I’m not sure how much the American football saying “defense wins championships” holds true in world football, but it seems pretty appropriate when you look at the difference between teams that were and were not successful in the title races last season.
For example, Napoli won Serie A against the odds over one of the best striker tandems in European football in Inter Milan with only Romelu Lukaku as a true standout forward. And they did so because they were so organized defensively and structurally under Antonio Conte.
In the Premier League, Manchester City fell out of the Premier League title race entirely because their defense was no longer a stalwart engine, as they clearly suffered from Rodri’s torn ACL. Liverpool and Arsenal, meanwhile, had the best defenses in the league.
So with the 2025/26 Premier League season underway, how do all the Big 6 clubs measure up against each other defensively? Here’s a ranking of each team, in order.
6. Manchester United
Manchester United should be beating Grimsby Town regardless of who the manager is. They surrendered two goals and lost on penalties in the Second Round of the League Cup, which is a new low for the Red Devils.
On paper, Manchester United should have a good defense. Leny Yoro was one of Europe’s best as a teenager with Lille, Noussair Mazraoui was an inspired summer addition last year, Matthijs de Ligt used to be what Yoro is (except even better), and Harry Maguire has redeemed himself after being an utter meme.
But as a unit, the Manchester United defense is woeful. They don’t gel well together, and they are a disorganized mess under Ruben Amorim, whose 3-4-3 system isn’t really working for anybody.
Beyond that, it’s awfully hard to compete at the highest level of football when your goalkeeper situation is as bad as it is. Andre Onana is very much not the solution, owing to his wildly inconsistent play, and Amorim’s chosen starter Altay Bayindir is even worse. ESPN pundit Craig Burley lit into the 27-year-old Bayindir’s hapless flapping at crosses, and he’s every bit right to say that Manchester United can’t pray to stack wins with him in goal.
5. Chelsea
Chelsea star center back Levi Colwill tore his ACL in training three weeks ago, and while Chelsea have the league’s best midfield anchor between Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, they now have an awful lot of questions at the back without their literal best defender available.
I could split hairs with Chelsea and Manchester City between four and five, but Chelsea take a seat behind their more accomplished title rivals because of their lack of a proven center back right now.
Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Wesley Fofana, and even Trevoh Chalobah all have their positives and are well above-average Premier League starting center backs on their day, but when exactly has that day been and how often do we see them playing at that level?
The answer is rarely. Young Jorrel Hato can be part of the solution, too, but as it stands right now, Tosin is the most consistent center back from the 2024/25 campaign, and that isn’t quite good enough for a team seeking to win their first Premier League title since 2017.
4. Manchester City
Manchester City aren’t actually far off from being in the title picture when looking at the standings and the key attacking signings they made this past summer, but for the first time in seemingly forever, they are far from the title favorites.
Liverpool have lapped Manchester City, and the decline in the Citizens defending is a huge part of that. When Man City were the best team in the world and won the treble in 2022/23, they did so with a dominant defense behind them.
That seems like a far cry now. Manuel Akanaji’s impending exit to Turkey or Italy could really weaken City from a depth perspective and push them even closer to Chelsea in that department, but, as it stands, the Sky Blues have two things going for them.
The first is the pairing of Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias, who seem almost the perfect mix of youthful explosive athleticism and veteran Premier League Player of the Season-winning guile. The second is that Manchester City actually upgraded their goalkeeper situation, unlike the two teams behind them in this list.
It’s hard to count Manchester City out when they’ve been such a fixture in the Premier League title race over the years with a strong defense behind them, but ust like the midfield became an aging liability last season, you have to wonder if Man City should really be doing more to be proactive at reenforcing their back line.
3. Liverpool
There’s a clear demarcation in quality between the top three and bottom three teams defensively in the Big 6, and, honestly, it feels harsh to rank defending champions Liverpool so low at three. But that speaks to the overall defensive quality among the elite of English football.
Liverpool have the best center back in the Premier League, with all due respect to North London stalwarts Cristian Romero and William Saliba, because this is Virgil van Dijk’s league until proven otherwise.
And Van Dijk, as much as the trolls would love to write him off, hasn’t proved otherwise. The Dutchman is better than anyone else at doing more with less movement, always composed and flawless with his passing.
Ibrahima Konate may seem worryingly checked out to Real Madrid at times, as was the case with summer free agent departure Trent Alexander-Arnold, but that pairing of Van Dijk and Konate is still class.
Alisson Becker behind them is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League and easily one of the four best in Europe alongside Yann Sommer, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Thibaut Courtois over in Madrid.
New starting fullback pairing Milos Kerkez and Conor Bradley is, if anything, an upgrade on what TAA and Andrew Robertson were doing in disappointing defensive seasons, and pending Konate’s mental whereabouts in a contract year, you could even argue that Liverpool are stronger defensively.
2. Tottenham
Tottenham, though, are stronger yet. Thomas Frank coming into the fore has made Spurs much more organized tactically and better equipped to compete with the true big boys in the Premier League for a place in the top five this season.
Frank has already pitched back-to-back shutouts against Burnley and Manchester City, utilizing young Pape Sarr and returning Premier League No. 6 Joao Palhinha to brilliant effect
But the real heroes of this Tottenham defense are Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, as they are the strength of this Tottenham team and the bedrock behind their breaking of a 41-year European championship drought.
Romero and Van de Ven are brilliant athletes who leave it all on the field for the Lilywhites, and they are only just entering their primes together. And third center back Kevin Danso is great, too, more than good enough to start for over half of the teams in the Premier League.
1. Arsenal
It would be dishonest, however, to claim that Arsenal are not the best defense in the Premier League, buoyed by Mikel Arteta’s almost risk-averse playing style that gives the defense an even stronger bearing to clamp down on opposition attacks.
Arsenal can frustrate the best attacks in European football and make them look totally normal, which was entirely the case last season in the Champions League quarterfinals when they manhandled Real Madrid.
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba are almost the perfect stylistic combination of strength, smarts, speed, and ball-playing ability at the center back position, and for the mere price of 15 million euros, Arsenal added another gem of the future this summer, too, in Cristhian Mosquera to go with 2024 Bologna signing Riccardo Calafiori.
Ben White and Myles Lewis-Skelly fill out the rest of a young, hungry, and now experienced Arsenal back line that is well-led by goalkeeper David Raya, who is right up next to Alisson as the finest shot-stopper in the Premier League.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2011. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has contributed to sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. Joe’s work has appeared in ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling, respectively.