EPL 100: Ranking of Premier League's Best Players After Matchday 22
Manchester City have finally been struck down, with Liverpool the team rising to the challenge of ending their season-long unbeaten streak. They did it in dramatic, thrilling circumstances, and the unfolding action has had quite the effect on this week's edition of the Premier League player rankings.
We have updated our lists to take into account the latest two gameweeks of action. They are divided into seven position groups and based solely on performances in the Premier League in 2017-18.
To be eligible, a player must have taken part in at least half the games his team has played.
Goalkeepers
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David De Gea's been top of this pile for a long time, but the gap between he and Ederson Moraes is now miniscule. A big performance from the Brazilian next week might force a shuffle here.
Thibaut Courtois and Petr Cech both starred in Chelsea's manic draw with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, and the latter's leap upward means Kasper Schmeichel is unfortunate to move down.
Jordan Pickford was, quietly, one of the best players regardless of position across the course of December.
Biggest rise: Multiple (+1)
Biggest fall: Multiple (-1)
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | David De Gea (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 2 | Ederson Moraes (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 3 | Thibaut Courtois (+1) | Chelsea |
| 4 | Nick Pope (-1) | Burnley |
| 5 | Jordan Pickford (Stay) | Everton |
| 6 | Petr Cech (-1) | Arsenal |
| 7 | Kasper Schmeichel (-1) | Leicester City |
| 8 | Rob Elliot (-1) | Newcastle United |
| 9 | Lukasz Fabianski (Stay) | Swansea City |
| 10 | Jonas Lossl (New!) | Huddersfield Town |
Right-Backs/Right Wing-Backs
2 of 7
Due to a combination of injuries, rotation and the usual suspects doing their usual thing, there are no movements in the right-back section this week. Football Gods, please save us from this dire situation.
Biggest rise: None
Biggest fall: None
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Kyle Walker (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 2 | Antonio Valencia (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 3 | Victor Moses (Stay) | Chelsea |
| 4 | Joe Gomez (Stay) | Liverpool |
| 5 | Kiko Femenia (Stay) | Watford |
| 6 | Matthew Lowton (Stay) | Burnley |
| 7 | Hector Bellerin (Stay) | Arsenal |
| 8 | Jonjoe Kenny (Stay) | Everton |
| 9 | Cedric Soares (Stay) | Southampton |
| 10 | Kieran Trippier (Stay) | Tottenham Hotspur |
Left-Backs/Left Wing-Backs
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Fabian Delph and Marcos Alonso once again excelled, the former having returned from a mini-injury layoff, and solidify their grip at the top.
Sead Kolasinac remains third for now, but a combination of injury and his difficulty getting to grips with a flat back four has seen his momentum stymied; as a result, he's a candidate to drop down in the coming weeks.
Ben Davies is enjoying Danny Rose's absence and making the most of his first-team minutes, as is Christian Fuchs with Ben Chilwell out of action.
Biggest rise: Ben Davies (+2)
Biggest fall: Multiple (-1)
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Fabian Delph (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 2 | Marcos Alonso (Stay) | Chelsea |
| 3 | Sead Kolasinac (Stay) | Arsenal |
| 4 | Ashley Young (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 5 | Ben Davies (+2) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 6 | Stephen Ward (Stay) | Burnley |
| 7 | Ryan Bertrand (-1) | Southampton |
| 8 | Chris Lowe (Stay) | Huddersfield Town |
| 9 | Christian Fuchs (+1) | Leicester City |
| 10 | Alberto Moreno (-1) | Liverpool |
Centre-Backs
4 of 7
The big storyline among the centre-backs this week is the return of John Stones. Out injured for over a month, he started the win over Watford and looked pretty slick during his 67 minutes on the pitch. He stays in second for now, but first-placed Cesar Azpilicueta is officially on notice.
Nicolas Otamendi was one of the best players in the Premier League over the course of December, ironing out the majority of errors in his game and in fact playing some stunning passes from the defensive line, and creeps up into fourth.
That Antonio Conte still insists on dropping Antonio Rudiger to the bench for Chelsea's most important games is puzzling; he's had a far, far better season than Gary Cahill and would be right to wonder when that will be recognised.
Biggest rise: Shane Duffy (+2)
Biggest fall: Zanka (-2)
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Cesar Azpilicueta (Stay) | Chelsea |
| 2 | John Stones (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 3 | Andreas Christensen (Stay) | Chelsea |
| 4 | Nicolas Otamendi (+1) | Manchester City |
| 5 | Ben Mee (-1) | Burnley |
| 6 | James Tarkowski (Stay) | Burnley |
| 7 | Jan Vertonghen (Stay) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 8 | Antonio Rudiger (Stay) | Chelsea |
| 9 | Jamaal Lascelles (+1) | Newcastle United |
| 10 | Davinson Sanchez (-1) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 11 | Christopher Schindler (Stay) | Huddersfield Town |
| 12 | Nacho Monreal (Stay) | Arsenal |
| 13 | Phil Jones (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 14 | Lewis Dunk (+1) | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| 15 | Shkodran Mustafi (New!) | Arsenal |
| 16 | Harry Maguire (+1) | Leicester City |
| 17 | Chris Smalling (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 18 | Zanka (-2) | Huddersfield Town |
| 19 | Shane Duffy (+2) | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| 20 | Christian Kabasele (-1) | Watford |
Defensive Midfielders/Central Midfielders
5 of 7
We welcome Paul Pogba back into the rankings this week, and he takes up a spot just inside the top five, knocking his colleague Nemanja Matic out of it as a result.
