Top 10 U23 Pressing Players - Premier League

 Pressing is one of the most exciting and fascinating forms of team defending. From Pep Guardiola to Jurgen Klopp, there have been many disciples from this school of defending. But who exactly are the players that excel behind this style, that make it so successful? In this piece we will take a look at the top 10 U23 players across the Premier League when it comes to winning possession inside 5 seconds of pressing (Successful Pressure Percentage) so far this season.

  - This data was taken from fbref.com -

 - Successful Pressure Percentage (SPP)  = ((# of Times Possession Won 5 Seconds after Pressure x 100%) / (Number of Times Applying Pressure))

 

Image from The Athletic

1. Mohammed Salisu - 22 - CB - Southampton - Ghana - 46.0% SPP

 

 

Image from mundoalbiceleste.com

  2. Alexis Mac Allister - 22 - AM - Brighton - Argentina - 44.8% SPP

 

 

Image from foxesofleicester.com

  3. Ademola Lookman - 23 - LW - Leicester City - England/Nigeria - 39.6% SPP

Image from Evening Standard

4. Declan Rice - 22 - DM - West Ham - England - 35.7% SPP

 

 

Image from Eurosport

5. Frank Onyeka - 23 - CM - Brentford - Nigeria - 35.4% SPP

 

 

Image from News18

6. Kai Havertz - 22 - AM - Chelsea - Germany - 34.8% SPP

 

 

Image from Brentford FC

 

7. Shandon Baptiste - 23 - CM - Brentford - Grenada - 34.6% SPP

 

 

Image from Transfermarkt

8. Ezri Konsa - 23 - CB - Aston Villa - England/Dem. Rep. of Congo - 34.5% SPP

 

 

Image from Birmingham Mail

9. Francisco Trincao - 21 - RW - Wolves - Portugal - 32.6% SPP

 

 

Image from Premier League

10. Harvey Barnes - 23 - LM - Leicester City - England - 32.1% SPP
 

 

 

 There we have our top 10 when it comes to SPP. Of the 10 players on this list, only 2 (Salisu and Konsa) are defenders, and in this case, center backs. With the remaining 8 players being midfielders or wide attackers. This obviously makes sense given how high and aggressively teams like to press. Another interesting observation is that only 2 pairs of players come from the same club (Onyeka and Baptiste for Brentford, Lookman and Barnes for Leicester). Looking specifically at Onyeka and Baptiste for Brentford their SPP percentages are not far off from one another (0.8% difference). These two players are definitely playing a massive role in Brentford's early season successes thus far. 

It will be interesting to see how the players and numbers for this list will evolve as the season goes on. Lastly, curiosity strikes when thinking about if one of the top 6 sides in the Premier League will look at any of these players come January or summer, to bolster their pressing prowess.