I don't know if we're taking him for granted a little bit. Many doubted how soon he would be able to hit the top levels after the injury or whether he will get there at all. But at least in this game his performance was on par with the best Van Dijk performances I can remember. Razor-sharp decision making, good kind of arrogance, physical domination, concentration from first second to the last. He was caught the wrong side of Daka in the first few minutes and managed to catch up to him in a flash, executing a perfectly timed little "shove" to gently push him off the ball without committing a foul – borderline in terms of rules of the game, but so effective when done right. In the 2nd half there was a moment when Iheanacho (I think) was sent through even though it looked like offside – Van Dijk put on the turbo mode and got between him and the goal by the time the ref's whistle blew. And then of course his movement for the first goal – Ndidi thought he had him and the next moment he was gone, planting his head on a ball with conviction. And Virgil even bailed otherwise imperious Joel on a couple of occasions when Kaiser had a brainfart.
To someone not paying attention, it might have seemed like a straightforward game, but this was only because our defensive 6 made it look that way and snuffed out almost all the fires before they started and Van Dijk was squarely at the heart of it. I don't think the overall standard of defending in the Premier League is all that high at the moment; certainly there are plenty of mediocre and overrated defenders around – so it's great to see amid all that a real master at work and to see that he's on our team.
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