Euro Football Rumours

Virgil van Dijk

vs

John Stones

 

Position: Centre-back

Premier League – 2017/2018

Statistical Analysis

Date: 24.05.2018

 

Virgil van Dijk vs John Stones. The two fantastic defenders in Premier League, but who has performed better in 2017/18 season?

 

Therefore we have made an analysis of the statistics achieved by Virgil van Dijk and John Stones in seven defensive categories:

•             Tackles per match
•             Clearances per match
•             Blocks per match
•             Interceptions per match
•             Dribbled past per match
•             Offside won per match
•             Fouls per match

 

John Stones played more games in 2017/18 season for his team than Virgil van Dijk did — 18 to 14.

Stones played more minutes than Van Dijk – 1306 to 1260.

Virgil van Dijk has recorded 1.1 tackles per match in Premier League (EFRating = 2.48), which is more than John Stones’s 0.8 tackles per match (EFRating = 1.81).

Virgil van Dijk has managed to get 5.6 clearances per match in Premier League (EFRating = 3.56), which is more than John Stones’s 2.3 clearances per match (EFRating = 1.46).

John Stones has 0.3 blocks per match in Premier League (EFRating = 2.10), compared to Virgil van Dijk’s 0.1 (EFRating = 0.70).

Virgil van Dijk provided more Premier League interceptions, he has managed to get 1.3 interceptions per match (EFRating = 3.55), 0.2 more than John Stones did (EFRating = 3.00).

In Premier League, Virgil van Dijk has 0.1 dribbled past per match (EFRating = 5.00), while John Stones has 0.4 dribbled past per match (EFRating = 1.25).

Stones won more offsides in Premier League, he won 0.8 offsides per match (EFRating = 3.64), 0.3 more than Virgil van Dijk did (EFRating = 2.27).

In Premier League, John Stones has 0.3 fouls per match (EFRating = 3.33), while Virgil van Dijk has 0.6 fouls per match (EFRating = 1.67).

 

Based on the analysis above, Virgil van Dijk is clearly the king of 4 defensive categories (tackles per match, interceptions per match, clearances per match and dribbled past per match).

John Stones is the king of 3 defensive categories (blocks per match, fouls per match and offside won per match).

 

In conclusion, with all the statistics, Virgil van Dijk seems like the easy pick over John Stones as the superior defender in Premier League.

 

Player	Virgil van Dijk	John Stones
EFRating	19.22	16.59