Premier League Player Rankings: Vardy Down, Willian and Eriksen Up, New No. 1
For the first time in a long, long time, there are no dropouts and no new entrants in our Premier League player rankings. But, to compensate, there are several big movers, with three attacking midfielders all surging up the board.
Please note: This ranking does not take into account Gameweek 28, which has been split over March 1 and 2. Those games will be taken into account in next week's top 20.
The rankings are based on players' last six games, with slightly more emphasis placed on their most recent outing.
Only Premier League performances are counted, and one-week wonders do not find their way in. That said, if, for example, Sergio Aguero returns from injury and excels in four straight games, he will find his way in—if a player plays very well, they can cut the queue.
We look beyond the statistical measures and into the performance, reviewing tape and gauging impact.
It's not just goals, assists and heroic clearances that impress. It's about how a player contributes to the tactical plan at hand and what impact he has over a 90-minute period.
Take a look and see if you agree with our selections, and if you feel like we've missed anyone, let us know in the comments section below.
Honourable Mentions
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With no dropouts this week, we move straight to the honourable mentions:
David De Gea, Manchester United
Dimitri Payet, West Ham United
Michail Antonio, West Ham United
Cesar Azpilicueta, Chelsea
20. Sergio Aguero, Manchester City
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Last Week: 19th (-1)
Sergio Aguero did not feature in the Premier League last weekend due to Manchester City's Capital One Cup final commitments at Wembley.
19. Shinji Okazaki, Leicester City
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Last Week: 20th (+1)
Where Jamie Vardy struggled this weekend, Shinji Okazaki impressed.
The Japanese international consistently collected loose balls in the centre and turned with them, converting them into attacks. His ability to ward off defenders and pick the right passes shone through as he near-single-handedly constructed most of Leicester City's attacks against Norwich City.
No goal, no assist, but a vitally important role played once again.
18. Christian Fuchs, Leicester City
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Last Week: 18th
Christian Fuchs is starting to slow down a little now, but he holds his place in 18th thanks to a decent performance and a clean sheet.
He played an aggressive left-sided role as Leicester City probed and squeezed Norwich City at the weekend, stepping in and cutting out several passes then steaming forward for the counter regularly.
A few weeks ago, he was playing a key role for the Foxes, but now his impact is lessening; he's a candidate to drop out next week if things don't pick up.
17. Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 17th (-1)
Harry Kane put together a good game for Tottenham Hotspur against Swansea City but could not find the back of the net. He took his customary high number of shots (seven) but came up empty. Why? The answer is simple: Lukasz Fabianski.
The Polish goalkeeper was in insane form, making 13 saves, per WhoScored.com, and stopping anything Kane got on target—one near-post effort from a Christian Eriksen cross was particularly excellent.
Hard luck, Harry, but you only move down one after doing almost everything else right.
16. Roberto Firmino, Liverpool
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Last Week: 14th (-2)
Roberto Firmino did not feature in the Premier League last weekend due to Liverpool's Capital One Cup final commitments at Wembley.
15. Petr Cech, Arsenal
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Last Week: 12th (-3)
Arsenal's Petr Cech moves down three but can consider himself unlucky to do so; in reality, quirks like this happen in the ranking sometimes as big movers enforce reshuffles around them.
In Cech's case, he didn't play particularly well at Old Trafford against Manchester United, conceding three goals, but he did nothing wrong either.
He was poorly defended by Gabriel Paulista and Co. all game long and faced several shots that should have been cut out much earlier. Both of Marcus Rashford's goals were a result of poor defending, while Ander Herrera's goal took a big deflection on its way in.
14. Romelu Lukaku, Everton
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Last Week: 13th (-1)
Romelu Lukaku didn't play last weekend as Everton's game with Liverpool was postponed due to the Capital One Cup final.
13. Virgil van Dijk, Southampton
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Last Week: 11th (-2)
Virgil van Dijk is an incredibly difficult one to judge this week: For 86 minutes he was absolutely superb for Southampton against Chelsea, blocking, clearing and removing every ball from the danger, but he also lost the key header for Branislav Ivanovic's winner.
Now, it's possible to ask questions of Fraser Forster for the second goal, too—it sort of went through his palms—so it is not entirely Van Dijk's fault, but it does put a real dampener on what was, before that, an extremely strong showing.
12. Diego Costa, Chelsea
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Last Week: 7th (-5)
Although Chelsea's Diego Costa was awarded an arbitrary assist for Cesc Fabregas' slightly fluky goal, he drops down due to an underwhelming overall performance.
He struggled to make room to run and got very little out of Southampton's towering centre-backs, and in the second half got so wound up he managed to plunge the entire game into officiating chaos for 10 whole minutes.
