Micah Richards and Alan Shearer disagree over who is best out of Liverpool and Arsenal defensive duos

Micah Richards and Alan Shearer both disagreed over whether Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are the best defensive duo in the Premier League.

Having been key to their early-season success, the centre-back pairing have been consistent and ruthless, helping the side to concede a league-lowest six goals. With Konate replacing Jarell Quansah at half-time in the first game of the season against Ipswich Town, Arne Slot hasn’t looked back and Konate and Van Dijk look as good as they ever together.

In comparison to the rest of the league, we’ve seen the likes of Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic at Nottingham Forest, Gabriel and William Saliba at Arsenal, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven and Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake/John Stones/Manuel Akanji of Manchester City all form brilliant defensive units, but the Arsenal duo have been hailed across the past few years as the best pairing. It is a debate that saw Richards and Shearer disagree.

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, one of the fan questions revolved around who the best centre-back pairing is in the Premier League, with Richards, Lineker and Shearer all giving their view. “I would say Saliba and Gabriel,” said Richards when asked who the best centre-back pairing in the league were.

“They’ve been doing it for a seasons now, I think Konate has been in and out, with Matip, Quansah and then Gomez so, in terms of consistency, I’d go with Arsenal. But in the future, if they carry on the way they are, then it could be them.”

Shearer then claimed the Liverpool duo have been ‘immense’ and deserve the title of the best. He claimed: “We keep on mentioning the midfielders and the strikers but those two are a major part of what Liverpool are doing. They are really solid, quick, strong and they can read the game. Those two are first, closely followed by Gabriel and Saliba.”

Not only do Liverpool have the most clean sheets, they have lowest expected goals against, with Nottingham Forest sat in second and Arsenal third. On top of that, Konate has the best duel success rate in the league with 73.4% and Van Dijk has been rated as the best defender in the league by WhoScored - it is a partnership that is flourishing and their form could carry Liverpool far this season.