Rodri vs Fabinho vs Kante vs Rice: Stats name the PL's best defensive midfielder right now

Rodri, Fabinho, N'Golo Kante and Declan Rice are the four best defensive midfielders in the Premier League right now.

Ok, so there's room for debate there, but we feel pretty confident in saying that the likes of Douglas Luiz, Wilfred Ndidi and Pierre Emile Hojbjerg fall short of the top-table quartet as things stand.

Rodri is quietly going about his business as one of world football's most underrated players, while Rice is proving week in, week out that a move to a Champions League club is what he deserves.

Meanwhile, Kante thrust himself into Ballon d'Or contention with his 2021 performances and Fabinho seldom goes a game without consolidating his status as one of Liverpool's top performers.

So, all that considered, even if you're a little outraged to see Rice rubbing shoulders with Kante, we can surely agree with relative certainty that these four players are the best in their roles right now.

However, here at GIVEMESPORT, we didn't just want to end things there because the Premier League's winter break has allowed us to take a closer and more statistical look at the quartet.

And having already looked into the division's finest centre-backs and full-backs using Squawka’s comparison matrix, we're once again using its data to settle another hot debate in English football.

We've chosen 35 statistics that show off different qualities in central defensive midfielders and tallied up who out of Kante, Rodri, Fabinho and Rice comes out on top in the greatest number of metrics.

The statistics in question are:

Data is taken from Premier League games this season and we ran the test through the 'per 90 minutes’ filter to ensure that players didn't get an easier ride if they had amassed more minutes.

So, without further ado, be