Leeds United, Cardiff City, Rotherham United, Watford and Derby County stars are among the best defenders in the Championship this weekend.
Leeds United continued their impressive run of form on Saturday when they got the better of promotion-chasing Middlesbrough 1-0 away from home.
Alex Mowatt’s deflected shot from the edge of the box in the third minute proved to be the difference between the two sides at the Riverside Stadium in the Championship clash.
However, it was the Leeds defence who should be praised for the way they kept the Middlesbrough attackers at bay.
While Sol Bamba’s performance at centre-back was superb once again, as the Opta Stats table shows, Giuseppe Bellusci was more effective than him at the heart of the Leeds defence.
In fact, statistically, the 25-year-old former Catania star was the best defender in the Championship this weekend.
| Team | Won Tackle | Interception Won | Effective Clearance | Duel Won | Aerial Won | Error Lead To Shot | Effective Blocked Cross | Total Pass | Accurate Pass | Mins Played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giuseppe Bellusci | Leeds | 4 | 7 | 17 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 10 | 89 |
| Bruno Ecuele Manga | Cardiff | 4 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 7 | 90 |
| Kirk Broadfoot | Rotherham | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 20 | 90 |
| Craig Cathcart | Watford | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 30 | 90 |
| Cyrus Christie | Derby | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 37 | 90 |
Bruno Ecuele Manga was also impressive at the weekend, helping Cardiff City to a goalless draw with Huddersfield Town away from home.
Rotherham United may have gone down 5-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, but it seems that Kirk Broadfoot did his best to stop the misery.
The 30-year-old won a total of 13 duels and made three tackles, although he did make an error which led to a shot.
Craig Cathcart of Watford and Cyrus Christie of Derby County were two other standout performers in the Championship at the weekend.
While Watford suffered a 3-0 defeat to Norwich City at home, Derby edged past Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 at the iPro Stadium.
The stats are quite interesting because one would not normally expect teams who concede two or three goals to have the best defenders for that particular round of matches.
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