Another big shift could be in the offing next week should Barcelona's reported pursuit of Phillipe Coutinho, tracked here by the Liverpool Echo, prove successful, but he stays in second for now.
Cesc Fabregas, Eric Dier and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all playing well and move up as a result; Abdoulaye Doucoure and Tiemoue Bakayoko's recent performances have hit the rocks, so they move down; and Wilfred Ndidi joins the top 20 after dominating Huddersfield Town.
Biggest rise: Multiple (+1)
Biggest fall: Tiemoue Bakayoko (-6)
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | David Silva (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 2 | Philippe Coutinho (Stay) | Liverpool |
| 3 | N'Golo Kante (Stay) | Chelsea |
| 4 | Fernandinho (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 5 | Paul Pogba (New!) | Manchester United |
| 6 | Nemanja Matic (-1) | Manchester United |
| 7 | Steven Defour (-1) | Burnley |
| 8 | Cesc Fabregas (+1) | Chelsea |
| 9 | Jack Cork (-2) | Burnley |
| 10 | Aaron Ramsey (Stay) | Arsenal |
| 11 | Abdoulaye Doucoure (-3) | Watford |
| 12 | Vicente Iborra (Stay) | Leicester City |
| 13 | Mikel Merino (-2) | Newcastle United |
| 14 | Aaron Mooy (-1) | Huddersfield Town |
| 15 | Georginio Wijnaldum (Stay) | Liverpool |
| 16 | Mario Lemina (Stay) | Southampton |
| 17 | Eric Dier (+1) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 18 | Wilfred Ndidi (New!) | Leicester City |
| 19 | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (+1) | Liverpool |
| 20 | Tiemoue Bakayoko (-6) | Chelsea |
Attacking Midfielders/Wingers
6 of 7
The festive crunch of fixtures always produces some peculiar runs of form, with certain players catching fire, and others going stone cold. This seems particularly pertinent with attacking midfielders and wingers.
Richarlison is one who has lost his way, though the fact Watford have been obliterated by injuries and seen a drop in form has played a part in that. Juan Mata, Alexis Sanchez, Marc Albrighton and Dele Alli, on the other hand, have perked up and performed at a high level.
Alli's emergence feels long overdue. His entire first half of the season was subpar, and had that continued for much longer with the 2018 FIFA World Cup on the horizon, people may well have started panicking.
Biggest rise: Alexis Sanchez (+4)
Biggest fall: Richarlison (-5)
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Kevin De Bruyne (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 2 | Mohamed Salah (Stay) | Liverpool |
| 3 | Raheem Sterling (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 4 | Eden Hazard (Stay) | Chelsea |
| 5 | Leroy Sane (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 6 | Christian Eriksen (Stay) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 7 | Riyad Mahrez (Stay) | Leicester City |
| 8 | Jesse Lingard (Stay) | Manchester United |
| 9 | Mesut Ozil (Stay) | Arsenal |
| 10 | Alexis Sanchez (+4) | Arsenal |
| 11 | Sadio Mane (Stay) | Liverpool |
| 12 | Juan Mata (+3) | Manchester United |
| 13 | Marcus Rashford (-3) | Manchester United |
| 14 | Anthony Martial (-2) | Manchester United |
| 15 | Marc Albrighton (+3) | Leicester City |
| 16 | Heung-Min Son (Stay) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 17 | JB Gudmundsson (Stay) | Burnley |
| 18 | Richarlison (-5) | Watford |
| 19 | Dele Alli (+1) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 20 | Willian (New!) | Chelsea |
Strikers
7 of 7
Moving Sergio Aguero below Roberto Firmino may seem a strange move—particularly given the former outscored the latter in the last two games—but a forward's job is not solely to score, and Firmino's all-round play has been really, really good of late.
Against Leicester City, he wasn't credited with any goals or assists, but without his clever backheel, Salah's winner would never have occurred. Contrast that to Aguero's remarkable tally of missed chances over the Christmas period, and the decision to flip the two easily.
Further down, Alexandre Lacazette is pulling a similar move: His all-round play and creativity is a huge bonus for Arsenal, and he should not be too concerned about the goal drought he's on as a result.
Biggest rise: Romelu Lukaku (+2)
Biggest fall: Multiple (-1)
| Rank | Player | Club |
| 1 | Harry Kane (Stay) | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 2 | Roberto Firmino (Stay) | Liverpool |
| 3 | Romelu Lukaku (+2) | Manchester City |
| 4 | Sergio Aguero (-1) | Chelsea |
| 5 | Alvaro Morata (-1) | Manchester United |
| 6 | Gabriel Jesus (Stay) | Manchester City |
| 7 | Jamie Vardy (+1) | Arsenal |
| 8 | Alexandre Lacazette (-1) | Leicester City |
| 9 | Wilfried Zaha (Stay) | Crystal Palace |
| 10 | Marko Arnautovic (New!) | West Ham |
All statistics via WhoScored.com
