Bukayo Saka has been a shell of his former self this season and we are very, very sad about it.

You could argue that the Arsenal winger has experienced the greatest drop-off in the Premier League this season, but plenty of Liverpool players have been surprisingly honking as well.

Incidentally, Saka is only second in our ranking of the top (or bottom) 10 biggest fall-offs in the 2025/26 Premier League.

As it turns out, there are quite a few players whose form has dropped off this season. For that reason, we have excluded new signings. What a useful caveat to make our life easier.

Top 10 biggest fall-offs in the Premier League this season

10) Evanilson (Bournemouth)

We are starting off relatively chilled before going Big Six-heavy, with three Liverpool players included and several others lucky not to be.

It’s unclear exactly what has happened to Bournemouth striker Evanilson. You can’t point the blame at the signing of Junior Kroupi, as he has often played in the No.10 role behind the Brazilian, though Justin Kluivert’s absence could be a big factor.

What is clear is that Evanilson performs better against the bigger teams, underlining why his off-the-ball work is widely regarded as his biggest strength. He has six goals and two assists in the 2025/26 Premier League. Six of his eight goal involvements have come against Spurs (twice), Manchester United (twice), Arsenal and Liverpool.

9) Cole Palmer (Chelsea)

Chelsea are just a strange team. A strange club. You have no idea what they are going to do next. What Liam Rosenior is going to say next. Yet it all feels entirely predictable at the same time.

Palmer’s best position? On the pitch, says Rosenior. But he is also the Chelsea manager to get the least out of the talented England forward. Palmer was electric in 2023/24 under Mauricio Pochettino, brilliant under Enzo Maresca for a year and a half, but is now lacking confidence under the ager of men.

Injuries are probably a factor in Palmer’s poor form this season, but four non-penalty goals and a single assist in 20 league games is a shocking return for someone of his ability. He has as many open-play goals as yellow cards in the 2025/26 Premier League.

8) Carlos Baleba (Brighton)

Joining Manchester United has proved to be career suicide for many, and sometimes even the interest alone seems enough to derail a player. That has been the case for Baleba, who failed to secure a big move to Old Trafford last summer and has been playing his way out of a £100million transfer ever since.

Whether United will go back in for Baleba, given the number of alternative options, remains to be seen. If he does leave Brighton, it is entirely plausible his best form will return, with the cloud of that rumoured transfer lifted. Even if he stays and United look elsewhere, you would expect him to bounce back once a move is firmly off the table.

Last summer, Baleba was probably the best midfield option for United. Now, he sits behind Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson, while Newcastle United duo Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali are viewed as attainable targets.

7) Micky van de Ven (Tottenham Hotspur)

Spurs finished 17th in the Premier League last season, so you could argue that none of their players have fallen off in 2025/26. That is not the case with Van de Ven, who missed 18 league games through injury, was an unused substitute six times, and was left out completely once in 2024/25.

Van de Ven’s lack of availability was a huge reason why Spurs were so poor domestically last term, yet he has been available throughout this season and they are even worse than they were under Ange Postecoglou.

The Dutch centre-back has been wretched for months as Spurs remain winless in the top flight in 2026, and his sending off against Crystal Palace could go down as one of the most significant moments of their season, especially if they are relegated to the Championship, something that is no longer unfathomable but now entirely realistic.

Spurs had just received a massive slice of entirely undeserved luck to go 1-0 up against Palace, only for Van de Ven to foul Ismaila Sarr in the box, get sent off, and then watch his side get battered from the bath.

A £100m transfer to Real Madrid? You’re having a laugh…

6) Sandro Tonali (Newcastle United)

Tonali is a man we confidently proclaimed the Premier League’s best midfielder last April, but he has been off the boil for most of this season. His form last term was even more impressive considering he missed the vast majority of 2023/24 due to a betting scandal. His performances were not those of a player who had missed so much football. This year, they have been.

Newcastle have lacked in a lot of departments this campaign, but their midfield and the energy it brings has not given them the edge it so frequently has under Eddie Howe, and a lot of that comes down to Tonali’s disappointing form.

