In spite of their teams failing to qualify for European competitions, R. Sánchez and J. Sá had very good seasons. In the case of Alisson, he was the GK with the highest average rating for a substantial number of minutes played.
Player
Rating
Defense
Minutes Played
Team
Fraser Forster
7.85
Back 5
450
Southampton
Alisson
7.64
Back 4
3240
Liverpool
David Raya
7.45
Back 4
810
Brentford
Ederson
7.24
Back 4
3330
Manchester City
Robert Sánchez
7.17
Back 5
1530
Brighton
Edouard Mendy
7.07
Back 5
2790
Chelsea
José Sá
7.03
Back 5
3285
Wolves
Conditions for the presented data:
– Minimum minutes played in the season: 450 minutes (equivalent to 5 full games) per type of defense played (Back 4 or Back 5);
The Premier League has a lot of CBs over the rating of 7. Despite the impact of the BIG 6 in England, Manchester United and Arsenal CBs are absent from the top performing list. This situation overlapps with the poor season from this clubs. On the other hand, Chelsea and Spurs had a more successful season using, primarly, a Back 5 formation, which is why so many players from these teams are present in the list below (5 and 4 respectively). Last but not least, we need to give a special mention to Salisu and Guéhi, players with top performances that played for teams that finished below the middle of the table.
Player
Rating
Type of defense
Minutes Played
Team
Marc Cucurella
8.29
Back 5
810
Brighton
Aymeric Laporte
8.03
Back 4
2828
Manchester City
Joël Matip
8.00
Back 4
2790
Liverpool
César Azpilicueta
7.96
Back 5
844
Chelsea
Trevoh Chalobah
7.93
Back 5
1310
Chelsea
Wesley Fofana
7.80
Back 4
450
Leicester City
Rúben Dias
7.77
Back 4
2402
Manchester City
Thiago Silva
7.76
Back 5
2290
Chelsea
Antonio Rüdiger
7.75
Back 4
450
Chelsea
Cristian Romero
7.75
Back 5
1401
Tottenham
Virgil van Dijk
7.67
Back 4
3060
Liverpool
Antonio Rüdiger
7.48
Back 5
2585
Chelsea
Jöel Veltman
7.32
Back 5
1067
Brighton
Ibrahima Konaté
7.30
Back 4
990
Liverpool
Davinson Sánchez
7.26
Back 5
1159
Tottenham
Max Kilman
7.23
Back 5
2687
Wolves
Ben Davies
7.15
Back 5
2237
Tottenham
Andreas Christensen
7.12
Back 5
1316
Chelsea
Eric Dier
7.11
Back 5
2160
Tottenham
Marc Guéhi
7.03
Back 4
3132
Crystal Palace
Romain Saïss
7.02
Back 5
2705
Wolves
Mohammed Salisu
7.01
Back 4
2484
Southampton
Conditions for the presented data:
– Minimum minutes played in the season: 450 minutes (equivalent to 5 full games) per type of defense played (Back 4 or Back 5);
