Everton, Leicester, Tottenham, Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Hull City players come out on top of the Premier League’s tackling statistics.
Everton’s Idrissa Gueye in action with Tottenham’s Victor Wanyama
‘Tackling is a dying art’, or so it is often said, particularly of the Premier League, international football and other top flight continental divisions. The modern game certainly doesn’t allow for as much contact as it used to. Challenges that would have been waved on, if not applauded, in years gone by, are now pulled up and sometimes heavily punished.
In football today it is possible to receive a red card for a challenge in which you are deemed to have used ‘excessive force’; circumstances where the referee judges that you are in danger of injuring an opposition player. Whether or not that is a positive or negative for the game is open to interpretation, and many people have very divided opinions on the matter.
There are some players though, even in the Premier League, who refuse to let tackling become a ‘dying art’, and whilst they cannot fly into challenges as players did in yesteryear, there is still certainly a place for fiery, robust and tough tackler on the football pitch; many of whom feature here.
Tottenham’s Danny Rose in action with Manchester City’s Pablo Zabaleta
Idrissa Gueye is the Premier League’s top tackler, averaging 4.9 successful challenges a game, a figure than also puts him among the highest ranked tacklers in Europe’s top five divisions. Gueye joined Everton in the summer from Aston Villa and appears to be one of the signings of the season with a quarter of the season gone.
The 27-year-old defensive midfielder was brought to Goodison Park for just £7.1 million on the recommendation of former Leicester City scout Steve Walsh, the same man who scouted N’Golo Kante for the Foxes, and Gueye has done a similar job for the Toffees as Kante did at Leicester last season.
In second place is a current Leicester City man, Danny Drinkwater. The former Manchester United youth player who can consider himself unlucky to have missed out on Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the Euro’s has won an impressive 4.4 tackles on average so far this season.
Leicester City midfielder Danny Drinkwater has won the second most tackles in the Premier League
In third place is Tottenham Hotspur full-back Danny Rose. The Spurs star is arguably the finest left-back in the Premier League, and his average of 4.2 tackles won per game this season is the highest for a defender. Rose is the only Tottenham player in the top 10, as Victor Wanyama somewhat surprisingly misses out.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson and Middlesbrough’s Spanish right-back Antonio Barragan round of the top 5, having won an average of 4 and 3.9 tackles respectively. Jurgen Klopp will be pleased with Henderson’s combativeness in the midfield, but not his lack of discipline. The England international has picked up 5 yellow cards and had to serve a suspension already this season.
Middlesbrough, meanwhile, are the only club to have 2 players in the top 10. Barragan, a summer recruit from Valencia, is joined in the top 10 by Adam Clayton, who comes in 8th place. The former Leeds United and Huddersfield Town midfielder has won 3.7 tackles this season, continuing his impressive form from Boro’s promotion season last term.
Middlesbrough duo Adam Clayton and Antonio Barragan make the top 10
In sixth place it is West Ham’s divisive left-back Arthur Masuaku, who had the tricky task of replacing Aaron Cresswell during the early parts of the season. Criticised by many, Masuaku has won an impressive 3.8 tackles per game on average this season, higher than that of any other West Ham United player.
The rest of the top 10 are made up of Hull City midfielder Sam Clucas (3.8), Stoke City ace Joe Allen (3.7) and Manchester City stalwart Pablo Zabaleta (3.6). The majority of the top 10 have earned much praise for their performances this season, with the exceptions of Masuaku and Zabaleta.
Versatile former Chesterfield star Sam Clucas’ place in the top 10 is perhaps the most impressive. Arguably Hull City’s best player so far this season, Clucas was playing non-league football four years ago and League One football two years ago.
Hull City midfielder Sam Clucas slides in on Leicester star Danny Drinkwater
The full top 10 is listed below, and well as the number of challenges won on average by each player so far this season:
Idrissa Gueye (Everton) – 4.9
Danny Drinkwater (Leicester City) – 4.4
Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur) – 4.2
Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) – 4
Antonio Barragan (Middlesbrough) – 3.9
Arthur Masuaku (West Ham United) – 3.8
Sam Clucas (Hull City) – 3.8
Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough) – 3.7
Joe Allen (Stoke City) – 3.7
Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City) – 3.6
Who do you think is the best tackler in the Premier League?
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