Premier League Player Rankings: Azpilicueta and Alexis Sanchez Finish Strongly
After the Premier League's penultimate week, our player rankings bring big risers and big fallers.
With some clubs playing twice inside the grading window, those who clocked 180 impressive minutes—such as Cesar Azpilicueta—receive a big boost, while those who wasted that chance drop sharply.
Note: This ranking takes into account games starting on Friday evening (Chelsea vs. West Bromwich Albion, Everton vs. Watford) and ending on Monday evening (Chelsea vs. Watford).
Ranking Criteria
- It's a season-long ranking based on performances over the entire campaign—no longer does it take into account a four-to-six-week period of form (like previous editions did). Therefore, whoever is No. 1 would effectively be our choice for Player of the Season if the campaign finished this week.
- Only Premier League form is considered—no Champions League, no domestic cups and no international football.
- We pore over hours of film to accurately grade the players on a weekly basis. All teams are covered properly, and experts are sought out for advice as and when required.
- Players are given a score after every performance, and those scores are averaged out over the course of the season to produce a grade.
- Performing well on a consistent basis is key. Players such as Dele Alli and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who have endured poor patches spanning months this season, have had to play catch-up in order to set the record straight.
- A player must have meaningfully participated (started or played in excess of 20 minutes) in more than 50 per cent of his team's games to be eligible for the ranking. You wouldn't christen anyone Player of the Season having played fewer than half the games.
40-36
1 of 16
40. Emre Can, Liverpool (New!)
Can has been dynamite for the last two months. When he's not bagging crucial points with overhead kicks, he's steaming through midfield and controlling games with his physicality.
39. Fernandinho, Manchester City (-1)
Looked a little uncomfortable at full-back against Leicester City on Saturday, but his performance improved once he'd been relocated to the centre of midfield.
38. Georginio Wijnaldum, Liverpool (+2)
The most accidentally impactful game ever? Ended with two assists and a dipping volley that struck the bar, but not all of what happened at West Ham United on Sunday was intended. One of his assists was a mis-hit shot that went straight to Divock Origi.
37. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Swansea City (+2)
The man Swansea City rely on so heavily delivered again. Sigurdsson assisted Fernando Llorente's critical early opener at Sunderland that set the tone for a win that would confirm Premier League survival.
36. Oriol Romeu, Southampton (+1)
Did his best against Arsenal (his midfield colleagues let him down a little), but he played well against Middlesbrough and was crucial to the controlling of midfield.
35-31
2 of 16
35. Eric Bailly, Manchester United (+1)
Manchester United's best player against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. That's not a difficult feat to achieve given how bad most of them were, but even out of position at right-back, Bailly gave it his all.
34. Wilfried Zaha, Crystal Palace (Stay)
Zaha broke the deadlock for Palace against Hull City on Sunday, and the game went on to be something of a rout. It was fitting that their best player all season was the one to set them on course for survival.
33. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Manchester United (Stay)
Injured and out for what will probably be the rest of the calendar year.
32. Sergio Aguero, Manchester City (-1)
Sustained an injury the other week that was feared to be season-ending, but he managed a short cameo off the bench against Leicester on Saturday.
31. Idrissa Gueye, Everton (+3)
Everton have been dreadful of late, with the midfield not helping the forwards at all, but Gueye bucked up on Friday against Watford, tackling well and using the ball smartly.
30-26
3 of 16
30. Virgil van Dijk, Southampton (Stay)
Ruled out for the season.
29. Yaya Toure, Manchester City (+3)
As usual, Yaya Toure made the most passes of anyone on the pitch (73), with the highest accuracy of any starter (91 percent). He just quietly does his thing.
28. Joel Matip, Liverpool (+1)
An away clean sheet in the Premier League is always something to be proud of—even if it is against a poor West Ham side—and Matip came close to scoring a couple of goals from corners.
