EPL 100: Ranking of Premier League's Best Players After Matchday 2
The second weekend of the 2017-18 Premier League season was just as exciting, entertaining and incident-heavy as the first.
Goals flowed, stars emerged, great starts continued—things got a little testy, too, with four red cards spread across three games.
We've updated our EPL 100: a ranking of the 100 best players this season in the Premier League, divided into seven different position groups, based solely on performances in 2017-18.
This early on in the season, big performances can make a massive difference in these rankings, so don't be surprised to see some major shifts when comparing this edition to last week's.
Goalkeepers
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Jonas Lossl retains the No. 1 spot after putting in another strong performance, this time against Newcastle United. He made several saves of note—one of which, from Matt Ritchie's scorching strike, seemed impossible to reach—and distributed well.
Jack Butland's star showing in goal against Arsenal brings him up to second, with the similarly impressive Jordan Pickford in third.
From fourth downward, it's a mixture of busy goalkeepers who have conceded a few but also saved plenty (Wayne Hennessey has made 18 saves already) and those who have had little to do but have collected two clean sheets from two (David De Gea, Ben Foster).
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Jonas Lossl (Stay) | Huddersfield Town |
| 2 | Jack Butland (New) | Stoke City |
| 3 | Jordan Pickford (-1) | Everton |
| 4 | Ben Foster (+2) | West Bromwich Albion |
| 5 | David De Gea (+2) | Manchester United |
| 6 | Tom Heaton (-2) | Burnley |
| 7 | Thibaut Courtois (New) | Chelsea |
| 8 | Kasper Schmeichel (New) | Leicester City |
| 9 | Wayne Hennessey (New) | Crystal Palace |
| 10 | Simon Mignolet (New) | Liverpool |
Right-Backs/Right Wing-Backs
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The early weeks of these Premier League rankings are difficult for a number of reasons, but chiefly because when players have played a different numbers of games, they are hard to stack up against one another.
From third down here, it's much of a muchness, with Joe Gomez and Kyle Walker-Peters having played just once but very well, and Matthew Lowton and Danny Simpson twice, but only once well. Kyle Walker drops from first to eighth after his red card against Everton (we can't completely forget his man-of-the-match performance in Week 1).
At least the top two were easy: Antonio Valencia and Allan Nyom both have two clean sheets under their belts.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Antonio Valencia (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 2 | Allan Nyom (Stay) | West Brom |
| 3 | Cedric Soares (-1) | Southampton |
| 4 | Kyle Walker-Peters (Stay) | Tottenham |
| 5 | Matthew Lowton (+1) | Burnley |
| 6 | Tommy Smith (New) | Huddersfield |
| 7 | Joe Gomez (New) | Liverpool |
| 8 | Kyle Walker (-7) | Manchester City |
| 9 | Victor Moses (New) | Chelsea |
| 10 | Danny Simpson (New) | Leicester City |
Left-Backs/Left Wing-Backs
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Marcos Alonso was the only Chelsea player other than Alvaro Morata to acquit himself with any dignity on the opening weekend, and he followed that up with a barnstorming performance against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
His two goals at Wembley Stadium vault him to the top of the left-back rankings, while Chris Lowe and Daley Blind—both having secured consecutive clean sheets—swap places as the former impressed marginally more.
Andrew Robertson made his debut for Liverpool against Crystal Palace and emerged from it with rave reviews, sending in dangerous crosses and contributing to a clean sheet.
Danilo's impact off the bench for Manchester City on Monday changed the game, but although he played on the right then, he has still played the majority of his minutes from the left and stays in this category.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Marcos Alonso (+9) | Chelsea |
| 2 | Chris Lowe (+1) | Huddersfield |
| 3 | Daley Blind (-1) | Manchester United |
| 4 | Ben Davies (-3) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 5 | Ryan Bertrand (Stay) | Southampton |
| 6 | Chris Brunt (Stay) | West Brom |
| 7 | Leighton Baines (Stay) | Everton |
| 8 | Andrew Robertson (New) | Liverpool |
| 9 | Danilo (-1) | Manchester City |
| 10 | Stephen Ward (-6) | Burnley |
Centre-Backs
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Ahmed Hegazi made it two clean sheets from two West Bromwich Albion appearances, and that's enough for him to remain No. 1.
Christopher Schindler of Huddersfield came close to usurping him, though, as he put in a near-flawless display against Newcastle on Sunday.
Eric Bailly and Phil Jones are acing it in central defence for Manchester United, while West Bromwich Albion's Craig Dawson has stepped into the leadership void left by injured pair Jonny Evans and Gareth McAuley and made an impact.
Jones' excellence has been a surprise, as has Phil Jagielka's, whose time in Everton's first team looked to be coming to a close last season, but he's been superb—particularly at the Etihad Stadium on Monday.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Ahmed Hegazi (Stay) | West Brom |
| 2 | Christopher Schindler (+5) | Huddersfield |
| 3 | Eric Bailly (+5) | Manchester United |
| 4 | Ben Mee (Stay) | Burnley |
| 5 | Zanka (-3) | Huddersfield |
| 6 | Phil Jagielka (+13) | Everton |
| 7 | Kurt Zouma (+13) | Stoke City |
| 8 | Phil Jones (+1) | Manchester United |
| 9 | Craig Dawson (+7) | West Bromwich Albion |
| 10 | Michael Keane (Stay) | Everton |
| 11 | Sead Kolasinac (-8) | Arsenal |
| 12 | Toby Alderweireld (+3) | Tottenham |
| 13 | Miguel Britos (New) | Watford |
| 14 | Andreas Christensen (New) | Chelsea |
| 15 | James Tomkins (New) | Crystal Palace |
| 16 | Sebastian Prodl (New) | Watford |
| 17 | Cesar Azpilicueta (New) | Chelsea |
| 18 | Jan Vertonghen (-4) | Tottenham |
| 19 | Harry Maguire (New) | Leicester City |
| 20 | Nicolas Otamendi (New) | Manchester City |
Defensive Midfielders/Central Midfielders
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It won't surprise you to see Paul Pogba top these rankings. After putting in a marvellous showing against West Ham United on the opening weekend, he replicated that level of performance against Swansea City on Saturday and scored a fine goal to cap a great day.
