Picking 4 Unsung Heroes of the Premier League Season so Far

As we transition back into Premier League football following the last international break until March 2016, even casual fans are patently aware of the dominant storylines coursing through the sport.

Jamie Vardy is on the verge of equalling Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record; Mesut Ozil is on fire, leading the league with 10 assists; the title race looks to be between Manchester City and Arsenal; and Tottenham Hotspur might just be the most upwardly mobile club in Europe.

But there are storylines worth looking at that frequently fly under the radar—largely because they involve those who don’t play for the top six or seven clubs or because such players haven’t recently been called up for a national debut.

As the country fawns over Dele Alli’s magnificent England breakthrough, we turn our attention to some Premier League performers who deserve a little more adulation on the whole.

Virgil van Dijk, CB, Southampton

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It’s difficult to be anything other than downright amazed by the impact Virgil van Dijk has had in the Premier League so far. He stands testament to Southampton’s success in plucking off Celtic’s creme de la creme and putting it to work in England’s top tier.

There have been a couple of hairy moments over the last few months—Anthony Martial destroyed him with an exquisite turn in Manchester United’s 3-2 win at St Mary’s Stadium, and an average Czech Republic side taught him a lesson in a key UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier weeks later—but on the whole, he’s been absolutely fantastic.

A hulking, 6’4” figure lends itself perfectly to the Premier League’s battling nature, and his awesome leap allows him to tower over opposing markers when the ball is in the air. Liverpool, Sunderland and Chelsea all boast veritable monsters in their defensive line themselves, but they’ve struggled mightily to keep a lid on Van Dijk.

He will repel pretty much anything that’s hoisted upward, and the final 10 minutes of Southamton’s win over Sunderland proved he can, if required, be something of a one-man clearing machine. When teams get desperate and play long against the Saints, Van Dijk heads everything clear with ease.

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The other eye-popping aspect of his game is his ability to track runs into the box and block key passes and crosses. When teams try to play through Saints and release runners into tight spaces, Van Dijk always gets across to meet them, suffocating them of space.

When Martial produced his remarkable turn-and-goal in September, Van Dijk had matched his darting run and was in a position to block. The subsequent ankle-breaking shift and finish produced by a rather special young Frenchman would have fooled anyone; it’s no damning indictment on Van Dijk.

When playing out from the back, he is typically composed and has developed a Gerard Pique-esque habit of venturing forward and breaking between the lines. When he pushes on, he forces an opposing midfielder to come and close him off, releasing a team-mate from a tight-marking structure and allowing them to free themselves up for the pass. It’s a rather deadly, underrated tool in build-up play—just like Van Dijk is on the whole.

Bacary Sagna, RB, Manchester City

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While Matteo Darmian has fizzled out, Kyle Walker has been busy overcoming a slow start and Nathaniel Clyne has flashed excellence, Bacary Sagna has simply got on with his job. He’s a no-nonsense, exceptionally consistent outlet and, categorically, has been the best right-back in the Premier League this season. No one else has really come close.

With Pablo Zabaleta returning late from the Copa America 2015 and carrying a few niggles and knocks, Sagna took his chance. Manchester City started with five consecutive clean sheets in league play—a remarkable achievement to say the least—and the Frenchman played a key role.

Aleksandar Kolarov’s forward forays were lauded, and the spotlight understandably fell on Vincent Kompany’s miraculous return to form after 18 months in the wilderness. Debate raged over who should partner the Belgian—the reformed Eliaquim Mangala, or the bearded wonder Nicolas Otamendi?

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All the while, Sagna’s stellar input lay borderline forgotten (in the grand scheme).

He’s a better one-on-one defender than Zabaleta, and while he lacks the penetration on the right flank his Argentinian colleague possesses, he’s far steadier overall and stands an underrated user of the ball.

