'For me': Alan Shearer and Micah Richards pick who has the best centre-back pairing - Liverpool or Arsenal
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Liverpool’s brilliant start to the season so far has been built on a rock solid defence.
The Reds have conceded just six Premier League goals after 11 matches, comfortably the best record in the division.
Across four Champions League games, Liverpool have let in just one single goal and have now gone 357 minutes without conceding.
For all but one of those 15 matches, Arne Slot has started Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
On the one occasion that the pair did not begin the game together, Konate came on at half-time to make sure of another clean sheet.
Put simply, Liverpool’s centre-back partnership looks virtually impenetrable at the moment. And yet, some will still claim that Arsenal’s duo of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba is better.
Alan Shearer and Micah Richards disagree on Liverpool
Last season, Arsenal were the Premier League team most associated with diligent defensive displays.
That solidity was built on the back of the Gabriel and Saliba pairing, with the two centre-backs helping the Gunners to concede just 29 league goals in 2023/24.
This record has seen them often hailed as the best current centre-back partnership in England’s top flight.
And that’s exactly the question that was posed to Gary Lineker, Micah Richards and Alan Shearer on the latest episode of The Rest Is Football. Who is the best pairing right now?
“I would say Saliba and Gabriel because they’ve been doing it for a couple of seasons now,” Ricahrds answers. “I think Konate’s been in and out. He had Matip, then he had Quansah, then he had Gomez alongside Van Dijk. So, in terms of consistency I would go with Arsenal, Saliba and Gabriel.”
Shearer disagreed, though, claiming that Konate and Van Dijk get the nod for him.
“Those two are a major part of what Liverpool are doing there,” said the Newcastle legend. “They’re really solid, they’re strong, they’re quick, they can read the game. So, those two for me closely followed by Gabriel and Saliba.”
Who really is the best partnership?
When you look simply at the goals conceded in the Premier League this season, it’s clear that Liverpool are a better side than Arsenal defensively this season.
The Gunners have already conceded 12 goals, twice as many as their title rivals.
However, when looking at the specific partnerships, things are sightly different. Konate and Van Dijk have played all but 45 minutes together, meaning they have conceded 6 goals in 945 minutes.
| Van Dijk/Konate | Saliba/Gabriel | |
| Champions League | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| Premier League | 0.57 | 0.86 |
Gabriel and Saliba have played less, featuring for 840 minutes. However, their goals conceded as a partnership is still higher, on 8.
In the Champions League the two have fared better, conceding only once in 360 minutes of football. Konate and Van Dijk have played together for 358 minutes, also conceding once.
In terms of goals scored, the Liverpool boys have the edge, with four combined in 31 games, while Arsenal have two across the same number of matches. It’s a non-contest really, the Reds come out on top.
