The greatest defenders in Premier League history

Defense is where championships are won. If your team doesn’t have great defenders, it will falter when it counts.

The English Premier League has had some tough defenders, who have done the dirty work. Here are the best defenders in the history of England’s top-flight league.

5. Virgil van Dijk

He has been in the EPL for five years—2 1/2 with Southampton and 2 1/2 with Liverpool—but he already is one of the best defenders the league has ever seen. He’s virtually unbeatable on the ground, and he controls the air with perfection.

He’s one of the main reasons Liverpool is on the verge of winning its first Premier League trophy and won a Champions League title last year. His teams have held clean sheets in almost 40% of his matches, and he’s just getting started.

4. Gary Neville

He was incredibly reliable and arguably the best right back in EPL history. He led Manchester United’s back line to multiple trophies, including the treble in 1999. Other teams (and their fans) hated Neville, but fans at Old Trafford loved the man who could read the game like a book.

His partnership with David Beckham meant the right side of United’s formation was locked down.

3. Ashley Cole

The best left back in league history, Ashley Cole was instrumental to Arsenal’s “Invincibles” going undefeated in 2003-2004. The left side was always solid when he was on the field, and when he moved to Chelsea in 2006, he brought his winning ways with them.

At Chelsea he won several Premier Leagues titles and a Champions League trophy, before he left for Roma in 2014. His teams held clean sheets in 38.2% of his matches—a huge number, considering he played in 566 matches in the EPL.

2. Tony Adams

Arsenal’s main man in the middle, Tony Adams was the leader of the Invincibles back line. He was at Arsenal for 19 seasons and held clean sheets in 45% of his matches. No one could beat him, and he had the vision to get the ball out quickly and forward to Arsenal’s creative midfielders to jumpstart the offense.

He had 670 top-flight appearances for Arsenal, enough that the fans call him "Mr. Arsenal." He’s arguably the club’s greatest player and no doubt its best defender.

1. John Terry

John Terry’s ability to command a defense and also move forward offensively was unprecedented. With 67 goals, he has the most by any defender in league history, and his defense was always on point.

In 717 matches for Chelsea, he had clean sheets in 44.1% of them. He was always in your face, and few defenders could play on or off the ball with more tenacity. He let every opponent know early on that you were not going to get the best of him that day.

Above all, he made Chelsea a winner. He captained the team to 19 trophies. There’s no doubt he is the best defender the Premier League has ever seen.

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