Premier League Player Comparisons 2025/26: Stats, Roles & Tactical Impact
The Premier League is defined by fine margins, tactical detail, and elite individual quality. At Big Game Big Player, we specialise in in-depth Premier League player comparisons, breaking down performances beyond surface-level numbers.
This page brings together our most detailed player vs player comparisons, position-based rankings, and tactical analysis from the 2025/26 Premier League season. Every comparison is grounded in real match output — minutes played, availability, goals, assists, expected metrics, defensive contribution, and positional responsibility within different systems.
Rather than debating players based on reputation or highlight moments, we focus on on-pitch impact. How does a winger influence build-up play? Which midfielders control tempo and space? Who delivers consistently in high-pressure games? These are the questions our comparisons aim to answer.
Whether you are analysing the league’s best right wingers, debating elite midfield profiles, or comparing emerging stars against established names, this hub is designed to provide clear, objective Premier League analysis throughout the 2025/26 season.
How We Compare Premier League Players
How We Compare Premier League Players
METHODOLOGY
All player comparisons on Big Game Big Player follow a consistent analytical framework to ensure fairness, clarity, and context.
Availability & Minutes Played Consistency matters. Players are assessed on availability, minutes played, and durability across competitions, not isolated performances.
Attacking Output Goals, assists, expected goals (xG), expected assists (xA), shot quality, chance creation, and contribution in advanced areas are evaluated relative to position and role.
Defensive Contribution Pressing intensity, duels, recoveries, interceptions, and defensive positioning are considered, particularly for midfielders and full-backs.
Tactical Role & System Fit Numbers never exist in isolation. We analyse how a player functions within their team’s structure — build-up involvement, off-ball movement, positional discipline, and adaptability across systems.
Big-Game & Contextual Impact Performances in high-pressure fixtures, against elite opposition, and within decisive moments are weighed heavily when forming final judgments.
This approach allows us to move beyond opinions and narratives, producing balanced, evidence-based Premier League player comparisons across the 2025/26 season.
Player vs Player Comparisons
Player vs player analysis sits at the core of Premier League debate. These comparisons focus on direct positional rivals, breaking down strengths, weaknesses, and overall influence within the same tactical and competitive context.
Each comparison evaluates players across availability, attacking and defensive contribution, positional discipline, and overall match impact. Rather than ranking on reputation alone, the aim is to identify which player delivers greater on-pitch value over the course of the 2025/26 Premier League season.
The Best Right Back In The EPL 2025-2026
For much of the 2025/26 Premier League season, the debate over the league’s best right-back has centred on Chelsea’s Reece James and Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber.
While Timber started the campaign strongly, outperforming both Reece James and Tottenham Hotspur’s Pedro Porro in the early months, the balance has shifted as the season has progressed.
Recent performances and underlying data now suggest that Reece James has overtaken Timber, emerging as the more influential and complete right-back at this stage of the season.
This is a detailed comparison of which Premier League club made the smartest striker signing, analysing Arsenal’s Viktor Gyökeres, Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitiké, and Manchester United’s Benjamin Šeško.
By comparing goal output, efficiency, involvement, and tactical impact, this breakdown reveals who has had the strongest start to life in the Premier League and which signing is delivering the greatest value so far this season.
We previously compared Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike and Manchester United’s Benjamin Sesko, examining their performances during their final Bundesliga seasons before moving to the Premier League. The data indicates that Ekitike outperformed Sesko in Germany, though Sesko has shown promising form for Manchester United so far.
According to the 2024–25 and 2023-24 Bundesliga statistics, Ekitike consistently lived up to expectations during his time at Eintracht Frankfurt, while Sesko’s performance at RB Leipzig was solid but slightly less impressive by comparison. See link below.
Playing for Manchester United is never easy, especially for a young striker, given the high expectations and scrutiny that come with representing one of the world’s biggest clubs.
Despite this, Benjamin Sesko has impressed immensely. As the stats clearly demonstrate, he has more than earned the trust to play regularly as Manchester United’s number 9, and deserves extended minutes leading the line.
This is an older but detailed comparison of Mohamed Salah, Bukayo Saka, Mohammed Kudus, Phil Foden, Amad Diallo, and Bryan Mbeumo, analysing their output, roles, and overall impact across the Premier League season.
Arsenal handed Eberechi Eze the iconic number 10 shirt after his move from Crystal Palace, immediately raising the question of hierarchy in midfield.
Between Eze and captain Martin Ødegaard, who truly deserves to start as Arsenal’s primary creator? A close look at the underlying numbers suggests Eze has been the more effective playmaker between the two.
Eberechi Eze vs Martin Ødegaard: Premier League Playmaker Comparison (2025/26)
Even when analysing the 2024–25 season, the data already pointed in Eze’s favour. During his time at Crystal Palace, Eberechi Eze consistently emerged as the more reactive and dynamic influence compared to Martin Ødegaard, as highlighted by the underlying metrics. The evidence can be seen in the link below.
However, the latest comparison data paints a different picture. When measured against the other newly recruited number 10s at elite Premier League clubs—Tottenham Hotspur’s Xavi Simons, Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki, and Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz—Eberechi Eze currently comes out as the least influential overall.
Each of those players has been far more involved in Premier League matches, consistently imposing themselves on games to a greater extent than Eze. This likely explains why Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta recently stated that he expects more from Eze—this is precisely the gap he appears to be referencing.
How do the statistics of Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch, Sunderland’s Granit Xhaka, Arsenal’s Martin Zubimendi, Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans, Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, and Manchester City’s Rodri compare?
Earlier in the 2025–26 season, Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo was the standout defensive midfielder, though his form appears to have dipped slightly in recent games. See link below..
After more than 20 games in the Premier League, Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk continues to stand out as the league’s best central defender. Check out the stats below.
It comes as no surprise that Virgil van Dijk outperformed William Saliba defensively, as the 2024–2025 season statistics clearly show the Liverpool captain edging the Arsenal defender. See the link below for detailed data.
