EPL 100: Ranking of Premier League's Best Players After Matchday 1
The Premier League is back.
The opening weekend produced drama, excitement and plenty of goals. Newly promoted Huddersfield Town caused a big shock at Crystal Palace, Burnley stunned everyone by winning at Stamford Bridge, and both Manchester clubs looked imperious in victory.
It all serves as the perfect precursor to the first edition of our Premier League player rankings. Last week, we delivered a teaser, a pre-season projection of the best in each position. This week, we begin charting players' performances based solely on what they've done in the 2017-18 season.
Some sections were difficult to fill—particularly those where we collect 20 in a position—but they'll take shape as we move further into the campaign.
For now, here are your top performers at each position based on Gameweek 1.
Goalkeepers
1 of 7
This is why we love football. Who'd have thought that, in Gameweek 1, Huddersfield's Jonas Lossl would be the most impressive performer between the sticks?
He aced his Premier League debut in every aspect, making some superb stops and nailing his distribution. His clean sheet was fully deserved.
Jordan Pickford made one wonder save of his own (against Xherdan Shaqiri) for Everton, while Tottenham Hotspur's Hugo Lloris claimed multiple aerial balls with consummate ease. Both also collected clean sheets, and they round out our top three.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Jonas Lossl | Huddersfield |
| 2 | Jordan Pickford | Everton |
| 3 | Hugo Lloris | Tottenham |
| 4 | Tom Heaton | Burnley |
| 5 | Lukasz Fabianski | Swansea City |
| 6 | Ben Foster | West Bromwich Albion |
| 7 | David De Gea | Manchester United |
| 8 | Ederson Moraes | Manchester City |
| 9 | Fraser Forster | Southampton |
| 10 | Mat Ryan | Brighton & Hove Albion |
Right-Backs/Right-Wing-Backs
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Kyle Walker was the easy choice for No. 1, as his performance against Brighton was excellent in every respect. It's exactly what he provided for Tottenham last season, and Manchester City fans will be delighted with his debut.
At No. 3, we have a strange one. Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin played well at right-wing-back against Stoke City, but he's naturally a striker. The cross he delivered for Wayne Rooney's header was a peach, and perhaps that shouldn't surprise—he knows better than most what kind of delivery is required.
Spurs debutant Kyle Walker-Peters impressed against Newcastle United, while Matthew Lowton's crossing—an underrated weapon of Burnley's—proved decisive at Stamford Bridge.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Kyle Walker | Manchester City |
| 2 | Cedric Soares | Southampton |
| 3 | Dominic Calvert-Lewin | Everton |
| 4 | Kyle Walker-Peters | Tottenham |
| 5 | Antonio Valencia | Manchester United |
| 6 | Matthew Lowton | Burnley |
| 7 | Allan Nyom | West Brom |
| 8 | Hector Bellerin | Arsenal |
| 9 | Simon Francis | Bournemouth |
| 10 | Javi Manquillo | Newcastle United |
Left-Backs/Left-Wing-Backs
3 of 7
The quality of left-back play in Gameweek 1 was ridiculous.
Five top-tier performances were delivered, with Stephen Ward scoring the goal of his life, Ben Davies netting, Ryan Bertrand tearing into his opposition, Chris Lowe adapting seamlessly to this level and Daley Blind providing set-piece wizardry.
The six-to-eight range consists of solid, if unspectacular, performers who didn't put a foot wrong. Marcos Alonso sneaks in at 10th, as he was—for long periods—Chelsea's biggest attacking threat against Burnley.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Ben Davies | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 2 | Daley Blind | Manchester United |
| 3 | Chris Lowe | Huddersfield |
| 4 | Stephen Ward | Burnley |
| 5 | Ryan Bertrand | Southampton |
| 6 | Chris Brunt | West Brom |
| 7 | Leighton Baines | Everton |
| 8 | Danilo | Manchester City |
| 9 | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Arsenal |
| 10 | Marcos Alonso | Chelsea |
Centre-Backs
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Arguably the toughest position to rank for Gameweek 1 is centre-back. So many fine details make up a performance in that role, and one error can ruin an otherwise-stupendous showing.
To keep things simple, we chose the guy who scored the only goal in his game and kept a clean sheet as our No. 1: West Brom's Ahmed Hegazi. It was one hell of a debut for the Egyptian, and now the fans will be expecting more of the same.
