Every Premier League club’s player of the season so far…

Ian Watson
Mo Salah, Emile Smith Rowe and Matteo Kovacic have all been in fine form this season.

It will come as no surprise that Mo Salah is the highest-rated PL player of the season so far. Bruno Fernandes and Emile Smith Rowe are also leading the way…

 

The Premier League season is three months old, so we’ve picked out every club’s best player so far according to WhoScored ratings. To qualify, players must have played a minimum of half their team’s league minutes.

 

Arsenal: Emile Smith Rowe – 7.14
Not a bad few days for the Arsenal youngster. A winning goal at the weekend followed by a first senior England call-up and now he has leapfrogged early frontrunner Takehiro Tomiyasu in the Player of the Year stakes. An indication of how important the No.10 has become to Mikel Arteta: he has played more minutes than any team-mate; he is Arsenal’s joint-top scorer with four goals and he has the highest pass success percentage of any Gunner to have played more than 90 minutes.

 

Aston Villa: Douglas Luiz – 7.00
The mood around Villa Park may be the most glum in the Premier League right now but Luiz is doing his best to lift spirits. Even if he failed to read the room with a couple of mistimed selfies.

 

Brentford: Ivan Toney – 7.30
The Bees centre-forward hasn’t missed a minute in the Premier League so far this season, scoring two goals and creating another couple. Toney admits he’d love to catch Jurgen Klopp’s eye and he’s going the right way about it.

 

Brighton: Shane Duffy – 7.23
It has been some recovery from the Republic of Ireland centre-back. Duffy’s Brighton career looked finished when he was sent to Celtic on loan last season, even more so when he stank out Parkhead. But the 29-year-old has maintained his fine early-season form and remains the ratings front-runner in the Brighton squad, which made the decision to drop him for the visit of Manchester City all the more odd.

 

Burnley: Dwight McNeil – 7.64
The Clarets would have been an even tougher watch without the 21-year-old, with McNeil remaining the stand-out Claret. Though Maxwell Cornet, with his four goals, is catching up quick.

 

Chelsea: Mateo Kovacic  – 7.56
Chelsea’s success in the league means that perhaps it should come as no surprise that Chelsea have a dozen players averaging over 7/10. For contrast, Arsenal have only two players over 7, while Man Utd have only three. And it’s no surprise that Kovacic with his five assists leads the way, taking over from Romelu Lukaku after the striker’s early-season hot streak.

 

Crystal Palace: Conor Gallagher – 7.5
The Chelsea loanee started the season on fire and has maintained his form since, taking his assists tally to three to complement the couple of goals he scored early in the campaign. Only three players in the Premier League who have played half their club’s minutes have averaged a higher rating.

 

Everton: Abdoulaye Doucoure – 7.68
Rafa Benitez is ruing the fact that he is currently without his two best performers, according to Whoscored. Dominic Calvert-Lewin started the season on fire and was the Toffees’ highest-rated after a month but he hasn’t played since the third game of the season. It is also no coincidence that Everton haven’t won any of the three Premier League matches Doucoure has missed with a foot injury and the midfielder isn’t expected back any time soon.

Raphinha

Leeds: Raphinha – 7.42
The Brazil winger remains Leeds’ shining light, lifting his own average from 6.8 through the first month of the season to become Marcelo Bielsa’s only player averaging above 7. Without Raphinha’s five goals – Leeds’ total is 11, the fourth fewest in the Premier League – the Whites would be deeper in the mire. Only two players have earned more than his three man of the match awards.

 

Leicester: Youri Tielemans – 7.17 
It’s been a mixed start for Leicester and Tielemans and though perhaps he hasn’t enjoyed the consistency we have come to expect, the Belgium midfielder has still had a hand in five goals in 11 matches. A calf injury looks set to keep him on the sidelines after the international break as the Foxes face Chelsea.

 

Liverpool: Mo Salah – 8.18
No one in the Premier League has more minutes, more assists or man of the match awards than Salah, who leads the race for the Golden Boot by three goals. Pay the man, FSG.

 

Manchester City: Ilkay Gundogan – 7.41
Jack Grealish began the season as the champions’ best player but Gundogan’s consistency has taken the Germany midfielder to top spot in the City ranks. Bernardo Silva’s 7.37 deserves a mention given he’s played 256 minutes more than Gundogan. Grealish has dropped to fourth in the list, below Joao Cancelo.

 

Manchester United: Bruno Fernandes – 7.14
The Portuguese magician is one of only three United players to average above 7. Next highest is Paul Pogba, who has been largely sh*te for the last couple of months. United won’t miss this form in the next eight to 10 weeks.

 

Newcastle: Allan Saint-Maximin – 7.24
Of course Saint-Maximin is the only Newcastle player averaging 7 or above. Without him, the Magpies would have been unwatchable for most of the season. Currently, he and Adama Traore are neck and neck on 70 for most dribbles in the Premier League, 11 clear of Raphinha.

 

Norwich: Mathias Normann – 7.01
The midfielder is the only Norwich player to offer both a goal and an assist and the only Canary averaging 7. And he only just scraped that…

 

Southampton: Mohammed Salisu – 7.10
Salisu there, finally proving Daniel Storey right. Sort of. The defender has been Saints’ highest-rated player having not featured in a side last season that kept a clean sheet. Only two players in the Premier League – Charlie Taylor and Michael Keane – have averaged more interceptions per game,

 

Tottenham: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – 7.15
Hojbjerg and Lucas Moura are the only Spurs players to average above a 7 which sums up the state of their season. Hojbjerg has been, er, ok. A single goal from midfield makes him Spurs’ joint-second-highest scorer behind Heung-min Son on four.

 

Watford: Joshua King – 6.96
King’s average is massively juiced by the 9.84 he earned at Everton when he scored a hat-trick against his former club, which takes him just above Emmanuel Dennis (6.95), who started the season as the Hornets’ best performer.

 

West Ham: Declan Rice – 7.46
‘Johnny Nic loves him,’ we wrote when Michail Antonio topped the Hammers averages early in the season. Now Rice has overtaken the centre-forward, we can say the same again. Johnny clearly has good taste in Irons…

 


Declan Rice: Future England captain and the boy next door


 

Wolves: Adama Traore – 7.2
Traore was the highest-rated player in the Premier League when we first looked a month into the season, with four man-of-the-match performances in his first four games. He remains Wolves’ best average performer but Bruno Lage has seen fit to leave him on the bench for the last couple of games. Though Trincao’s performance at Palace on Saturday means he’ll almost certainly return to the XI after the international break.