Zabaleta’s byline cutbacks and overlaps are obviously more appealing on the eye, but Sagna locks the right side down in every game he plays and doesn’t make mistakes in possession. If Kolarov is flying forward on the left, full-back balance is important, and the right side can’t be as expansive. That seems lost on Zabaleta sometimes, but Sagna gets it; he plays an important role in balancing City’s formation out and preventing counter-attacks before they happen.

The late return from the Copa was followed by a month-long injury, and Zabaleta is now firmly on the outside looking in for the first time ever in his Man City career.

Robbie Brady, Left-sider, Norwich City

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Brady can play in a number of positions but appears to have found his calling at left-back for Norwich City and the Republic of Ireland; he’s become indispensable to both.

It’s arguable there is no better crosser of the ball in the Premier League—save, perhaps the also-underrated Marc Albrighton of  Leicester City—and his whipped deliveries are causing chaos on a scale familiar to Canaries fans: Robert Snodgrass once fulfilled the same role.

Alex Neil recently tried a 3-5-2 formation at the Etihad Stadium, attempting to shore Norwich up defensively and remove the copious number of mistakes the line were making. It’s a little bit safety in numbers, but with the schedule they’re facing over the next few months, it’s an adjustment worth making.

“Norwich will always concede, even if only based on the fact that they’re a smaller team in an enormous league,” uMAXit Football’s Joe Devine argued earlier this month. “The manner in which they concede those goals, therefore, is very important.”

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That temporary defensive reshuffle, which could become a permanent fixture against bigger sides should the players mesh well, releases Brady into a wing-back role, where he can fly forward and play a direct, traditional, piercing game. He does that from full-back or wing anyway, but tasked with holding the width solo, he’s even more threatening.

Crossing statistics can be a little difficult to interpret at times due to the very questionable nature of the term “accurate cross,” but Brady ranks highly among his peers. With two completed per game—in addition to a number of others that cause absolute chaos—he’s in the company of the much-lauded Dimitri Payet, the magnificent Mesut Ozil and the quietly devastating Dusan Tadic.

After making a splash at Hull City in 2013, Brady’s career ground to a halt due to injury problems. Neil secured his services for £7 million this summer, asking him to provide quality and quantity to target strikers Cameron Jerome and Dieumerci Mbokani. He’s done just that, and along with Wes Hoolahan, he represents Norwich’s best chance of staying in the division this season.

N’Golo Kante, Mid, Leicester City

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When it comes to Leicester City’s exploits this season, three major themes are focused on: Jamie Vardy’s goalscoring, Riyad Mahrez’s terrorising runs and Claudio Ranieri’s stunning work taking them to the next level.

But there are plenty of other things working in the Foxes’ favour this year; a team does not simply consist of two players. Albrighton, aforementioned, has five assists and looks a real live wire once again coming off the wing; Danny Drinkwater’s controlling performances in central midfield have been excellent; and Kasper Schmeichel has impressed in goal when called upon—even if the clean sheets are lacking.

Perhaps most impressive of the “also-rans,” though, has been N’Golo Kante—a 24-year-old Frenchman signed this summer after failing to lure Jordan Veretout to the King Power Stadium.

Kante is becoming a crowd favourite in Leicester due to his willingness to tackle anything that moves, and after entering the side on the left flank initially, he has now nailed down a central berth and forms a bustling partnership with Drinkwater.

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What impresses the most is his remarkable defensive positioning; he’s always in the right place at the right time—a cliche, but nonetheless true in this case—to break up an attack, block a cross, clear a corner at the near post or nip in and steal possession.

He’s a player of “simple” qualities: intercept, look up, play the short pass; hardly an expansive playmaker, but just what Leicester need to cut through their flair and exciting, gung ho attacking play. You need someone to do the dirty work, and in the same way Etienne Capoue has become key to Watford, Kante has emerged as a general in Ranieri’s system.

His stat line—3.6 tackles and four interceptions per game—stands the most of any Premier League player when combining those two core measurements.

All statistics via WhoScored.com.