Arsenal and Chelsea both feature in one-player-per-team best Premier League XI
As the international break trudges on towards its welcome conclusion - how is it only Tuesday!? - what better time to take a look at the Premier League team of the season so far, admittedly with one key facet… we’re only allowed to select one player per team. It’s a tad harsh on Manchester City, who have three players in the top four best-rated players in England’s top tier this term, but them’s the rules.
Sergio Aguero and David Silva are the City pair to miss out, with Raheem Sterling (7.81) making the cut. The England international makes the grade having excelled this season, scoring four and assisting two for the defending Premier League champions. He’s pipped to top spot in the player ratings by one Eden Hazard, who has been in electrifying form for an unbeaten Chelsea side this season.
Indeed, his WhoScored rating (8.15) is better than any other Premier League player, with a return of seven goals and three assists contributing to his score. The Belgian has won the WhoScored man of the match award in five of his six league starts and is top for successful dribbles (22) in England’s top tier.
Sterling and Hazard’s respective inclusions in this XI means there is no place in this XI for Liverpool wide pair Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. Both have impressed in their own right, with the latter the club’s highest rated player with a WhoScored rating of 7.38, yet his rating is overshadowed by the former pair. It’s a similar case for striker Roberto Firmino, whose WhoScored rating (7.16) is less than that of north London pair Alexandre Lacazette (7.45) and Harry Kane (7.42).
Arsenal’s form has improved immeasurably after back-to-back defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea to kick off the season, with Lacazette playing a key role having scored four and assisted two from his five league starts. Similarly, Kane has started to look back to his best and was superb in a man of the match display in England’s 3-2 win in Spain Monday night. Like Lacazette, the Tottenham ace has had a direct hand in six league goals this term, scoring five, and makes the XI as Spurs’ top rated player.
A former Spurs man makes the cut in midfield with Gylfi Sigurdsson really beginning to find his form in Marco Silva’s Everton side. The Icelander is the fifth highest rated player in the Premier League this season, with a 7.52, having made more key passes (23) than any other top-flight player, while four goals and one assist is a fine return. Bournemouth’s big money signing Jefferson Lerma features alongside Sigurdsson in the middle of the park, with returns of 1.8 tackles and 2 interceptions returning a WhoScored rating of 7.23.
It’s an all-English centre-back partnership in the form of James Tarkowski and Harry Maguire, with the pair impressing for Burnley and Leicester, respectively. Tarkowski, who missed out in recent UEFA Nations League meetings with Croatia and Spain through injury, has again been a crucial performer at the heart of the Clarets backline, gaining a WhoScored rating of 7.44. Maguire goes one better, returning a WhoScored rating of 7.45.
The Foxes centre-back, who is at the centre of a petition to have him riding an inflatable unicorn as the face of the new £50 note, has been expectedly excellent at the heart of the Leicester defence, netting twice for Claude Puel’s side, with 3.5 aerial duels won and 6.3 clearances per game helping Maguire secure such a fine rating.
Crystal Palace star Aaron Wan-Bissaka makes the cut at right-back as he continues to thrive for the Eagles. Indeed, a WhoScored rating of 7.46 is the sixth highest in the Premier League this season as the youngster goes from strength-to-strength in the Palace backline. On the opposite flank, Watford’s form may have tailed off after a smashing start to the campaign, with Jose Holebas one of the key players in their 100% start to the season prior to last month’s international break. No player has registered more assists than the Greek left-back (4) this season and it’s contributed to a WhoScored rating of 7.19.
Rounding off this XI between the sticks is West Ham shotstopper Lukasz Fabianski. West Ham may be lingering just four points above the relegation zone, but it could have been a lot worse for the Hammers without the Pole between the sticks, who has made the joint-most saves in the Premier League this season, with 35. It’s helped return a WhoScored rating of 7.01, which is enough to make this one-player-per-team best Premier League XI of the season so far. That means, then, that there is no place for any Liverpool or Manchester United players in this side.