He is not playing like a midfielder Arsenal should be interested in signing, but the temptation remains for two reasons: he was bloody good last season and Newcastle are quite rubbish.

5) Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)

Watkins has only 10 goal involvements in the 2025/26 Premier League after recording 24 last season and an incredible 34 in 2023/24. That alone is enough evidence to justify his inclusion, but his drop-off goes even further than goals and assists.

Now out of the England squad despite Thomas Tuchel including a gargantuan 35 players, Watkins has a point to prove between now and the end of the season with a World Cup spot on the line. However, he also had a point to prove last August when nobody signed him, namely Manchester United, who preferred Benjamin Sesko’s youth and unpredictability.

Watkins registered no goal involvements in eight Europa League league-phase games, and while European ventures have saved one or two players – such as Anthony Gordon – he also recorded zero goals or assists in three domestic cup fixtures. He has been miles off it and, as harsh as it sounds, his England omission was deserved. Right now, even Danny Welbeck and Ivan Toney – who were also snubbed – have stronger cases.

4) Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)

Liverpool have experienced an incredible drop-off after winning the title at a canter in Arne Slot’s first season. One of the biggest examples of a player’s form falling off a cliff is Mac Allister.

The Argentine international looks to have lost his legs at the age of 27, but there is clearly something in the water at Anfield, so under a new manager those legs could magically return.

Despite Liverpool’s record-breaking expenditure last summer, there has been a lack of depth, meaning Slot has been forced to rely on many of his title winners during this miserable spell, while other strugglers, namely Cody Gakpo, continue to receive game time regardless.

3) Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool)

From one Liverpool disappointment to another, Konate’s form this campaign has been absolutely astounding, and not in a good way. The Frenchman has put in too many abysmal performances for Real Madrid to seriously consider signing him on a free transfer this summer, and that same lack of depth has left him firmly in the firing line. Not signing Marc Guehi is ageing worse by the game…

Konate endured an atrocious period between September and December before picking up slightly, with his upturn in form coinciding with Madrid dropping their interest, funnily enough. But his performances have dipped again, and he was back to his frightening worst against Galatasaray and Brighton.

He was excellent alongside Virgil van Dijk last year and, while he might be the worst performer on this entire list, we’re not sure his drop-off matches the magnitude of our top two.

2) Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

Oh, what has happened to Arsenal’s Starboy? It’s pretty obvious, actually. And entirely predictable.

The poor lad has been run into the ground and has not been the same player since the lengthy hamstring injury he suffered 15 months ago. Before that, Saka started the season with at least one goal involvement in Arsenal’s first five Premier League matches and had recorded a total of five goals and 11 assists in 16 appearances, while also scoring four and assisting two in five Champions League games.

Saka was unplayable; now he is predictable, has lost a yard of pace, seems to have lost his explosiveness, lacks a cutting edge, and just looks bloody knackered.

It’s a painful sight, and one Arsenal supporters feared would become a reality after years of watching him play without much rest for club or country.

Saka returned to fitness almost a year ago, which means he has been painfully underwhelming for that long. Please, please, please rediscover yourself, young man.

1) Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

Saka might be the inspiration for this ranking, but his drop-off is minuscule in comparison to Salah’s.

The Liverpool forward shattered record after record as the Reds strolled to the Premier League title last term. His tally of 29 goals and 18 assists led the top flight, and it is abundantly clear that without his ridiculous output, Liverpool would have been fighting for a top-five finish, just as they are this season.

Salah was allowed to be something of a luxury player in Arne Slot’s first year, thanks to those numbers, with Trent Alexander-Arnold behind him and Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota still at the club. Liverpool lost so much energy when they sold Nunez and Diaz and were forced to deal with the tragic death of Jota, which has been a significant contributing factor to their overall drop-off.

Now that Liverpool are no longer dominating games and suffocating opponents, Salah’s work off the ball has come under scrutiny. He can no longer afford to be a passenger out of possession, and that led to him rightly being dropped earlier this season.

Salah no longer has the goals or assists to justify his style of play, and it is clear he is no longer the same asset to this Liverpool team. As a result, a summer split is actually happening.

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