Ranking each Premier League team's most important player during build-up play in 2019-20 using data analytics: Part 2

#9 Leicester City – Ben Chilwell: xGBuildup Per 90: 0.341

Leicester City v AFC Bournemouth - Premier League

Leicester City haven’t paid a dime in transfer fees to secure a left-back since the season they got promoted to the PL. If signing Christian Fuchs on a free wouldn’t have turned out to be the coup it was billed to be, they could turn to the budding left-back waiting in the wings.

Fresh from winning the Academy Player of the Year award at the end of the 2014-15 season, Ben Chilwell was made a part of the first team roster in Leicester’s title-winning season and has never looked back since. He has become a vital part of Leicester’s back 4 since the time he was asked to deputize for the veteran Austrian full-back.

Only 3 other Leicester City players have more assists than Chilwell’s 9 since the start of the 2017/18 season. Only 5 other PL defenders have more assists than he has in that period.

Unsurprisingly, Chilwell has been strongly linked to many of the traditional Big 6 clubs. Being touted to take over from César Azpilicueta won’t be easy at all, but one thing he can match the Spanish full-back for is his perennial presence in the playing 11.

Chilwell started 36 out of the 38 games last season, playing 3240 minutes. Only 13 other outfield (Azpilicueta was, of course, one of them) players played more minutes than him. An interesting thing that stood out is that Chilwell is the youngest player in the Top 25 outfield players who played the most minutes last season (he’s only 23 years old!).

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#10 Liverpool – Andrew Robertson: xGBuildup Per 90: 0.478

Andrew Robertson and Van Dijk celebrate a goal.

Do you want to hear something that will blow your mind? 2888 players have played in the top 5 leagues since the start of the 2018/19 season. That’s not the shocking part. What’s shocking is that only 6 out of the 2888 players have more assists than Robertson during that time.

Only 1 other defender, in the top 5 leagues, has more assists than him during that period. It is 21-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold (who has more assists than Messi over those games, just by the way). The PL defender that comes in third, in this list, is Ricardo Periera with 7 assists, a return that is respectable but pales in comparison to that of the Liverpool defenders.

If you think this is just good form, check this out. Only 5 other PL players have provided more passes into the penalty area than Robertson has (excluding set pieces). That’s more than the likes of Mane, Sterling, Aubameyang, and Alex Iwobi. Oh, and in case you forgot, each of them was bought for at least 4 times what he was bought for (only 4 defenders occupy spots in the Top 30 for passes into the penalty area, Robertson is one of them).

This is the end of Part 2 of this 4 part series. To reiterate why recognising the unsung heroes of teams is long overdue, here is what Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step on the moon had said when he was asked how it felt to be called the second man on the moon.

“But after years and years of being asked to speak to a group of people and then be introduced as the second man on the moon, it does get a little frustrating. Is it really necessary to point out to the crowd that somebody else was first when we all went through the same training, we all landed at the same time and all contributed? But for the rest of my life I'll always be identified as the second man to walk on the moon.”

Stat source(s): www.understat.com, https://fbref.com/en/

ICYMI: Ranking each Premier League team's most important player during build-up play in 2019-20 using data analytics: Part 1