James, Alexander-Arnold, Cancelo: Who is the best full-back in the Premier League?

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·19 July 2022

James, Alexander-Arnold, Cancelo: Who is the best full-back in the Premier League?

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Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James and Joao Cancelo – who is better?

It’s a debate that Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and football fans, in general, have had for many months.

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For what it’s worth, all three are world-class and possibly the three best full-backs in world football.

They are all very different full-backs that offer their club exactly what they need both defensively and offensively.

But let’s momentarily join in the debate over who is the best.

How do we decide?

Clean sheets? Assists? Goals? Trophies?

Well, we thought the fairest way to do it is by using Squawka’s comparison matrix. We’ve looked at 35 different metrics and used stats throughout the entire 2021/22 Premier League season.

Where possible, we’ve used ‘per 90’ statistics to make up for the difference in games played.

So, who comes out on top? Alexander-Arnold, James or Cancelo?

Let’s take a look:

Games Played

Winner: Joao Cancelo (36)

Touches

Winner: Joao Cancelo (109)

Ball Recoveries

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (7.5)

Possession Lost

Winner: Reece James (14.4)

Goals

Winner: Reece James (0.3)

Shots On Target

Winner: Joao Cancelo (0.7)

Assists

Winner: Reece James (0.5)

Chances Created

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (2.9)

Passes Attempted

Winner: Joao Cancelo (82.3)

Pass Accuracy %

Winner: Reece James (89.56)

Long Passes Attempted

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (12)

Successful Long Passes

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (6.5)

Long Pass Accuracy %

Winner: Reece James (71.67)

Through Balls Attempted

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joao Cancelo (0.6)

Duels Contested

Winner: Joao Cancelo (11.9)

Tackles Made

Winner: Joao Cancelo (2.4)

Fouls Conceded from Attempted Tackles

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (0.1)

Take-ons Completed

Winner: Reece James (1.8)

Take-on Success %

Winner: Reece James (76.6)

Fouls Won

Winner: Reece James (1.5)

Fouls Conceded

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (0.4)

Aerial Duels Contested

Winner: Joao Cancelo (3.1)

Aerial Duels Won

Winner: Joao Cancelo (1.6)

Aerial Duel Success %

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (53.57)

Ground Duels Contested

Winner: Joao Cancelo (8.9)

Ground Duels Won

Winner: Reece James (4.9)

Ground Duel Success %

Winner: Reece James (60.98)

Clearances

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (1.1)

Interceptions

Winner: Joao Cancelo (1.7)

Blocks

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold (0.2)

Clean sheets

Winner: Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joao Cancelo (0.6)

The results

So, who came out on top and won the most statistics?

1. Trent Alexander-Arnold – 142. Joao Cancelo – 113. Reece James – 10

So, Alexander-Arnold was the best full-back in the Premier League last season – according to the statistics that is.

The Liverpool man came out on top in a host of attacking statistics with his love for getting forward and creating opportunities for his teammates.

Chelsea’s James may have dominated a lot of the defensive stats but came out in third with just 10 winning statistics.

Cancelo, meanwhile, was the happy medium and came out on top with passing and possession-based metrics.

Of course, football is far more than just stats and we’re not going definitively say that Trent is better than Cancelo and James because he comes out on top in more metrics. However, we can safely say that he was ‘statistically’ better than his Man City and Chelsea rivals last season.

We look forward to the three renewing their rivalries once again in 2022/23 as Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea compete for major honours once again.

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