Not his most impactful performance, and it showed in the Blues' scraping of a victory thanks to goals from less likely sources.
11. Ross Barkley, Everton
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Last Week: 9th (-2)
Ross Barkley didn't play last weekend as Everton's game with Liverpool was postponed due to the Capital One Cup final.
10. Riyad Mahrez, Leicester City
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Last Week: 8th (-2)
Another quiet one for Riyad Mahrez sees his up-and-down second half of the season continue. He was reasonably ineffectual for Leicester against Norwich City.
It was his neat ball into the path of Marc Albrighton that led to the late winner, but it was Albrighton himself who a) delivered the cross and b) threatened more openly from crossing and counter-attacking situations.
9. Dele Alli, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 6th (-3)
Dele Alli's last three games haven't been quite as eventful as we've come to expect, and it's for that reason he's now lurking at the bottom of the top 10.
He sustained an injury in the warm-up to Tottenham Hotspur's 2-1 victory over Swansea City but still played 90 minutes, though it was clear he was affected to some degree as he never really stamped his mark on the game.
8. Willian, Chelsea
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Last Week: 17th (+9)
Willian is a massive mover this week, leaping up into the top 10 as a result of another brilliant performance for Chelsea. His showing at St Mary's Stadium was verging on 9/10, and it brings his average right up in a week where many dipped below their usual level.
His late corner kick was headed home by Branislav Ivanovic to win the game, and his dribbles and drives forward were untrackable for Southampton's players bar Jordy Clasie. He's starting to hit Eden Hazard 2015-16 levels of influence in this Blues team.
7. Christian Eriksen, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 15th (+8)
Mauricio Pochettino made a bold, bold move last weekend against Swansea: In a must-win game—aren't they all now for Tottenham Hotspur?—he played Christian Eriksen as a holding midfielder.
The spindly Dane, on paper, represents a horrific fit for the role in the Premier League, but the move paid off, with Eriksen getting his foot to everything first and dictating play calmly from deep.
His form over the last six games has been astonishing, and with those above him largely playing poorly, he shoots up an astonishing eight spots.
6. Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea
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Last Week: 10th (+4)
Cesc Fabregas' 128 completed passes against Southampton on Saturday were the most any player has managed in a Premier League game this season, per Opta (h/t Sky Sports' Nick Wright). If you take into account he scored a goal, too, then that's one hell of an individual statistical line.
The reality of his performance doesn't quite live up to those heady heights—his goal was actually a cross that found the corner of the net, and he misplaced a few passes in very dangerous areas in the first half—but it's still more than enough to move him into a position just on the cusp of the top five.
5. Toby Alderweireld, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 5th
Toby Alderweireld had a quiet game against Swansea City as the away side failed to produce much in terms of an attacking effort. Still, he'll be disappointed Tottenham's back line wasn't able to keep a clean sheet.
Alberto Paloschi's first goal in the Premier League was simply a loose ball swept home—something that can easily happen—and there was nothing Alderweireld could do to stop it.
4. N'Golo Kante, Leicester City
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Last Week: 3rd (-1)
For the first time in quite a while, N'Golo Kante's performance was not brilliant. Worse yet, he was withdrawn in the second half against Norwich City due to a hamstring issue.
He was outrun a few times and overtaken in midfield by surging runners—something we simply haven't seen happen very often this season—and might just be due a little rest.
3. Jamie Vardy, Leicester City
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Last Week: 1st (-2)
Jamie Vardy is knocked off top spot for the first time in ages after putting together an uncharacteristically quiet game against Norwich.
As noted earlier in the rankings, it was Shinji Okazaki who constructed the more positive Leicester City moves, and although Vardy was awarded an arbitrary assist for his role in Leonardo Ulloa's late winner, the goal wasn't really his creation.
We expected more against a distinctly sub-par Canaries defence.
2. Mousa Dembele, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 2nd
Mousa Dembele was withdrawn at half-time during Tottenham Hotspur's loss to Crystal Palace and did not feature against Swansea City. But with those below him underperforming, he holds rank in second.
1. Mesut Ozil, Arsenal
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Last Week: 4th (+3)
Mesut Ozil is rather fortunate to move to the top of the rankings—thanks mostly to the fact no one else in the top five played particularly well—but he won't care.
The German faded in and out of Arsenal's 3-2 loss to Manchester United but still came up with two moments of quality, delivering a peach of a free-kick for Danny Welbeck and netting one in the second half to keep hopes of a comeback alive.
Even when he's not excelling for a whole game, he comes up with key contributions.
