Zouma, Christensen or Tomori: Who Should Be Rudiger’s Centre Back Partner? We Take A Look At The Stats

There is no doubt that manager Frank Lampard is unsure about his best centre-back partnership. Due to both form and injuries, the Chelsea manager has used a number of combinations during his first season in charge at Stamford Bridge.

Out of the four options available, Antonio Rudiger has undoubtedly been the most consistent performer after recovering from his early season fitness struggles.

Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori have all been tried out with various degrees of success, but who should be Rudiger’s partner?

Press the next page as we take a look at four different statistics to compare the three centre-halves.

Aerial Ability

Out of the three, there is one clear winner here: Kurt Zouma. The Frenchman has won 68.87% of his aerial duels this season, which is even marginally above Rudiger (68.49%).

In comparison, Christensen is decidedly worse, winning 57% of his aerial challenges against opponents, while Tomori struggles in the air (50.56%).

Defensive Duels

Being in more one-on-one battles with opponents doesn’t necessarily mean you are a better defender. Sometimes it is wiser to not engage with opponents and keep your defensive line.

However, if we look at the percentage won by each defender we can see who copes better with dangerous situations. In this area, Tomori is the winner with 74.17% with Christensen (72.07%) and Zouma (66.03%) trailing. Tomori’s pace and strength certainly help him on this metric.

Successful Defensive Actions

This measures how proactive a defender is, getting involved with play and making decisions to win the ball or clearing dangerous attacks. Again, it must be emphasised that coming out on top here doesn’t necessarily make you a better player, although it does show you who is more likely to take action on the pitch.

In this area, Tomori is the winner with 9.94 defensive actions per game, with Zouma on 8.58 and Christensen on 7.82. In fact, Rudiger trails the other three for defensive actions, making 7.66 per 90.

Fouls

The metric is an interesting one. There are some instances where making fouls are necessary such as stopping a counter-attack or breaking up play in general, but in most examples, a foul is simply a poor piece of defensive play.

Here we notice a huge difference in averages. Zouma commits 1.07 fouls per 90, while Tomori, at the other end, averages just 0.54. Over the course of a 38 game season that would see Zouma committing around 40 offences to Tomori’s 20. Christensen (0.75) is between the two of them.

Taking a look at the stats then, you would have to say Tomori would be the best defender to partner Rudiger, although his poor aerial ability may be a cause for concern for Lampard.

You may also be interested in reading:

The Four Selection Questions That Lampard Will Need To Answer This Weekend
Chilwell V Tagliafico: Who Would Be A Better Signing For Chelsea? We Compare Four Key Stats
Havertz V Sancho: Who Would Be A Better Signing For Chelsea? We Compare Four Key Stats
Who Is Jesus Corona? Five Things You Need To Know About Chelsea’s Backup Option For Sancho
Jose Mourinho’s Five Worst Signings As Chelsea Manager
Jose Mourinho’s Five Best Signings As Chelsea Manager
Five Things You Need To Know About Robin Gosens As Chelsea Consider Move For Atalanta Star
Four Stats About Reece James’s Season So Far That Should Excite Chelsea Fans
Six Chelsea Goalkeeper Targets: Ranked Based On Their Save Percentage This Season
Five Stats About Billy Gilmour’s Season So Far That Should Excite Chelsea Fans
The Five Worst Chelsea Transfers Of The Premier League Era
Six Things You Need To Know About Gabriel Magalhaes As Chelsea Make Move For The Brazilian
The Top 5 Goalscorers For Chelsea In The Premier League Era
Chelsea’s Four Dream Signings That Would Instantly Transform Them Into Title Contenders
Five Chelsea Youngsters Who Could Be Next To Become First Team Stars Under Frank Lampard
Chelsea V Liverpool: The Five Most Memorable Games Between The Two Sides
4 Chelsea Stars Who Are Contenders For The Club’s Player Of The Season
The FOUR Major Issues That Chelsea’s Defeat To United Has Exposed
Six Things You Need To Know About Hakim Ziyech As Chelsea Close In On Signing The Playmaker
Abraham Misfires, Keeper Worries And CL Hopes In The Balance: 3 Things We Learned From Leicester V Chelsea
4 Things You Need To Know About Krzysztof Piatek Ahead Of Potential Deadline Day Swoop
Five Changes That Lampard Has To Make So Chelsea Can Become Title Contenders
Five Alternatives If Chelsea Opt Against Paying £50m For Lewis Dunk
Six Of Chelsea’s Worst Signings Of The Last Decade
Five Strikers That Chelsea Could Look To Target In January Window

Or

You can visit our blog home page to read more news about Chelsea here