Liverpool kept 21 clean sheets last season, and only conceded 22 goals, making them the best defensive team in the Premier League. This factor, combined with Liverpool’s favourable fixtures over the opening two months of the season (Norwich (H), Southampton (A), Burnley (A), Newcastle (H), Sheffield United (A)), makes owning at least one Liverpool defender a must.
However, who is the best option out of Andy Robertson (£7.0), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0) and Virgil Van Dijk (£6.5)?
Looking at the attacking threat of these three defenders, Alexander-Arnold is the winner.
TAA was directly involved in a goal scoring opportunity (shot or shot assist) every 34.6 minutes last season.
This was superior to Robertson’s 48.7 minutes and Van Dijk’s 112.8.
On the defensive front, Van Dijk was the best. The Dutchman made 257 CBIs last season, while Alexander-Arnold made 100 and Robertson made 83.
This defensive contribution thus saw Van Dijk dominate the BPS at Liverpool.
In terms of PPM, Alexander-Arnold bettered his teammates, scoring at 0.075 PPM compared to Robertson’s 0.066 PPM and Van Dijk’s 0.061 PPM.
Furthermore, last season Robertson had the best return percentage out of the Liverpool backline, returning in 69% of games compared to Alexander-Arnold’s 64% and Van Dijk’s 61%.
However, Alexander-Arnold averaged 9.2 points per return, while Van Dijk managed 7.9 points per return and Robertson 7.8 points per return.
This demonstrates Alexander-Arnold’s ceiling, where he provided 9 double digit returns in 27 starts.
In contrast, Robertson managed 5 double digit hauls in 36 games, and Van Dijk returned 4 double digit scores in 38 games.
So, with all of this information considered, if we could only have one Liverpool defender, it would be Alexander-Arnold.
