Stats prove Tottenham’s Romero trumps Saliba as the Premier League's best centre-back

 

Football fans are already counting down the minutes until domestic action returns later this month. The September international break is so often the worst of the football calendar. Teams have just got their season underway, and supporters, who have had a taste of league action in the early weeks of the campaign, are eager for more. 

 

And yet, the top leagues remain on hiatus until next week. While there are competitive games across the globe, these pale in comparison to club action, especially with a North London Derby awaiting Tottenham and Arsenal fans on the first weekend back. The Gunners make the short trip down Seven Sisters Road as they look to maintain their unbeaten start to the season at the home of their fierce rivals Spurs. 

 

Spurs will look to put an early dent in Arsenal's title challenge, and quickly bounce back from a 2-1 loss at Newcastle last weekend. One of the main talking points ahead of the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is which side boasts the better centre-back. Both sets of supporters will fight for their respective star defender, with Spurs fans very much in Cristian Romero's corner. The Arsenal faithful will battle tooth and nail to defend William Saliba. 

 

Stats prove Tottenham’s Romero trumps Saliba as the Premier League's best centre-back

 

WhoScored+ is a telegram service, and bets will be sent directly to your phone. 

Click here to claim your free 7-day trial!

 

After three games of the season, the stats have proven there is one definitive winner over who the best centre-back between the two teams, and the league as a whole. 

 

Spurs will be disappointed by their start to the season. Indeed, they rank second for shots per game (16) and top for possession (69.1%) in the Premier League and despite dominating meetings with Leicester, Everton and Newcastle, they have just four points to show for their efforts. 

 

Arsenal, meanwhile, were unable to maintain their 100% start to the season having been reduced to 10 men in their 1-1 draw with Brighton last week. Declan Rice's second half dismissal means he'll sit out the North London Derby, a huge blow for Mikel Arteta's side, and the hope for the Gunners is they can make do without the former Hammers man in the middle of the park. 

 

Fortunately for Arteta and Arsenal, they will have Saliba to help protect David Raya's goal, injury on international duty permitting. The 23-year-old has made an exceptional start to the campaign, returning a pass success rate of 94.1% and making 14 tackles after three games; only Nottingham Forest's Ibrahim Sangare (15) has made more. 

 

 

The pick of those was to deny Jacob Ramsey at Villa Park last month, while the France star has made the most tackles of those yet to be dribbled past in 2024/25. With Saliba making such a solid start to the campaign, it's no wonder to see the centre-back land a WhoScored rating of 7.30. That Arsenal have conceded just once this season is down to Saliba's proactiveness at the back. 

 

However, Saliba's WhoScored rating isn't the best of all centre-backs in the Premier League this season, with Romero (7.37) claiming that accolade. While Romero hasn't ranked quite as highly for tackles - the Argentine has made nine in three outings - the Spurs star has won more aerial duels (9) than Saliba (5), and has made four interceptions to the Arsenal man's none. 

 

In addition, Romero has only committed one foul, while Saliba has been pulled up four times by officials. The former has also scored this season, which will have boosted his WhoScored rating. 

 

 

Nevertheless, the stats back up the notion that Romero is regarded as the Premier League's best centre-back, pipping not only Saliba, but the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Ruben Dias to the crown. That may yet change following next week's North London Derby, yet for now; Romero is number one in his position.

Stats prove Tottenham’s Romero trumps Saliba as the Premier League's best centre-back