instead.

Raphael Varane is one of the most decorated and dedicated centre-backs of the modern era. He’s smart enough to know when to jockey attackers into less dangerous areas and physical enough to bully his opposite man off the ball when needs must. He will be the bath plug to United’s attack and defence this season, stopping things going down the drain when a leak is sprung.

This unit is captained by Harry Maguire, who put in a career-best season in 2020-21 and made good claims to being one of the best centre-backs in the world. He’s dominant in his tackles, both on the ground and in the air and a vocal leader, capable of a consistency few other defenders in the league manage (a horrible day at the office for Maguire is still a five out of 10 in most match ratings). Magure is dominant at set pieces, can take a thumping penalty and his ability to run with the ball helps the team out when the midfield gets congested. Few defenders are better at marking their man than the United centre-back.

Solskjaer’s United requires its defenders to take on large amounts of personal responsibility to get the better of their direct opponent, and every player in United’s first-choice back four knows how to nullify, annoy and frustrate every kind of attacker in the league. United’s defenders have to be good at their jobs individually as their manager affords them few of the collective safety nets afforded to other back fours in the Premier League’s big six.

United lack a proper defensive midfielder or a wholly convincing goalkeeper at the moment, and yet managed to only concede 24 goals in open play last season, five goals fewer than their expected goals against figure of 29.9. They may look shaky, but they are nearly always better than they look.

It is strange to think the defence that was torn asunder by Tottenham Hotspur at the start of last season went on to be one of the best back fours in the Premier League, but by hook, by crook, or sometimes through good-natured playing skill, United have a collection of some of the best defenders in the Premier League.

Carl Anka

(NOTE: Readers who are using our app on an Android device may need to use two fingers to scroll through the survey. Still unable to get to the survey, though?Try this direct link.)

(Top photos: Getty Images/Design: Sam Richardson)