Manchester United Have The Best Premier League Defence This Season Ahead Of Manchester City

Manchester United have beaten fierce rivals Manchester City to have the best defence in the Premier League this season, according to stunning new research.

StatsBomb claims that while the reigning English champions' defence "looks fine," City have "0.77 xG conceded per 90 is up from last season's 0.59."

Based on the stats, it means that Pep Guardiola's men have the "second best [defence] in the league" behind the Red Devils.

StatsBomb has compiled data that does not include non-penalty xG conceded, meaning United hold the best record compared to any of the other 19 teams in the league.

Behind United and City in third place is Wolves, with Leicester City, Burnley and Sheffield United all featuring in the top six.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal came 9th, 10th and 11th respectively, with Tottenham Hotspur holding the worst record out of the top six as they featured in 18th place.

StatsBomb had an explanation for how City had fallen behind United for the best defence, saying that beneath the "surface there is some tension."

The football data and analytics company continued: "City's opponents have performed above expectation at converting their shots into dangerous chances, but Ederson has cancelled that out with some outstanding shot-stopping in goal.

"Ederson has already denied a number of golden scoring chances and it should at least be of some concern to City that their xg/shot conceded so far this season is the fifth worst in the PL at 0.12 per 90 (up from 0.09 last season, ninth best)."

United have played four league matches this season and have picked up only one win, having suffered a shock defeat to Crystal Palace and picking up draws against Wolves and Southampton.

But the Red Devils have only conceded four times in three matches so far.

United splashed out in the summer to reinforce their fragile defence, with the club signing Harry Maguire for a whopping £80m and Aaron Wan-Bissaka for £50m.

Will United finish in the top four this season?

Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Football, Manchester United, Pep Guardiola, red devils, Premier League, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Old Trafford

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

@AdnanRiaz9