5 BEST Full-back Partnerships in the Premier League

Modern football asks more of full-backs than ever before, and the 2025/26 Premier League season has produced a handful of pairings who have answered every question asked of them. From repurposed midfielders to converted centre-backs, here are the five partnerships currently setting the standard for width, work-rate and end-product.

1. Crystal Palace – Daniel Munoz & Tyrick Mitchell Palace’s campaign tailed off, but their full-backs never did. Munoz and Mitchell are not elite stoppers in the traditional sense, yet their engine, overlapping instincts and combined four goals and three assists have kept Selhurst Park hopeful.

2. Manchester City – Matheus Nunes & Nico O’Reilly Pep Guardiola’s boldest experiment has turned central midfielder Nunes into a right-back revelation, while academy graduate O’Reilly has flourished on the opposite flank. Between them they have five goals and nine assists, and their technical midfield roots are obvious every time they step inside to overload the middle.

3. Arsenal – Jurrien Timber & Riccardo Calafiori Arteta has taken two natural centre-backs and sculpted the league’s most defensively secure wide pairing. Timber and Calafiori rarely dive in, rarely get spun, and their comfort on the ball allows Arsenal to play through, rather than around, a press.

4. Newcastle United – Tino Livramento & Lewis Hall Injuries have interrupted the Magpies’ rhythm, but whenever the 23-year-old Livramento and 21-year-old Hall start together, Newcastle look a decade younger. Hall’s Champions League shackling of Lamine Yamal underlined their two-way value; if Newcastle retain the pair, the transfer market need not bother shopping for full-backs until the 2030s.

5. Chelsea – Reece James & Marc Cucurella James’ long-awaited run of fitness has coincided with Cucurella’s transformation into the league’s most streetwise left-back. Three goals and eight assists between them tell only half the story: James’ power and Cucurella’s game-management give Chelsea balance, bite and a genuine shot at World Cup representation next summer.