27. Adam Lallana, Liverpool (+1)
Operated at the tip of Liverpool's midfield diamond at London Stadium and played his part in a controlling performance.
26. Roberto Firmino, Liverpool (Stay)
Missed Liverpool's win over West Ham due to injury.
25-21
4 of 16
25. Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City (-1)
Up and down; up and down: De Bruyne just can't find consistency. After excelling last weekend against Crystal Palace, he struggled vs. Leicester City.
24. Victor Moses, Chelsea (+1)
Ended up being hacked down on a consistent basis by James McClean on Friday as he dominated the flank. The Baggies man had to be subbed on the hour before he got red-carded.
23. Raheem Sterling, Manchester City (-4)
Started brightly but then fizzled out a bit. That's happened far too often for Sterling during the second half of the season.
22. Marcos Alonso, Chelsea (+1)
Less impactful than usual against West Bromwich Albion, though that didn't matter in the end. Left out for the Watford game as manager Antonio Conte dealt out minutes to a few others.
21. David Luiz, Chelsea (+1)
Had one hairy moment with Salomon Rondon, but he emerged from it and helped keep the clean sheet that paved the way to win the Premier League title at the Hawthorns.
20-16
5 of 16
20. Kyle Walker, Tottenham Hotspur (-3)
After West Ham ripped him apart, Walker started this week's match on the bench. His 10-minute cameo felt eerily like a farewell, with those transfer links to Manchester City gathering pace ahead of the summer.
19. Leroy Sane, Manchester City (+8)
Another brilliant, blurring performance from Sane set the tone for another City win. His run to coax a penalty out of Yohan Benalouane was superb.
18. Dele Alli, Tottenham Hotspur (+3)
Part of an excellent Tottenham showing. Hasn't scored in May yet, but he is making up for it in other areas.
17. Philippe Coutinho, Liverpool (+3)
Was this Coutinho's best performance of the season? It might well have been, and it came at a crucial time. Playing from the No. 8 role in midfield, he dictated, scored twice and dominated at London Stadium.
16. Pedro, Chelsea (Stay)
Not at his usual effective best against West Brom, being withdrawn just before the goal. Ducked out of the starting XI on Monday to let Willian have a go.
15-11
6 of 16
15. Diego Costa, Chelsea (-1)
It was Michy Batshuayi, not Costa, who scored the goal which officially sealed the Premier League title for Chelsea. The Spain international was then dropped for Monday's match against Watford, but only so that Batshuayi could grab a long-overdue first league start.
14. Christian Eriksen, Tottenham Hotspur (+1)
Played well in that sort of typical Eriksen way: creative, agile, difficult to pin down and accurate in his delivery.
13. Mousa Dembele, Tottenham Hotspur (-2)
On the bench again for Tottenham's win over Man Utd on Sunday, but this time they were not made to rue the decision.
12. Cesar Azpilicueta, Chelsea (+6)
Put in two brilliant performances against West Brom and Watford. He's probably been the best player in the entire Premier League over the last month.
11. Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur (+2)
Netted a lovely little flick to double Tottenham's advantage against Man Utd. If it were anyone else, you'd be tempted to call it flukey, but it's Kane—that's what he does.
10. Toby Alderweireld, Tottenham Hotspur
7 of 16
Last Week: 8th
Movement: -2
It's possible to spin Toby Alderweireld's performance against Manchester United two ways.
The positive tilt is that he played a lot better against the Red Devils than he did against West Ham (where he was pretty terrible).
The negative tilt is that although he improved, it still wasn't vintage Alderweireld: He allowed Anthony Martial to brush him off the ball a few times and drift inside him with piercing, dangerous runs.
9. Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal
8 of 16
Last Week: 11th
Movement: +2
Not long ago, most people were criticising Alexis Sanchez. His form had generally been tailing away as the season wore on, and in some big games that Arsenal had to win, he went missing.
