The top ten Premier League players outside the Big Five



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10) Federico Fernandez
For a manager who has coached 12 different teams over a period of 25 years, Rafael Benitez does not particularly believe in favorites. Nobody has played under the Spanish for more than two different clubs. Every time Benitez moves, he tends to throw away his old toys and just invest new ones.

Only a few lucky names are written in his little black book. He led Alvaro Arbeloa to Liverpool and Real Madrid, took over Ruben Baraja at Real Valladolid and Valencia and watched over Gordan Pandev at Inter Milan and Naples. Federico Fernandez is the only Newcastle player he's already led.

Fernandez's first participation with Benitez has been fleeting, but his second promise will be much more memorable. The center half sometimes struggled to maintain a regular starting position in Napoli, but did not hold grudges against the manager. He helped win the Coppa Italia in 2013/14, before thanking Benitez for his "preparation for the Premier League" before his next move to Swansea.

It is this kind of experience that Benitez has sought to add to his current workforce this summer. Working on a tight budget from Mike Ashley, Fernandez was a fantastic rookie with only £ 6m. He helped fill the void left by Florian Lejeune's injury, reduced the pressure on Jamaal Lascelles' shoulders and resumed his role as a discreetly impressive and imposing center-center of the Premier League. It is pretty much unstoppable now.

9) Glenn Murray
With just over a third of his sixth season in the Premier League over, Glenn Murray is already more than half of the record number of goals scored for a single season. And that's only a fraction of what he's accomplished since returning to Brighton in 2016.

Saturday marked Murray's 100th match in the Premier League. In his first 50 appearances, he scored 11 goals and helped four. In his last 50 games, he has scored 19 and has not helped any. The 35-year-old has completely given up all pretense of keeping the game to focus solely on poaching, and is reaping the rewards.

He is the only player to double the number of goals in the Premier League in the history of Brighton. He is the top scorer outside the top four. He tied Teddy Sheringham's record for most goals in the Premier League at the age of 34 (16). It is the best wine of the highest flight in England.

8) Etienne Capoue
"Capua is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and has no doubts about it," said Javi Gracia, Watford coach, earlier this month, almost threatening the public to comply with their convictions. Few people will need to persuade: the former Watford recordman may be playing the best football of his career.

Where the applause of the vicariate's road was widely and legitimately dominated by Abdoulaye Doucoure last season, Capoue intercepted them and made them his own. The Frenchman's first season as a Hornet in 2015/16 was indefinable, his second in 2016/17 turned him into a goal threat by sacrificing his defensive output, and he lost his usual starting place in 2017/18.

Watford would have been forgiven for severing ties with the 30-year-old this summer, but a pre-season under Gracia has completely revitalized Capua. He has become one of the most reliable field midfielders in the league. Where would they be without their Saint Stephen?

7) Ben Chilwell
The secret is unveiled. Leicester has done his best to stay as quiet as possible, but the message is spreading fast: Ben Chilwell is really good.

For years, it seemed that the left-back was more like an idea than anything that was substantial or concrete. He came out of the Leicester development system to be part of the first team in 2015/16, but was far too peripheral to be recognized as the winner of the Premier League title. A loan with Championship Huddersfield showed the kind of talent Arsenal and Liverpool had attracted long before he even made his debut in the league.

Christian Fuchs was finally ousted by the end of the 2016/17 season, and Chilwell has since imposed himself at the left-back position. His continuous and stratospheric ascent has taken on Champions League looks, additional interest from the elite, and now a representation of England. He has took every step in his stride and, at 21, will only continue to improve.

6) Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Only two players in the top five European leagues have made more than 40 tackles and completed more than 20 dribbles this season. Allan, a 27-year-old midfielder at his peak in the hopes of Napoli's Serie A title, is one of them. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, 21-year-old right-back in his first full-season professional football for Crystal Palace, threatened with relegation, is the other.

There is a reason why young players tend not to cut their teeth at the bottom of the Premier League ladder. The managers are reluctant to defeat those who do not have a legendary high-flying experience and settle into the first team of a troubled club is as spirited as any baptism. Yet, from time to time, a block of coal can become a diamond under ultra-high pressure.