Leapfrogging Nemanja Matic into second place is Aaron Mooy, who scored a beauty of his own to help Huddersfield to victory over Newcastle. Filling out the top five is Idrissa Gueye, who was great versus Manchester City, and Abdoulaye Doucoure, who already has a goal to his name.
Burnley and Southampton's midfield pairings seem to be up and running already, but representatives from last season's top two clubs are surprisingly sparse: just N'Golo Kante and Mousa Dembele make the list, but only the Tottenham Hotspur man makes the top 10.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Paul Pogba (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 2 | Aaron Mooy (+1) | Huddersfield |
| 3 | Nemanja Matic (-1) | Manchester United |
| 4 | Idrissa Gueye (+11) | Everton |
| 5 | Abdoulaye Doucoure (+4) | Watford |
| 6 | David Silva (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 7 | Mousa Dembele (Stay) | Tottenham |
| 8 | Oriol Romeu (Stay) | Southampton |
| 9 | Philip Billing (+3) | Huddersfield |
| 10 | Jack Cork (-5) | Burnley |
| 11 | Steven Defour (-7) | Burnley |
| 12 | Nathaniel Chalobah (New) | Watford |
| 13 | Jake Livermore (+1) | West Bromwich Albion |
| 14 | Darren Fletcher (New) | Stoke City |
| 15 | Tom Cleverley (+2) | Watford |
| 16 | N'Golo Kante (+3) | Chelsea |
| 17 | Fernandinho (-6) | Manchester City |
| 18 | Mario Lemina (New) | Southampton |
| 19 | Jeff Hendrick (-9) | Burnley |
| 20 | Tom Davies (New) | Everton |
Attacking Midfielders/Wingers
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There's plenty of change in the attacking midfield/winger section. It's perhaps the least consistent and streaky position on the pitch, so violent shifts from Gameweek 1 to Gameweek 2 were only to be expected.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who already has four assists to his name, leapfrogs Christian Eriksen into top spot, while three more Manchester United players fill out the top six. They have been brilliant, to be fair, though.
Riyad Mahrez played his best game for about a year on Saturday against Brighton & Hove Albion and gets a boost, while Elias Kachunga and Nathan Redmond have quietly impressed in both matches played.
We have Marcus Rashford ranked above Anthony Martial despite the latter recording more goals and assists. That's because the Frenchman is taking advantage of the fact his team-mate is exhausting full-backs and leaving them dead on their legs, ripe for punishment.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Henrikh Mkhitaryan (+3) | Manchester United |
| 2 | Christian Eriksen (-1) | Tottenham |
| 3 | Sadio Mane (+3) | Liverpool |
| 4 | Marcus Rashford (-2) | Manchester United |
| 5 | Juan Mata (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 6 | Anthony Martial (+1) | Manchester United |
| 7 | Riyad Mahrez (+10) | Leicester City |
| 8 | Elias Kachunga (+4) | Huddersfield |
| 9 | Nathan Redmond (+7) | Southampton |
| 10 | Mohamed Salah (-1) | Liverpool |
| 11 | Dele Alli (-8) | Tottenham |
| 12 | Raheem Sterling (New) | Manchester City |
| 13 | Richarlison (New) | Watford |
| 14 | Michail Antonio (New) | West Ham United |
| 15 | Jese (New) | Stoke City |
| 16 | Kevin De Bruyne (-8) | Manchester City |
| 17 | Ruben Loftus-Cheek (-2) | Crystal Palace |
| 18 | Matt Phillips (+1) | West Brom |
| 19 | Dusan Tadic (-1) | Southampton |
| 20 | Tom Ince (-7) | Huddersfield |
Strikers
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There are four new faces in our top 10 strikers this week: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (previously in the RB/RWB section), Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Shinji Okazaki.
All four were varying degrees of great in Gameweek 2 and have earned their spots off the back of it, while we saw the performance levels of Alexandre Lacazette and Jamie Vardy dip a little.
Harry Kane retains 10th place after another game in which he played well, only for Lady Luck to stab him in the back. Romelu Lukaku saved what was looking like a poor performance at Swansea City with a late goal, meaning he's the league's top scorer after two rounds.
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Romelu Lukaku (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 2 | Steve Mounie (+1) | Huddersfield |
| 3 | Sam Vokes (-1) | Burnley |
| 4 | Dominic Calvert-Lewin (New) | Everton |
| 5 | Wayne Rooney (New) | Everton |
| 6 | Jamie Vardy (-2) | Leicester City |
| 7 | Javier Hernandez (New) | West Ham United |
| 8 | Alexandre Lacazette (-2) | Arsenal |
| 9 | Shinji Okazaki (New) | Leicester City |
| 10 | Harry Kane (Stay) | Tottenham Hotspur |
All statistics via WhoScored.com
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