When Neil Warnock said Sol Bamba was a better defender than Liverpool's Virgil Van Dijk, the majority of the football world scoffed.

Even the Cardiff City boss himself recently admitted he "must have had a few drinks" when making the comment — that went viral in December 2017 when Van Dijk moved from Southampton to Anfield for £75million.

Van Dijk came out on top when the pair finally met last month, Liverpool beating the Bluebirds 4-1.

(Image: 2018 Getty Images)

But a scan over the official Premier League stats for the season so far, suggests Warnock might have had a point after all.

Bamba is ahead of his Dutch counterpart in almost every respect.

Goals? He has two to Van Dijk's nought.

Shots on and off target? The Cardiff star has had more.

Even defensively, Bamba is recording better statistics than Van Dijk, having made 11 blocks, 26 interceptions, 16 successful tackles, 77 clearances and won 50 aerial battles — more than Van Dijk in each category.

And while Liverpool fans may rightly indicate those figures are slanted by the fact Bamba's Cardiff spend a lot more time defending than Jurgen Klopp's side, they have caused plenty of amusement on social media.

"Van Dijk's got better attributes on the ball but I don't think he's a better defender than Sol Bamba," was Warnock's famous comment.

"I think Van Dijk's is more confident on the ball and easier on the eye but I don't think he's better defensively."

Maybe the Cardiff boss was right after all?