With Gabriel and William Saliba being lauded by pundits, Liverpool followers have made a salient level when evaluating their stats to these of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.
It’s clear that Arsenal‘s partnership of Saliba and Gabriel is among the greatest round for the time being.
Pundits and media have been praising them from the rooftops and whereas they do deserve credit score, Liverpool supporters have been making the purpose that maybe they’re going overboard, particularly when you think about the Reds’ centre-back pairings in recent times.
Simply how good are Saliba and Gabriel as a Premier League centre-back pairing?
Top-of-the-line in latest occasions… pic.twitter.com/cepca76uuy
— Aurel Nazmiu (@AurelNz) September 23, 2024
This graphic reveals the highest 10 Premier League defensive partnerships of the final 10 years based mostly on anticipated objectives conceded over at the very least 17 matches.
The metric is nice to measure groups and pairings by as a result of it provides some indication of how effectively the defenders are studying the sport and slicing out potential goalscoring alternatives.
As we are able to see, Saliba and Gabriel rank strongly, however it’s Van Dijk and Matip’s partnership in 2021/22 that comes out on the prime.
Joe Gomez and Van Dijk’s partnership in 2019/20, the yr Liverpool gained the league, can be ranked extremely as they conceded lower than one anticipated purpose per recreation.
“Finest within the league” feedback
It could be smart to not hearken to Man United legend Gary Neville too intently as a Liverpool supporter.
Nonetheless, many followers made an objection to his feedback when Arsenal performed Man Metropolis, as he labelled Gabriel and Saliba as the 2 “greatest centre-backs within the league.”
We shouldn’t underplay their performances for the Gunners, however they’re taking part in in a system that provides them loads of assist and doesn’t go away them massively uncovered.
When you had been to place them in Van Dijk’s footwear final yr, when he was regularly left uncovered, they nearly definitely wouldn’t have been in a position to carry out on the Dutchman’s degree.
The Liverpool captain and his companion, Ibrahima Konate, have begun this season in wonderful kind additionally, one thing Neville ought to pay attention to.
To date on this Premier League marketing campaign, Liverpool’s Frenchman has gained 18 of his 20 aerial duels (90 %) versus Saliba who has gained eight of 14 (57 %).
In the meantime, Van Dijk has gained 21 of 29, with Gabriel successful simply six of 11.
Liverpool have additionally conceded only one purpose in 5 video games whereas Arsenal have let in three.
It’s, after all, early days and defences can’t solely be measured in statistics as they require assist from the remainder of the group.
However to say that Saliba and Gabriel are the perfect within the league whereas Van Dijk is taking part in at his present degree appears huge of the mark, and that’s earlier than you even take into account Konate’s kind.
