Top 5 centre-backs in the league this season | Premier League 2019-20

#2 Jon Egan

Sheffield's innovative formation is built around Jon Egan, who acts as the rock at the back

Given how good Sheffield United have been this season, it's almost impossible to choose between the three centre-backs at the heart of Chris Wilder’s revolutionary tactical masterpiece. Their overlapping centre-back system has bamboozled several teams in the Premier League this season, which explains their lofty league position even though we’re well into the second half of the season.

Although Sheffield set up with three at the back in a 3-5-2 formation, it's only Jon Egan who plays the conventional centre-back role for the full 90. The Irishman is deployed at the centre of the back three and is the only one of the entire backline to maintain a fixed role. The central defenders flanking Egan, Jack O’Connell and Chris Basham, are given the license to bomb up the pitch when Sheffield have the ball, while the wing-backs George Baldock and Enda Stevens follow their centre-backs upfield to create overloads out wide. And if this wasn’t enough to send opposition defences into a panic, the forwards drop back to fill the vacant spaces in midfield, leaving defenders in two minds about whether they should follow their man or hold their position. Wilder has earned many plaudits for such an innovation, and a large part of his success is down to the defensive responsibilities shoulders by Egan at the heart of the defence.

The results are there for all to see - nine clean sheets thus far in the league, and 25 goals conceded, second only to Liverpool in the table. Saying that their success is down to effort alone would be too simplistic - there is a huge amount of tactical discipline and physically taxing hard work that goes into making their system look that simple. Until opposition teams figure out a way to counteract their unconventional setup, Sheffield United look set to stay in the Premier League for the foreseeable future.