Premier League Duels

17th January 2025

Who are the Premier League’s best Battlers in the middle of the park?

This Statz infographic investigates how Premier League midfielders are performing in duels during the 2024-25 season. Let’s define Premier League Duels, using our friends from Opta; two or more players from opposing teams competing physically to win or retain possession. This can be in the air or on the ground and looking into this can reveal some intriguing patterns about who’s winning battles in the middle of the park.

The graph below plots two metrics: total duels per 90 minutes (x-axis) and win percentage (y-axis). What emerges is a picture of different midfield styles, which I have grouped into distinct categories.

At the top right, we find “Duel Winning Machines” – players who not only engage in many duels but win them consistently. Elliot Anderson, who made a 35-million-pound move from Newcastle to this season’s highflyers Nottingham Forest, has massively impressed for his battling performances. He is the only central midfielder to attempt over 14 duels per game, whilst boasting an impressive 57%-win rate. Similarly, players like Onana and Caicedo demonstrate why their respective clubs invested heavily in their services, combining quantity with quality in their defensive actions.

The “Choses Duels Wisely” category on the left is particularly interesting. Despite Wolves being poor as of late, resulting in a managerial switch, two of their central midfielders, Mario Lemina and André are the only players to boast above 60%-win rates! As they both attempt a below average amount of duels, this suggests a more strategic approach, picking their moments carefully.

At the bottom left of the graph, we have “Duel Bottlers” – players who attempt fewer duels and rarely come out the winner. Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucouré stands out here, winning just 42% of his duels. The relegation threatened team’s new/old manager David Moyes will be hoping for an improvement to help them survive the drop.

This data provides valuable context for understanding midfield performances, though it’s worth remembering that duels are just one aspect of a midfielder’s overall game. Furthermore, the number of duels a player attempts can depend on the way their team plays. For example, we see Gundogan, Kovacic and Rice attempting relatively few duels perhaps due to their club’s possession-based style. Nevertheless, it offers a compelling snapshot of who’s dominating the physical battles in Premier League engine rooms.