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Best defenders this season

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Who has been the Premier League''s best defender so far this season?

From SkySports website

Most clearances

Player Team Clearances
Sebastien Bassong Norwich 181
Ashley Williams Swansea 163
Toby Alderweireld Tottenham 158
Robert Huth Leicester 144
Steve Cook Bournemouth 141
Chancel Mbemba Newcastle 136
Jan Vertonghen Tottenham 130
Russell Martin Norwich 126
Ramiro Funes Mori Everton 125
Virgil van Dijk Southampton 118

Clearances

may not be a glamorous aspect of the game - and some prefer to pass

their way out of trouble - but they are a defender''s bread and butter

nonetheless. Norwich''s Sebastian Bassong has made the most (181)

followed by Swansea''s Ashley Williams (163) and Spurs'' Alderweireld

(159).

Most goals scored

Player Team Goals
Laurent Koscielny Arsenal 3
Russell Martin Norwich 3
Scott Dann Crystal Palace 3

A

goalscoring defender is a precious asset, and this season, Koscielny,

Dann and Norwich''s Russell Martin have netted three each.

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Depends if you class your defenders making lots of clearances as positive or not. I''d say it''s a double edged sword.

Stats provide the background but a good statistician has to provide the context and logical conclusion.

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This is the case with most football stats that I see -  I always think "yes, but...".  So I''m not surprised plenty of the teams with players doing well for this stat are in the bottom half of the league but above the drop zone.  Their defences are under a lot of pressure but doing well enough (much of the time) to keep them out of the relegation zone. 

 

And I think Basso has done pretty well over the season so far - which I didn''t need any stats to tell me.

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Perhaps we should also look at the statistic ''which defenders made the most mistakes that resulted in goals'' and also ''which teams were attacked the most''.

For the latter one, it would then be obvious why Bassong and Martin are on the list, as having made the most clearances as we may have been attacked the most.

Having said this, it is difficult to compare defenders in this way.

I think the former statistic might be the most important.

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