Waching daily Dec 28 2018

 Since arriving at Liverpool almost a year to the day Virgil van Dijk - to put it mildly - has been sensational

 The Dutch international has repeatedly shown his power, pace and wonderful ability to both lead and defend while bringing an air of total calmness to the game and those around him

 You could eulogise all day about the qualities the centre-back possesses but in short he is world-class

 To show just how good he has been you only need to consider that last season Van Dijk arrived at Anfield when the Reds were conceding far too many goals

 By the end of the 2017/18 campaign they had actually shipped 38 goals - more than anyone else in the top four

This year, by total contrast, at the midway point Jurgen Klopp's side are the proud owners of the best defensive record in Europe having only conceded seven with another clean sheet coming against Newcastle on Boxing Day

 The difference is startling and plain to see but Van Dijk's performances go way beyond shoring up Liverpool's defence

 The imperious Dutch star has completed 1,235 passes this season to place him first in Liverpool's side for that metric and more than 300 ahead of second-placed Andy Robertson

 Van Dijk has also successfully played the most backwards passes (596), sideways passes (507) and the most completed long balls (92) out of any of his team-mates

He has made almost 40 more successful long balls than any other outfield player.  Sure enough that looks impressive to say the least but where Van Dijk really comes into his own is when duelling with other players

 He's been involved in the most duels this season (113) with the nearest competitor Sadio Mane having competed in 83 - duels include everything involving a player and an opponent from tackles and headed battles to offsides, take ons and dribbles

 Of those duels the £75million centre-back has won 78 aerial duels - 42 more than any other player and amounting to on average 5

3 per 90 minutes.  There then comes a category where players are ranked and statistics are recorded called 'defensive actions' and you can only imagine how well Van Dijk ranks here

 Firstly he's made 23 interceptions so far this year, he's also blocked 11 shots and cleared the ball 96 times to double anyone else's efforts in that area

As you may be able to imagine, no other player has managed to get anywhere near that amount of interceptions either

 There is also the fact he is judged to have made a total of ZERO defensive errors this year - though to be fair to the Liverpool players only five have made any defensive error and that has counted to the fact they're sitting on top of the Premier League having only conceded seven goals in 19 games

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now  Of course statistics never tell the full story but to be honest if to be that good on so many levels is simply incredible

 Also look at those and combine the numbers with how he influences a game and plays for the Reds then they just look even better

 Liverpool welcome Arsenal to Anfield on December 29 before a visit to the Etihad on January 3 to play Manchester City and Van Dijk will be unquestionably as vital as ever

 *Statistics compiled from Squawka and WhoScored?. Read more Liverpool stories