Robert Huth and Wes Morgan lead Leicester's defence their own way
Saturday 16 April 2016 15:25, UK
Claudio Ranieri might not be keen to reveal the secrets to Leicester's success this season, but for centre-back pairing Wes Morgan and Robert Huth, it's been all about keeping it simple.
The experienced duo have been a mainstay for the table-topping Foxes this season, missing only one match between them, when Huth was suspended against Everton in December.
Their effectiveness has been highlighted in recent weeks as the Premier League leaders have kept five successive clean sheets to keep their title bid on track, but what has made them so good this season?
For starters, of the teams in the top four, they have played many more minutes together than the regular centre-back pairings at Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City.
With both players enjoying injury-free seasons and only one match missed through suspension, Huth and Morgan have seen 5850 minutes of action.
Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld had started every game for Tottenham, until Vertonghen suffered a knee injury against Crystal Palace in January that kept him out for over two months.
The Belgians have played 5115 minutes together this season, ahead of Arsenal's most regular pairing of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker (4124 minutes) and Nicolas Otamendi and Martin Demichelis (3189 minutes) for Manchester City.
Not only have Huth and Morgan got more game time, but they have done things slightly differently to their rivals.
According to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, Alderweireld, Koscielny, Otamendi and Vertonghen have all made over 1000 passes this season, while Morgan and Huth have made just 516 and 525 respectively.
Even Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has completed more passes than Morgan, despite having played 20 games less.
But it is in other areas where Morgan and Huth have excelled.
The Foxes centre-backs have both made more blocks than any defender among the top-four sides, with Morgan leading the way with 34 ahead of Huth on 31.
Alderweireld has made 26 and Koscielny (21) and Vertonghen (21) complete the top five, although the latter two have both missed several games this season.
In terms of minutes per block, Morgan and Huth average 87 and 92 respectively, well ahead of Koscielny (109), Alderweireld (114) and Gabriel Paulista (132).
The Foxes duo also rank highly when it comes to clearances - only Alderweireld (252) has made more than Huth (224) and Morgan (188) this season.
They have been effective at breaking up play too, with both making it into the top five for number of interceptions.
Arsenal's Koscielny (105) has made the most this season, ahead of Morgan (85), Otamendi (82) and Huth (71).
Next up for the Leicester duo is a home match with West Ham on Sunday, which you can watch live on Sky Sports 1 HD.
