Stats reveal where Manchester City target Marc Cucurella ranks alongside Virgil van Dijk, Antonio Rudiger and Marc Guehi

Cucurella, 23, joined Albion from La Liga outfit Getafe late in last summer's transfer window for £15.4m.

The former Barcelona youth player made an instant impact in Graham Potter's first team and has been a virtual ever-present since.

He has made 34 appearances and has played in a variety of positions down the left flank.

Cucurella can play at full back, wing back, left midfield and as an attacking winger.

He has also converted seamlessly to the left-side of the back three and has been a reliable presence alongside Lewis Dunk and Joel Veltman in the defence during Albion's impressive end to the season.

The Albion favourite has won possession 241 times - no full back has achieved more this season - and adds energy and guile to the left flank.

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are said to be preparing a £30m bid for the Spain international who has scored once this season during Albion's 4-0 win against Manchester United.

Using football analytics, BetVictor has uncovered the defenders who have posed opposition attackers the greatest challenge and proved themselves to be the most difficult players to get past.

To rank players, they looked at the statistical performance of every Premier League defender over three key areas which indicate how dominant they are in defensive 1v1 situations.

Here's how Brighton and Hove Albion’s Marc Cucurella rated on the best 1v1 defenders in the Premier League this season…

Virgil van Dijk - Liverpool

Number of dribblers tackled 0.43, percent of dribblers tackled 73.3, No of times dribbled past 0.12.

Fabian Schar - Newcastle

Number of dribblers tackled 0.39, percent of dribblers tackled 73.3, No of times dribbled past 0.17.

Kieran Tierney - Arsenal

Number of dribblers tackled 0.50, percent of dribblers tackled 71.4, No of times dribbled past 0.19.

Tyrick Mitchell - Crystal Palace

Number of dribblers tackled 1.32, percent of dribblers tackled 68.9, No of times dribbled past 0.58.

Dimitris Giannoulis - Norwich

Number of dribblers tackled 1.38, percent of dribblers tackled 70.4, No of times dribbled past 0.67.

Trevor Chalobah - Chelsea

Number of dribblers tackled 1.65, percent of dribblers tackled 65.5, No of times dribbled past 0.66.

Andreas Christensen - Chelsea

Number of dribblers tackled 0.79, percent of dribblers tackled 66.7, No of times dribbled past 0.30.

Antonio Rudiger - Chelsea

Number of dribblers tackled 1.15, percent of dribblers tackled 65.10, No of times dribbled past 0.47.

Gabriel - Arsenal

Number of dribblers tackled 0.69, percent of dribblers tackled 65.60, No of times dribbled past 0.34.

Joel Matip - Liverpool

Number of dribblers tackled 0.75, percent of dribblers tackled 61.50, No of times dribbled past 0.34.

Aymeric Laporte

Number of dribblers tackled 0.78, percent of dribblers tackled 60, No of times dribbled past 0.33.

Max Aarons - Norwich

Number of dribblers tackled 1.04, percent of dribblers tackled 64.9, No of times dribbled past 0.65.

Marc Guehi - Crystal Palace

Number of dribblers tackled 0.27, percent of dribblers tackled 60, No of times dribbled past 0.17.

Takehiro Tomiyasu - Arsenal

Number of dribblers tackled 0.93, percent of dribblers tackled 61.50, No of times dribbled past 0.55.

Max Kilman - Wolves

Number of dribblers tackled 0.67, percent of dribblers tackled 60.60, No of times dribbled past 0.43.

Caglar Soyuncu - Leicester

Number of dribblers tackled 0.95, percent of dribblers tackled 61, No of times dribbled past 0.58.

Nathan Ake - Man City

Number of dribblers tackled 0.62, percent of dribblers tackled 57.10, No of times dribbled past 0.29.

Marc Cucurella - Brighton

Number of dribblers tackled 1.50, percent of dribblers tackled 60.80, No of times dribbled past 0.87.

Seamus Coleman

Number of dribblers tackled 0.85, percent of dribblers tackled 61.70, No of times dribbled past 0.63.

Rayan Ait Nouri - Wolves

Number of dribblers tackled 1.40, percent of dribblers tackled 61.40, No of times dribbled past 0.88.