Zanka, Sead Kolasinac, Ben Mee and Alfie Mawson were all similarly imperious from a central position. From Federico Fernandez down, you're looking at solid, steady guys who perhaps didn't excel but did little—if anything—wrong.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Ahmed Hegazi | West Brom |
| 2 | Zanka | Huddersfield |
| 3 | Sead Kolasinac | Arsenal |
| 4 | Ben Mee | Burnley |
| 5 | Alfie Mawson | Swansea City |
| 6 | Federico Fernandez | Swansea City |
| 7 | Christopher Schindler | Huddersfield |
| 8 | Eric Bailly | Manchester United |
| 9 | Phil Jones | Manchester United |
| 10 | Michael Keane | Everton |
| 11 | John Stones | Manchester City |
| 12 | Vincent Kompany | Manchester City |
| 13 | Jack Stephens | Southampton |
| 14 | Jan Vertonghen | Tottenham |
| 15 | Toby Alderweireld | Tottenham |
| 16 | Craig Dawson | West Brom |
| 17 | Eric Dier | Tottenham |
| 18 | James Tarkowski | Burnley |
| 19 | Phil Jagielka | Everton |
| 20 | Kurt Zouma | Stoke City |
Defensive Midfielders/Central Midfielders
5 of 7
On Sunday, Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic showed us that the partnership they're fostering might be the key to Manchester United's success this season. They thrived alongside one another, and both put in breathtaking performances.
Burnley's upset of Chelsea has to be acknowledged, and Steven Defour and Jack Cork put in a serious shift in the middle at Stamford Bridge. Oriol Romeu, Jake Livermore and Abdoulaye Doucoure all looked the best on their respective teams.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Paul Pogba | Manchester United |
| 2 | Nemanja Matic | Manchester United |
| 3 | Aaron Mooy | Huddersfield |
| 4 | Steven Defour | Burnley |
| 5 | Jack Cork | Burnley |
| 6 | David Silva | Manchester City |
| 7 | Mousa Dembele | Tottenham |
| 8 | Oriol Romeu | Southampton |
| 9 | Abdoulaye Doucoure | Watford |
| 10 | Jeff Hendrick | Burnley |
| 11 | Fernandinho | Manchester City |
| 12 | Philip Billing | Huddersfield |
| 13 | Idrissa Gueye | Everton |
| 14 | Jake Livermore | West Brom |
| 15 | Aaron Ramsey | Arsenal |
| 16 | Granit Xhaka | Arsenal |
| 17 | Tom Cleverley | Watford |
| 18 | Steven Davis | Southampton |
| 19 | N'Golo Kante | Chelsea |
| 20 | Emre Can | Liverpool |
Attacking Midfielders/Wingers
6 of 7
It took Christian Eriksen months to find form in 2016-17, but he's started 2017-18 with a bang. The performance he put in at St. James' Park was stunning, and he emerged from it with two assists.
Tottenham and Manchester United players make up the entire top five in this section, and that's representative of their dominant Sunday. The player to point out is Marcus Rashford, who took Pablo Zabaleta apart at Old Trafford, softening him up for Anthony Martial to finish off.
The lower reaches of this class are admittedly weak, but as a multitude of players return from injury, it will fill out with quality.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Christian Eriksen | Tottenham |
| 2 | Marcus Rashford | Manchester United |
| 3 | Dele Alli | Tottenham |
| 4 | Henrikh Mkhitaryan | Manchester United |
| 5 | Juan Mata | Manchester United |
| 6 | Sadio Mane | Liverpool |
| 7 | Anthony Martial | Manchester United |
| 8 | Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester City |
| 9 | Mohamed Salah | Liverpool |
| 10 | Robbie Brady | Burnley |
| 11 | Danny Welbeck | Arsenal |
| 12 | Elias Kachunga | Huddersfield |
| 13 | Tom Ince | Huddersfield |
| 14 | Kasey Palmer | Huddersfield |
| 15 | Ruben Loftus-Cheek | Crystal Palace |
| 16 | Nathan Redmond | Southampton |
| 17 | Riyad Mahrez | Leicester City |
| 18 | Dusan Tadic | Southampton |
| 19 | Matt Phillips | West Brom |
| 20 | Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace |
Strikers
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The strikers were tough to separate this week, particularly in the top three. Romelu Lukaku, Sam Vokes and Steve Mounie were all brilliant and each scored a brace, but we've opted to give the Belgian the crown after he blitzed West Ham United's defence on Sunday.
Alvaro Morata's impact off the bench for Chelsea was also particularly noteworthy, and his performance sparked questions over why he wasn't starting in the first place.
In 10th place is Harry Kane, who played well for Spurs but was betrayed by foul luck. He had a part in creating one goal, smacked the post and then saw one disallowed.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Romelu Lukaku | Manchester United |
| 2 | Sam Vokes | Burnley |
| 3 | Steve Mounie | Huddersfield |
| 4 | Jamie Vardy | Leicester City |
| 5 | Alvaro Morata | Chelsea |
| 6 | Alexandre Lacazette | Arsenal |
| 7 | Roberto Firmino | Liverpool |
| 8 | Gabriel Jesus | Manchester City |
| 9 | Sergio Aguero | Manchester City |
| 10 | Harry Kane | Tottenham Hotspur |
All statistics via WhoScored.com
