Virgil van Dijk is the best centre-back in the world.

The Dutchman has been incredible since joining Liverpool for £75m in January 2018.

He has been brilliant once again this season and has played a pivotal role as Liverpool look almost certain to win their first Premier League title.

But has he been the best centre-back in the league this season?

We've decided to rank every defender in the Premier League based on stats recorded by WhoScored.com.

Players who have played less than 300 minutes of Premier League football this season have been omitted.

61 players have been ranked and you can view the list below...

61. Maya Yoshida - 6.12

60. Adrian Mariappa - 6.26

59. Jack Stephens - 6.47

58. Conor Coady - 6.47

57. Ben Godfrey - 6.51

56. Ryan Bennett - 6.52

55. Jan Bednarek - 6.54

54. Issa Diop - 6.56

53. Craig Cathcart - 6.59

52. Craig Dawson - 6.59

51. Victor Lindelof - 6.61

Statistically, the worst defender in the Premier League this season has been Southampton's Yoshida - and by quite a distance.

One of his six starts this season came in a 9-0 drubbing by Leicester, so it's not surprising to see him rated so low.

Coady is Wolves' captain but he clearly hasn't performed at a very high level this season at all.

Manchester United have struggled massively in defence and Lindelof's rating reflects that.

50. Gary Cahill - 6.62

49. Ezri Konsa - 6.62

48. Mason Holgate - 6.62

47. Fabian Balbuena - 6.64

46. Andreas Christensen - 6.65

45. Tyrone Mings - 6.65

44. Chris Mepham - 6.66

43. David Luiz - 6.68

42. John Stones - 6.69

41. Christoph Zimmermann - 6.70

Mings was rewarded with a call-up to the England squad this season but the statistics don't point to him having a great season.

Arsenal's purchase of Luiz has been a disaster. It's fair to say they were hoping he would be better than the 43rd best defender in the league.

Stones was tipped for big things as a youngster but he is finding minutes hard to come by in Man City's defence.

40. Shane Duffy - 6.70

39. Michael Keane - 6.70

38. Bjorn Engels - 6.70

37. Davinson Sanchez - 6.70

36. Sokratis - 6.71

35. Jamaal Lascelles - 6.72

34. Scott Dann - 6.72

33. Yerry Mina - 6.76

32. Jannik Vestergaard - 6.76

31. Adam Webster - 6.78

Sokratis has been marginally better than Luiz this season but in truth both have been very poor.

Dann, Vestergaard and Webster are just a few names that have had better seasons than him.

30. Nicolas Otamendi - 6.78

29. James Tomkins - 6.79

28. Nathan Ake - 6.79

27. Ben Mee - 6.83

26. Toby Alderweireld - 6.84

25. Martin Kelly - 6.87

24. Lewis Dunk - 6.87

23. Chris Basham - 6.91

22. Fabian Schar - 6.92

21. Harry Maguire - 6.92

Otamendi has proven again this season he's simply too rash to be playing for a team like Man City.

The big name that stands out in this block is Maguire.

Man United broke the world-record for a defensive player this season when they splashed out £80m for him.

While he has been decent, United's woes in defence has definitely hurt his rating a little. He's played every minute this season and his side have only kept two clean sheets.

20. John Egan - 6.94

19. Fernandinho - 6.94

18. Angello Ogbonna - 6.95

17. Jack O'Connell - 6.96

16. Dan Burn - 6.98

15. Ciaran Clark - 6.98

14. Kurt Zouma - 6.98

13. Fikayo Tomori - 6.99

12. Federico Fernandez - 7.01

11. Aymeric Laporte - 7.03

Fernandinho is playing out of position at centre-back but the stats think he has still been better than Maguire this season.

Tomori is having a fine debut in the Premier League this season and has made the step-up from the Championship look seamless.

Laporte played the first four games of the season and Man City have not looked the same without him.

10. Jonny Evans - 7.04

9. Christian Kabasele - 7.05

8. Jan Vertonghen - 7.08

7. Steve Cook - 7.09

6. James Tarkowski - 7.13

5. Dejan Lovren - 7.22

4. Çaglar Söyüncü - 7.22

3. Wily Boly - 7.35

2. Virgil van Dijk - 7.39

1. Joel Matip - 7.52

Kabasele has missed much of the season but Watford have conceded just eight goals in his nine appearances. 

Cook is also a surprising name on the list. Bournemouth don't have the best defence but they would clearly be better off without the defender.

Liverpool have three of their centre-backs in the top five.

But Van Dijk isn't the highest rated defender in the league. That honour instead goes to Matip, who was sensational to start the season.

The Cameroonian has missed the last few months with injury but just pips his teammate to top spot.

We still think he has a very, very long way if he wants to be considered better than his defensive partner though...