Yearender 2021: Five best defenders in Premier League

Kolkata, December 13: In football, attackers, more of then not, steal the headlines more often than not but having a strong midfield and defence is as important to be successful in the game as having good goalscoring forwards up front.

As the year winds up, we will take a look at five of the best centre-backs in the Premier League in 2021.

Thiago Silva - Chelsea

Over the years, we have seen many great footballers proving time and again that age is just a number and Thiago Silva has quite comfortably joined that list over the last few years. There were doubts regarding his ability when he joined Chelsea from PSG with his contract expiring in the summer of 2020 but the 37-year-old has shown that he still remains one of the best in the game. Silva has been a key man at the heart of the Chelsea defence especially since he reunited with his former manager at PSG Thomas Tuchel, doing more than enough to join this list.

Kurt Zouma - Chelsea/ West Ham United

Zouma spent the first half of this year at Chelsea and moved to West Ham United in the summer as the Blues decided to offload him in order to bring Jules Kounde from Sevilla. They eventually failed to land the latter and strengthened the Hammers significantly. Zouma played a significant role for Chelsea in the second half of the last season and has been excellent for West Ham this campaign playing a key role in the Hammers' strong run of form.

John Stones - Manchester City

Stones revived his Manchester City career during the 2020-21 season and played a key role in the Cityzens' title win last campaign. The former Everton star proved his doubters wrong by replacing Aymeric Laporte at the heart of the defence and also had a solid Euro 2020. This season, however, Pep Guardiola has often rotated between him and Laporte and even Dias on occasions but the 27-year-old certainly deserves to be in this list.

Antonio Rudiger - Chelsea

The arrival of Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea in January did not only change the fortunes of the club but a number of players also reaped the benefits and Rudiger is clearly the most obvious one. The German international was far from a regular under Frank Lampard but under Tuchel, he has clearly been the most impressive player at the heart of the defence. The 28-year-old is being compared to the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Ruben Dias which speaks volumes about how good he has been.

Ruben Dias - Manchester City


Manchester City signed Ruben Dias from Benfica in the summer of 2020 and what a signing he has been for the Cityzens. Dias improved the Manchester City defence immediately upon his arrival and was the leading force in their Premier League triumph last campaign. Such was his impact that he was awarded Premier League Player of the Season trophy and he has been equally impressive this season too.