Virgil van Dijk: The King Of Anfield and Beyond
Who has suffered the fewest home losses in the Premier League? The top man from the 200 with the most appearances is not van Dijk but is a Liverpool player.
When Liverpool lose at Anfield, it makes headlines. Such events are rare, particularly in recent times.
The Reds went unbeaten at home in the Premier League for almost four years at one point under Jürgen Klopp. If you exclude games played behind closed doors for the sake of argument - as home advantage was at its lowest ever ebb in those strange days - the run extended to 84 matches, two shy of four-and-a-half seasons.
For almost half a decade, a paying punter at Anfield was genuinely more likely to see an assistant referee grab Andy Robertson by the throat or Klopp running on to the field to hug Alisson Becker or a 9-0 win than they were a league defeat for Liverpool. They were as common as Joe Gomez goals for a long, long time.
No player appeared in every match of the true unbeaten home run of 68 matches. Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino came closest, on 64, with their 103 goal contributions in that period doing a lot to keep the record intact. Gini Wijnaldum was one game behind them, Sadio Mané a further three back.
It was impossible for Virgil van Dijk to appear in every game for two reasons: 1) he wasn’t at the club when the run began, and 2) Jordan Pickford. Nonetheless, the Reds’ recent loss to Nottingham Forest was only the third league defeat the Dutchman had experienced at Anfield with Liverpool (as he had one with Southampton). By helping Arne Slot’s side put three points on the board against Bournemouth last weekend, van Dijk’s record stands at just three losses from 102 home games for the club.
There is always talk about whether player X or Mr. Y is the greatest of all time, be that by position or in general. Arsenal’s strong defensive record in recent times has thrust Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba into the centre-back version of such debates. A tweet from Aurel Nazmiu showed they have been among the top pairings as measured by expected goals conceded, though van Dijk is the only man to appear on the list twice with different partners. The way Liverpool are going in 2024/25, he could add a third entry with Ibrahima Konaté.
With xG being a relatively new phenomenon - football wasn’t invented in 2014, pal - it’s not possible to compare these pairings with the greats of Premier League past by this measure. As @matt89015 asked on Twitter, though, it would be interesting to compare van Dijk’s home loss record with those of the likes of John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić and Sol Campbell.
With FBRef holding records for the entire Premier League era, we can include everyone. If you’re not losing, your defenders must be doing something right, even if results never rest on the shoulders of a single player or central defensive partnership.
For Liverpool, Harvey Elliott leads the clunkily titled ‘most home Premier League games without defeat’ standings, on 38. Nudging the sample size up by one allows Naby Keïta to lead the way on a percentage basis, with one loss from 39 matches. However, neither man averaged more than 47 minutes per appearance, undermining their claims to be among the best.
One hundred games seems a sensible sample size, which leaves us with 22 eligible players. Virgil is top, although Mané also has a hugely impressive record. A shout for Joe Gomez too, as he has the same loss rate as van Dijk, albeit from fewer, shorter appearances.
With Liverpool having a trio of players who limbo under the seven per cent home loss bar, here’s a table of them alongside rivals from Arsenal, Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs who meet that mark. I compiled the figures for Spurs but, lads, it’s Tottenham. They don’t come close. What is more surprising is that Manchester City can only offer a single player.
Hmm. There’s no sign of Campbell or Ferdinand or Terry or Vidić here. That must be a mistake, no?
Saliba (8.8 per cent) would be third in this table with his 34 matches at the Emirates, while Gabriel (17.4) is way outside. This is clearly not a solid way to measure defensive prowess, more a simple point of interest for a basic investigation. John Terry having roughly the same loss percentage at home as Trent Alexander-Arnold is mildly amusing considering their disparate reputations for defending though.
But then JT didn’t get to play with van Dijk, did he? It’s hardly a fair fight. To try to find the most loss-resistant home player in Premier League history, the bar for entry is a minimum 11,157 minutes in front of their own fans. That leaves us with 200, with this group the top 20 men.
If this ever comes up on Pointless, answer Gaël Clichy or Mikaël Silvestre. It must be an umlaut thing. Would you have guessed Salah as the top player, though? His one Chelsea loss at Stamford Bridge occurred thanks to a Terry own goal while he was sat on the bench, funnily enough.
As for van Dijk, a quarter of his sample occurred with Southampton, yet he remains in this elite group. Despite the loss to Forest, he should move up the standings (and help Salah to retain his place) over the remainder of 2024/25. Liverpool fans will be hoping the soon-to-be-out-of-contract colossus graces Anfield long beyond next May too.
As always your eye for a worthwhile stat is unparalleled! Great analysis Beez!
These kinds of stats are right up my street. Thank you.