West Ham target sandwiched between Messi and Pogba atop European form rankings
In our first player form rankings of the year covering Europe’s top leagues, with all five now back in action, there are plenty of new faces in our opening leaderboard of 2019.
It’s Lionel Messi that continues to lead the way, picking up where he left off before the winter break, scoring from the bench as Barcelona overcame Leganes. The Argentine has now scored in each of his last six league appearances, scoring nine goals in that time and registering a further three assists.
Duvan Zapata has gone one better in terms of his scoring streak, netting for a seventh successive league match last time out, doing so four times in fact as Atalanta recorded a thumping 5-0 win at Frosinone. The Colombian is up to second in the form rankings as a result, with 12 of his 14 league goals this season coming in his last six Serie A outings.
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba is the highest ranked new qualifier in third having had a direct hand in over half of the league goals scored in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first six matches in charge in England’s top-flight. The Frenchman has five goals and four assists in that time, netting from the spot having won the penalty to give his team the lead against Brighton at the weekend.
Teammate Marcus Rashford is also new to the leaderboard, up to 11th having scored for a fourth Premier League game running. He doesn’t quite break the top ten, however, with Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani both new qualifiers following hat-tricks in the 9-0 demolition job of Guingamp at the weekend, placing fifth and seventh respectively.
Luis Suarez is up to fourth, scoring for the fifth game in his last six league appearances, while Mohamed Salah drops to sixth despite a match-winning brace at Crystal Palace. Meanwhile Atalanta’s Alejandro Gomez (eighth), Rennes’ Hatem Ben Arfa (ninth) and Atletico’s Antoine Griezmann complete the top ten, with the latter dropping down the rankings having seen a five-game scoring streak come to an end.
Elsewhere Joshua Kimmich, Wahbi Khazri and Dani Parejo all fall out of the top ten but remain on the leaderboard, while Rayo Vallecano centre-back Emiliano Velazquez is the final new qualifier. The Uruguayan is in at 15 having not started a single La Liga game until the end of November but done so six times since, with the team picking up 13 points in that time and the South American making a whopping 29 tackles (4.8 per game).
Chelsea loanee Tiemoue Bakayoko climbs onto the leaderboard in 19th having earned the WhoScored.com man of the match award in four of his last five league appearances, while Hannover keeper Michael Esser deserves recognition having risen to seventeenth. The 31-year-old made 12 saves in a 1-0 defeat to Werder Bremen at the weekend, taking his tally to 42 over his last six appearances (7 per game).
