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#3 James Tarkowski (437)
The Premier League has some fine English defenders and James Tarkowski is surely one of them. Playing for Burnley, the 29-year-old is one of the most consistent defenders in the league.
Tarkowski has played a major role in helping the Clarets stay away from relegation since their promotion in the 2016-17 season. His reading of the game and anticipation has been top notch and has come of great use to manager Sean Dyche.
Tarkowski won the third-most number of aerial duels (184) last season and currently ranks third too in that department with 117. In total, the Englishman has won 437 duels since last season.
#2 Adama Traore (459)
The Spaniard is currently on loan at Barcelona from Wolverhampton Wanderers and has been quite impressive with them. He already has four assists to his name across all competitions with the Catalan club.
Adama Traore, with his blistering pace and quick footwork, has been difficult to contain. His time at Wolves saw him beat past players with utter ease, but the only part he struggled with was his productivity in the final third. He scored just 11 goals and made 18 assists in 154 appearances for Wolves in all competitions.
Nevertheless, Traore was quite successful in winning off most duels. He has won 459 duels in the league since the 2020-21 season and drew the second-most fouls (104) last season.
#1 Tomas Soucek (529)
Since arriving from Slavia Prague in the 2019-20 season, Tomas Soucek has slowly become a very important player for West Ham United. Playing alongside Declan Rice in midfield, the Czech Republic midfielder is involved in both the attacking and defensive part of the game.
With his ball-winning abilities, Soucek is a difficult player to beat. His height allows him to strongly challenge in the air and is quite an asset during set-pieces. While he's often guilty of committing fouls, the West Ham midfielder gets the job done for manager David Moyes.
Last season, Soucek won the ball the most number of times (228) in the league. Since last season, he has won 529 duels and helped win possession for the Hammers.
