Man City, Southampton players dodge Premier League Worst XI; Spurs, Villa pairs included
There is a nice spread in this week’s Premier League Worst XI, with Leicester City, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest all represented.
As always, this team is based on WhoScored ratings.
GK: Mads Hermansen (Leicester) – 5.30
Manchester United played pretty well against Leicester on Sunday, scoring two beautiful goals and winning by three. There were bodies in the way of Hermansen for Bruno Fernandes’ opener and it was right in the bottom corner, while Alejandro Garnacho’s strike to make it 3-0 was unstoppable.
The Danish goalkeeper only made one save as the Foxes were smashed. On a weekend when Dean Henderson chucked a couple in, Aaron Ramsdale let Wolves win a football match and Robert Sanchez had an error leading to a goal, we think this is a tad harsh.
RB: Adam Smith (Bournemouth) – 5.63
Smith’s opposite right-back, Sepp van den Berg, had an error leading to a goal but his rating was a bit better, meaning the Bournemouth man a) lost the game and b) gets into the worst XI of the weekend. I do wonder what will upset him more.
The Cherries stalwart failed to win an aerial duel, complete a tackle or make an interception, was dispossessed twice and received a yellow card.
CB: Diego Carlos (Aston Villa) – 5.22
Carlos’ terrible attempt to nod it to a teammate instead of blasting the ball into the stands with Mohamed Salah bearing down on him unsurprisingly came back to bite him on his Brazilian butt cheek.
He also committed three fouls, lost possession 13 times, misplaced 13 passes and failed to complete an interception as Liverpool beat Villa 2-0 at Anfield.
CB: Radu Dragusin (Tottenham) – 5.35
Failed to sort his feet out quick enough to deny Ipswich’s second goal as the Romanian’s miserable week continued. Given the runaround by Victor Osimhen in the Europa League and now assisting Ipswich’s first Premier League win of the season, Dragusin has failed to prove himself as an adequate back-up for Micky van de Ven with his performances in 2024/25.
He is only 22 years old, it is easy to forget, but the drop-off in quality when Van de Ven or Cristian Romero are unavailable is immense.
LB: Victor Kristiansen (Leicester) – 5.52
Kristiansen scored an own goal against Manchester United to give Leicester a mountain to climb after 38 minutes. The Dane didn’t have the most enjoyable of afternoons defending Amad Diallo.
CM: Yasin Ayari (Brighton) – 5.79
It doesn’t feel right including a Brighton player after they beat the champions but the algorithm does what it wants, when it wants.
In fairness, Fabian Hurzeler took Ayari off at half time when 1-0 down and Brighton won with Carlos Baleba in his position. It might have been because the Swede was on a yellow card but it was clearly a change that had to be made. And it absolutely worked.
CM: Daichi Kamada (Crystal Palace) – 5.31
Sent off for an extremely high challenge on Kenny Tete, summer signing Kamada had no complaints when sent for an early bath. He let his team down when they were on the back foot against Fulham and Palace were fortunate they didn’t lose by more than two.
Kamada’s start to life in the Premier League has been rubbish and he has wasted his chance to impress with Eberechi Eze out. After the international break, Eze will probably be fit to play and Kamada will be suspended.
RW: Brennan Johnson (Tottenham) – 5.76
Missed an absolute sitter at 0-0 which could have made all the difference. The man in electric form for Spurs struggled as Ipswich finally won in the Premier League. What a Spursy result.
AM: Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa) – 5.61
Committed two fouls and was booked in the 34th minute. Missed a big chance, lost possession an awful 21 times and only won it back twice. Rogers has been fantastic under Unai Emery but Saturday’s loss to Liverpool is a result and performance both will want to quickly forget.
LW: Callum Hudson-Odoi (Nottingham Forest) – 5.62
We can’t say Forest’s bubble has burst after one defeat but they will be sitting on that during the international break and have a trip to Arsenal in their first game back. It’s certainly losing air, just as Newcastle United’s win at the City Ground will take away their momentum.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men were superior in the first half but the Magpies came out of the traps flying in the second period and deserved their win.
Hudson-Odoi’s start to the season has been very positive but Sunday’s performance was his worst for a while. He was dispossessed once, committed two fouls, had an error leading to a shot, completed zero dribbles and showed nothing defensively, according to the statistics.
ST: Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace) – 5.68
Mateta actually had the exact same rating as Brighton’s Georginio Rutter but the Seagulls beat Manchester City and Palace would have been getting away with one had Kamada been their only representative, especially if Brighton had two!
The Frenchman’s form at the end of last season appears to be nothing more than a flash in the pan. He has been very poor in an abysmal Eagles team under Oliver Glasner, who is under immense pressure to turn things around. There were not just hopes of a top-half finish this term but an expectation Palace after such a strong end to the previous campaign, but their big stars have let them down and man do they miss Michael Olise.
Mateta missed a whopping three big chances in the home defeat to Fulham, lost possession seven times and lost seven of his nine duels.