Micah Richards has said that Liverpool boast ‘one of the Premier League greats’ in their current squad.
The Reds extended their lead at the top of the table to eight points on Sunday after a 5-0 trouncing of West Ham in a performance which left Irons manager Julen Lopetegui proclaiming that he’d just come up against ‘the best team in the world’ right now.
The five goals each came from different players, but the ex-Manchester City defender singled out someone who didn’t get his name on the scoresheet at the London Stadium yesterday.
Richards was blown away by the ‘effortless’ display from Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk against the east Londoners and implored the club to tie down the 33-year-old to a new contract as swiftly as possible.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football, the pundit gushed: “We’ve talked about Trent and we’ve talked about Salah but Van Dijk – oh my word, what a player he is! Yes, he’s good on the ball, he’s tall and he’s strong, but he’s effortless in everything that he does. If you watch his positioning, he’s always in the right position.
“He’s one of the Premier League greats. We’re talking top-line defender…when to step out, when to drop off, when to engage – he’s got everything. His contract situation needs sorting out, but I think it will be. Just watching him in every game, he’s a delight to watch. He really is.”
Seven years on from joining Liverpool, such brilliance from Van Dijk has become par for the course, and yesterday was yet another commanding performance from the skipper.
As per Sofascore, the Reds’ number 4 won all seven of his duels against West Ham, completed 93% of his passes and 100% of his dribbles, had two shots (one on target) and made three clearances, while he lost the ball just four times from 72 touches.
Admittedly the Irons didn’t ask too many questions of the league leaders, but the Dutchman dealt impeccably with whatever the home side threw at their opponents, with Jarell Quansah blessed to have such an assured presence alongside him after coming on for the injured Joe Gomez in the first half.
It was a performance in keeping with the standards that Van Dijk has set throughout the season. As per WhoScored, only six players in the Premier League can better his average of 3.1 aerial duels won per game, while just five exceed his interceptions rate of 1.8 per match.
According to Chris Bascombe for The Telegraph, Liverpool are reportedly ‘in constant talks’ with Van Dijk about extending his contract, which is currently set to expire in six months’ time. Let’s hope that saga has a happy ending so that the Reds’ defence will continue to be in safe hands with the imperious captain at the heart of it.
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