[Source: BBC Sport]

It’s the end of an era for Liverpool.

With Trent Alexander-Arnold joining Real Madrid and new signing Milos Kerkez placing Andy Robertson’s spot in danger, one of the Premier League’s great full-back combinations is over.

Summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen Jeremie Frimpong is likely to start at right-back next season, opposite Kerkez, with Robertson being heavily linked with a move away from Anfield.

But Liverpool’s new-look full-back pairing will have to do very well to make a fraction of the impact Alexander-Arnold and Robertson have had.

Alexander-Arnold and Robertson played together on 279 occasions – an average of 35 games a season in all competitions in their eight seasons together.

And each of them only played more games with Mohamed Salah.

Robertson joined from Hull City for £8m in 2017-18 with Alexander-Arnold, an academy product, having made his debut the season before.

They won 185 of those 279 games, losing 43 times.

The two full-backs played attacking roles in former boss Jurgen Klopp’s high-energy football – and had a hand in nearly unprecedented numbers of goals.

In isolation their assist hauls would be remarkable but the fact they were both doing it at the same time is even more amazing.

In March 2019 Alexander-Arnold told the BBC: “We both thrive off each other’s performances.

“We have got a competition between ourselves this season to see who gets more goals and assists. It’s a healthy competition.”

Only on 10 occasions in Premier League history has a defender created 10 or more goals in a Premier League season – and Alexander-Arnold and Robertson have each done it three times.

In 2019-20 they assisted 25 goals between them.

They are the top two assisting Premier League defenders ever – with 64 for Alexander-Arnold and 60 for Robertson.

They are some way clear, with Leighton Baines (53) and Graeme le Saux (44) the only others to set up more than 40.

In all positions, only ex-Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, Reds team-mate Salah and Tottenham forward Son Heung-min assisted more goals since the full-backs linked up in 2017-18.

They feature second and third on the list of most chances created by Premier League defenders (since Opta started to record that data in 2003-04).

Alexander-Arnold created 516 chances, with 446 for Robertson – both featuring in the top 10 in all positions since 2017-18.

The now-retired Baines tops that list for defenders with 635 chances created.

But Baines played 420 games in the English top flight for Wigan and Everton over 14 years – Robertson has played 308, including his time at Hull, and Alexander-Arnold 251.

And it is not just the assists, the pair were undroppable players in the most successful Liverpool team since the 1980s.

As well as a 66% win rate together, they won two Premier League titles, plus the Champions League, the FA Cup and two League Cups.

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