Premier League Player Rankings: Mahrez Down, Alderweireld Up, Willian out
This weekend, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur won, while Newcastle United, Sunderland and Aston Villa lost. It's nice when it's all easy to predict, isn't it? But expected results don't exactly make for expected changes in the player rankings, and there are a few major movers to feast your eyes on this week.
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.
Dropping Out/Honourable Mentions
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Dropping Out
Willian, Chelsea: Hasn't featured of late, and the Blues have slid in form.
Timm Klose, Norwich City: The Swiss entered the ranking last week but jarred his knee against Crystal Palace.
Honourable Mentions
Eric Dier, Tottenham Hotspur
Alex Iwobi, Arsenal
Hector Bellerin, Arsenal
Shane Long, Southampton
Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal
Sergio Aguero, Manchester City
20. Roberto Firmino, Liverpool
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Last Week: 13th (-7)
Roberto Firmino returned from injury but didn't impress. It's easy to accept that he will have to play his way back into the swing of things, having sustained a hamstring injury weeks ago, but he's rapidly running out of time when it comes to our player rankings.
He improved when moved centrally in the second half against Stoke City—the left-sided role in the first period didn't suit him at all—and he was able to harass and press far better from the middle.
19. Robert Huth, Leicester City
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Last Week: Unranked (New!)
Robert Huth enters the rankings this week after another extremely solid, commanding display at the back for Leicester City. There are now six Foxes inside our top 20, meaning they account for 30 percent of the entire ranking.
It's tended to be Wes Morgan who has stood out at the back for Leicester recently, but on Sunday, it was Huth who made the big blocks and important tackles, and it was he who left the safety of his line to intercept high up then file back in to defend the next ball.
The German has more than played his part in the five consecutive clean sheets the Foxes have achieved.
18. Michail Antonio, West Ham United
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Last Week: 18th
West Ham United's jack-of-all-right-sided-trades Michail Antonio stays in 18th this week after enduring a mixed afternoon against Arsenal on Saturday.
He was deployed as a wing-back and, frankly, spent the first half being torn to shreds by the Gunners' quick passing and lightning-fast movement. His conduct for Alexis Sanchez's goal was almost laughable; he just sort of watched the move unfold while making no effort to get back to help.
But in the second half, his role was simplified, and that allowed him to smash forward without worrying too much about who he was marking. His crossing came to the fore, and his delivery for Andy Carroll's hat-trick header was a peach.
17. Graziano Pelle, Southampton
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Last Week: Unranked (New!)
Graziano Pelle is the ultimate form striker: When he's hot, he's extremely productive; when he's not, he's borderline detrimental to the team.
The goals are flowing right now, and he's been superb. With four goals and three assists in his last four appearances, per WhoScored.com, he represents one of the form strikers in the Premier League.
His thumped finish against Newcastle United this weekend was crisp and clean, and it left Karl Darlow no chance.
16. Virgil van Dijk, Southampton
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Last Week: 19th (+3)
Virgil van Dijk was typically monstrous against Newcastle United, imposing himself upon the game and ensuring the visiting strikers endured a barren afternoon.
The only goal that Southampton conceded on the day was a long-range rocket from Andros Townsend—Van Dijk could do nothing about that, nor could Fraser Forster or anyone else. Van Dijk limited Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has been a true handful off the bench in recent weeks, to zero shots and zero impact.
True, the Magpies were awful, but Saints played their part in making them so.
15. Emre Can, Liverpool
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Last Week: 15th
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp shuffled his deck heavily this weekend, resting key men ahead of the UEFA Europa League tie with Borussia Dortmund on Thursday. Emre Can was among those left out.
14. Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea
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Last Week: 9th (-5)
Cesc Fabregas slides out of the top 10 after putting in a rather abject performance against Swansea City on Saturday.
In truth, the entire Chelsea side (bar Asmir Begovic, perhaps) seemed somewhat unenthused about the fact they had to play a game of football that afternoon, and they didn't really put the effort in; it very much stank of a showing from a side who know they have nothing to play for.
13. Danny Drinkwater, Leicester City
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Last Week: 20th (+7)
Danny Drinkwater leaps up the rankings this week, travelling seven spots in the right direction, after a super showing at The Stadium of Light on Sunday.
With the game locked at 0-0 and Sunderland doing all they could to dent Leicester City's title hopes, it was Drinkwater who dispossessed Lee Cattermole with a strong tackle and then immediately fired a stunning ball into the space behind Younes Kaboul. Jamie Vardy did the rest.
Drinkwater then settled in and defended deep, protecting the Foxes' lead and helping them move temporarily 10 points clear at the top of the table.
12. Wes Morgan, Leicester City
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Last Week: 12th
Judging a centre-back on clearances made in a game can be dangerous; it can make a player look far better than they actually are—think Mike Williamson for Newcastle United from 2012 to 2014.
But with Wes Morgan, it's a legitimate yardstick. In his simplified role as a smasher at the back, he simply puts his head and foot to things and repels them; it's his bread and butter.
He made nine against Sunderland, per WhoScored.com, preventing Kasper Schmeichel from having to do much, and helped Leicester City to a fifth consecutive clean-sheet victory.
11. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Swansea City
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Last Week: 16th (+5)
Gylfi Sigurdsson moves up five spots as a reward for a very good performance against Chelsea. True, it felt at times as though he was playing against toy soldiers in the middle, but this is a boon for his remarkable consistency in 2016.
Only Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero (11) have scored more Premier League goals than the Icelandic No. 10 (9). When you compare that tally to his total of two before the turn of year, it's clear he has really caught fire of late.
10. Dimitri Payet, West Ham United
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Last Week: 11th (+1)
West Ham vs. Arsenal was an utter delight to watch, not just for the storylines—the Andy Carroll hat-trick, the Arsenal collapse etc.—but because of the outrageous individual skill on show.
Dimitri Payet provided a second half full of quick breaks on the counter, incredible stepovers and stupidly fast feet. He sat several markers on their backsides as he made his way toward goal, and while the final pass/shot didn't quite come off for him, he had Hector Bellerin flapping all over the place.
9. Christian Eriksen, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 10th (+1)
Christian Eriksen had a funny old Sunday afternoon, with proceedings going far from how he or anyone else would have expected.
He was locked up by 18-year-old Timothy Fosu-Mensah for most of the game, but as soon as he went off injured, the Dane came alive. He immediately escaped beyond his replacement Matteo Darmian and fired a superb ball across goal for Dele Alli to smash home, giving Tottenham Hotspur the lead.
In the final 20 minutes, Spurs mowed United down in relentless fashion, and Eriksen was a key part of that.
8. Dele Alli, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 8th
Dele Alli was in the midst of a poor game on Sunday...right up until he scored to give Tottenham Hotspur the lead over Manchester United. His passing in congested areas had been off, and he'd created very little.
He was a bit iffy last week against Liverpool and was taken off, and it seemed inevitable that he would exit the fray this time around as Spurs searched for a win, but he came up with a moment of quality at just the right time.
This vital impact helps him retain his spot in the top 20, too.
7. Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 7th
No goals for Harry Kane this week, but it was another good performance from a target man who can clearly do it all.
It was his quick pass in behind for Christian Eriksen that created the opening goal, and although it was more about the Dane's cross than anything else, it was superb work from Kane to act fast and exploit a rare pocket of space that had opened up.
6. Riyad Mahrez, Leicester City
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Last Week: 3rd (-3)
A second straight ineffectual Riyad Mahrez performance? This doesn't happen very often, and he moves out of the top five as a result.
He made a couple of good runs against Sunderland and bore down on goal twice, but nothing came of either opportunity. The Black Cats' game plan was actually pretty good at limiting the Algerian's involvement, and another player in Leicester City's colours had to come to the rescue.
5. Mesut Ozil, Arsenal
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Last Week: 5th
A game of two halves sees Mesut Ozil stand still in fifth. He was instrumental in the first period against West Ham but severely cooled off in the second.
His goal to open the scoring was exceptionally well taken, and the timing on his run into the space behind was brilliant. It's early days, but he seems to have a very strong relationship with Alex Iwobi.
Arsenal soon lost their grip and the game descended into see-sawing chaos, meaning Ozil fell out of his dominant groove.
4. Toby Alderweireld, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 6th (+2)
Toby Alderweireld put in another fantastic performance this weekend, helping Tottenham Hotspur embarrass Manchester United.
He defended well all game long, reacted well to the restoration of Jan Vertonghen in the line alongside him, and produced a stunning header to put Spurs 2-0 ahead, killing the game off as a contest.
It was enough to win him a place in our Premier League Team of the Week and enough to move him back into the top five.
3. Jamie Vardy, Leicester City
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Last Week: 4th (+1)
Jamie Vardy scored two of the most Jamie Vardy goals ever this weekend, ensuring Leicester City did not stumble on their path to the Premier League title.
Sunderland set up a deep defensive line to remove the space in behind for him, but when pushing up for a throw-in on the right side, foolishly left Younes Kaboul one-on-one with the striker. Five seconds later, it's 1-0.
He then grabbed a second late on, bursting in behind again, muscling off a defender, rounding the 'keeper and slotting home. Vintage Vardy.
2. N'Golo Kante, Leicester City
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Last Week: 2nd
N'Golo Kante's performance on Sunday was once again quietly brilliant. While Danny Drinkwater will take deserved plaudits for his showing, Kante was arguably just as good.
The Frenchman nipped his way to seven tackles, per WhoScored.com, breaking up play in the heart of midfield superbly. He also made a habit of dribbling out from danger and threading a good through ball to an attacker to carry forward, starting counter-attacks.
Basically, it was just classic Kante.
1. Mousa Dembele, Tottenham Hotspur
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Last Week: 1st
For the first time in close to two months, a No. 1 is able to retain his crown. It's been all change at the top of late, but Mousa Dembele's performance against Manchester United was enough to hold the competition at bay.
Red Devils manager Louis van Gaal clogged the midfield with red shirts and tried to disrupt Tottenham Hotspur's patterns of play, and while that worked on Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, nothing can stop Dembele. He spun away from pressure, consistently found space to play and was happy to take the ball under pressure.
The dominant physical edge he brings to Mauricio Pochettino's system helps Spurs intimidate teams; there's no escaping him, and you can't get the ball off him either!
