Betting On Defense: Premier League Teams With The Strongest Backline
The Premier League has been the strongest football league in the world for years and at the same time one of the most popular leagues for betting. For this purpose, you can visit some of the biggest online betting sites in the UK and try your luck there. If you like to bet on defense, on this occasion we bring you a list of the best backlines in the Premier League.
Arsenal
The legendary manager of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, once said that attack wins games, but good defense wins titles. Arsenal had the best defense in the league last season, but it wasn’t enough to win the title. The Gunners conceded only 29 goals and goalkeeper David Raya had 16 clean sheets in 32 games played, which earned him the Golden Glove. In addition to the Spanish goalkeeper who won the title at UEFA Euro 2024 despite not being first choice, Arsenal also has a great tandem at the back of the team consisting of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
France did not shine at the Euro in Germany. Still, Saliba was included in the ideal team of the championship because he provided games that were at the same level as last season wearing the jersey of the team from the Emirates. The French player had 70 percent of defensive duels won last season.
The team’s backline was additionally strengthened by the arrival of Ricardo Calafiori, who was great in Bologna, winning 67 percent of the duels, and played excellent games in the European Championship. He can bring a lot on the other side of the field. Arsenal once again have a powerful backline and it remains to be seen whether this season will be enough for the title after two decades of waiting.
Manchester City
Manchester City has been the best team in the Premier League for years and in the past seven seasons, the team led by Pep Guardiola has won six titles. This season, City is the first favorite for the title again, which is not a surprise when you see that Manchester City is excellently trained in all lines of the team. When you watch this team, your focus is almost certainly not on the defense because City has players like Kevin de Bruyne, Rodri, Erling Haaland, but the quality this team has in the backline is not at all trotting behind the midfield and attack.
Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson, who has won the Golden Glove three times with as many as 20 clean sheets in the 2021/22 season, has been keeping the goal with great success for years. Manchester City conceded only five goals less than Arsenal in the previous season. The excellent defensive performance is due to Ruben Dias, who was once voted the best defensive player on the planet by his colleagues.
The Portuguese player in the back line is helped in a great way by Josko Gvardiol, who showed all his magnificent potential already in the first season, and Manuel Akanji, who was recently included in the UEFA Euro ideal team. Another young player, Rico Lewis, is expected to get a serious role with the indispensable contribution of players such as Kyle Walker, John Stones and Nathan Ake.
Liverpool
In the spirit of Sir Alex Ferguson’s aforementioned statement that defense brings titles, the best indicator is Liverpool who won the Premier League after one of today’s best defenders, Virgil van Dijk, arrived at Anfield. The winter transfer window usually does not bring big transfers, but in the 2017/18 season, van Dijk moved from Southampton to Liverpool for almost 70,000,000 euros, which at that time put the Dutch player at the top of the list of the most expensive defenders of all time. Later he was overtaken by Harry Maguire and Josko Gvardiol. In his first full season, Liverpool narrowly missed out on the title as the Reds finished just one point behind Manchester City.
What he failed to do that season, Liverpool did the following and convincingly won the Premier League with the enviable contribution of Van Dijk. It was a historic title for Liverpool who had never been champions in this competition before. That season, Liverpool conceded just 33 goals thanks to reliable Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who arrived at the club just six months later than Van Dijk. At almost the same time, defenders Andrew Robertson and Alexander Trent-Arnold got a more serious role in the team from Anfield.
This is the best way to see how important it is to have an excellent backline to achieve top results. The mentioned players have been an indispensable part of Liverpool’s defense for years, and in the coming years, a lot is expected from the young and promising English player, Jarell Quansah.
Manchester United
Erik ten Hag is working to create a winning Manchester United and trophies, as we have pointed out several times, require a strong backline. The Old Trafford side have done a lot this summer to strengthen a defensive line that has been the target of frequent criticism. In particular, the most expensive defender of all time, Harry Maguire, who did make mistakes, but at the same time, along with Van Dijk, was the player with the most aerial duels won in the previous season, was often put on the pole of shame.
Ten Hag managed Ajax before joining United and several former players from that team will be part of the back line this season. Lisandro Martinez was already in the team before Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt arrived at Old Trafford this summer, they are expected to improve the defense which, despite many criticisms, was one of the best last season, although 58 goals conceded is not something that United can praise.
This summer, the talented Leny Yoro was brought in from Lille for a large sum of money, who is only 18 years old but is expected to establish himself as a pillar of defense in the coming years for a team that has fallen into a trap due to the dominance of its city rival. The goal is guarded by Andre Onana for the second season in a row, another former Ajax player who knows how to record great games, and if he can do it continuously then we should expect United to have an even better defensive performance than before