But if this is the retort, perhaps Arsenal fans should make a habit of calling him out. Against both Southampton and Stoke City he was devastating; a goal in each game, in addition to an assist in the latter, helped settle matters convincingly.
Alexis is the first player to reach double figures for both goals and assists in the Premier League this season. Regardless of peaks and troughs, you have to respect that.
Two more goals in the win over Sunderland on Tuesday show Alexis is hitting his stride—just as the season is winding down.
8. Victor Wanyama, Tottenham Hotspur
9 of 16
Last Week: 9th
Movement: +1
Victor Wanyama banished memories of a poor performance at London Stadium with a fantastic start to the game against Manchester United.
Outjumping Wayne Rooney, he nodded a sweet Ben Davies cross past David De Gea to start the White Hart Lane party.
From there, he refound the gear he's been in all season. Providing a physical edge to Tottenham's play in the centre is his calling card, and it was no surprise to see him finish the game with the best tackling statistics for the game.
7. Antonio Valencia, Manchester United
10 of 16
Last Week: 7th
Movement: None
Jose Mourinho has entered this Manchester United side into degraded mode—at least for Premier League play, anyway—and that means a player as important as Antonio Valencia is preserved for bigger things.
6. Jan Vertonghen, Tottenham Hotspur
11 of 16
Last Week: 6th
Movement: None
Jan Vertonghen had a reasonably quiet day against Man Utd, but he still managed to produce one eyebrow-raising moment at either end of the pitch.
It's arguable he should have done better for Wayne Rooney's goal, when he let the striker nip inside of him in the box to finish off a low cross, but generally, his defensive play was solid.
Watching him fly forward from defence is a real treat, and one particularly penetrative run beat three markers and ended up with a shot on goal. That might not be a centre-back's bread and butter, but it's exciting nonetheless.
5. Ander Herrera, Manchester United
12 of 16
Last Week: 5th
Movement: None
Ander Herrera began United's match with Tottenham on the bench, as he, like Antonio Valencia, is being saved for the Europa League. He entered the fray on the hour mark, though, and offered the visitors a little punch in midfield.
4. Sadio Mane, Liverpool
13 of 16
Last Week: 4th
Movement: None
With a home win over Middlesbrough on Sunday, Liverpool will achieve what many believed they could not once Sadio Mane had been ruled out for the season: Champions League football.
3. David Silva, Manchester City
14 of 16
Last Week: 3rd
Movement: None
David Silva experienced the quintessential "game of two halves" on Saturday against Leicester.
In the first, he was incredibly impactful, doing all the delightful, perhaps unnoticed, things Silva does. He also scored the opener to make it two goals from his last two games.
But in the second, as the Foxes wrestled back control of proceedings, Silva disappeared to an extent. Even with the game incredibly stretched, he wasn't able to dictate as he usually would.
2. N'Golo Kante, Chelsea
15 of 16
Last Week: 2nd
Movement: None
N'Golo Kante didn't feature against West Bromwich Albion on Friday. Presumably, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte didn't feel he would be particularly necessary, as the Baggies would present a hard defensive shell but not too much from an attacking perspective.
Conte was correct.
Kante then re-entered the XI for the Watford game and played reasonably well. There were periods when the visitors held control of the midfield, but the France international was still able to break up play and spark counter-attacks.
1. Eden Hazard, Chelsea
16 of 16
Last Week: 1st
Movement: None
Eden Hazard hasn't produced his finest football over the last week or so, but that doesn't stop him ending the season's player rankings in the No. 1 spot. The lead he'd built up over the last several months was too large for N'Golo Kante to close.
On the night Chelsea were crowned champions at the Hawthorns, the Belgian was withdrawn with the score locked at 0-0. The Blues found the goal they needed without his assistance—a bold call by Antonio Conte, but one proved correct minutes later.
On Monday, Hazard sparkled in patches, but he sacrificed his game in order to tee up his team-mates on a regular basis. That selfless streak is only ever visible when the title's already won.
All statistics via WhoScored.com