In the middle of an injury crisis last season, Wan-Bissaka's first three games in the Premier League were against Tottenham (Dele Alli), Manchester United (Alexis Sanchez) and Chelsea (Willian). They then had only a brief respite from Huddersfield to prepare him for the task. Liverpool (Sadio Mane). he it's incredibly well behaved in each game, and has grown exponentially from the experience.

He has a fairly unfathomable success rate in terms of tackles, winning 49 of the 51 attempts he has made. He is the only Premier League player to rank in the top 10 tackles (2nd), interceptions (4th, 32) and successful dribbles (6th, 27 years), using his bases as a winger to learn precisely to defend against them. England's future in the right-back is terribly brilliant.

5) Richarlison
The most complete striker of Everton for 30 years
? Perhaps. Richarlison's form has slowed somewhat, with the Brazilian having neither scored nor helped against Chelsea and Cardiff, but his six goals in 11 games seem much more durable in a team that is much better than his five goals in 38 games for Watford this season last.

The star burns just as well, but it is much less likely to extinguish so dramatically. Wayne Rooney (10) and Oumar Niasse (7) are the only players to have scored more goals in the Premier League for Everton last season than Richarlison this season. His passing to the center forward helped Everton back up the table in sixth.

Everton bothered to sign it "Tempered" the entire transfer window? Are they bullets? They seem to have been pretty successful in getting out of this deal.

4) Ryan Fraser
Chelsea signed Willian for £ 30m. Manchester City bought David Silva for £ 25m. Eden Hazard joined Chelsea for £ 3. They are the only three players to have created more Premier League opportunities this season than Ryan Fraser, who cost Bournemouth £ 400,000.

"We opened the door and they went through and scored some great goals," said Jurgen Klopp in December 2016, saying Liverpool had inexplicably doubled a two-goal lead twice, losing 4-3 to Bournemouth. Fraser was presented in the 55th minute at 2-0 and quickly won a penalty kick, scored his first goal in the Premier League and helped the equalizer. This was quite the introduction.

Fraser has slowly but surely reached a higher regularity level, with the best season of his entire career. He has nine goals combined and help in just 13 games; his record for a single season is 11 in 2016/17.

3) Callum Wilson
If patience is really a virtue, few players are as virtuous as Callum Wilson. At the age of 26, he was injured by three separate injuries threatening his career, but he was strengthened by a broken foot and anterior cruciate ligament rupture of each knee. It has never been better.

Before this season, Wilson had two Premier League aides in 61 games. This campaign alone, he has four assists in 13 games. Raheem Sterling (13), Sergio Aguero (12) and Eden Hazard (11) are the only players with more combined goals and aids this season than Wilson, who is at the level with Mohamed Salah (10). There is no more complete striker outside the contenders for a place in the Champions League.

2) Anthony Martial
Where once the question was where Manchester United would be without David de Gea, we can now ask Anthony Martial as much. With the exception of his consolation penalty against Manchester City, five of his six Premier League goals were of the utmost importance: equalizing in the 3-2 win over Newcastle, both goals in a draw 2 -2 with Chelsea, the second goal in a 2-1 win over Everton and equalizer in a 2-1 win against Bournemouth.

"I've never given up," said Jose Mourinho earlier this month, wiping the crumbs off a freshly prepared humble pie. "I never gave up feeling that it was the right way for him, even though he had to go through difficult times.

"I knew that to become a top player, he had to overcome some of the obstacles I put on the road. It depends on his talent, because he has a phenomenal talent. "

His manager was perhaps eager to share the merit, but Martial was clearly tired of being caught by the staff and thirsty for the taste of the carrot. Although he has only started 16 of the 30 Premier League matches in the United States (53.3%) in 2018 – and has completed the 90 minutes only 10 times (33.3%) – only Romelu Lukaku (10) scored more than the Frenchman's nine goals. He realizes against the adversity that his boss is so proud of having conceived. Where would United – and even Mourinho – be without Martial?

1) Gylfi Sigurdsson
After drowning in a vast sea at Tottenham, Gylfi Sigurdsson lived in the less turbulent waters of Swansea. But he seemed to be out of his depth when he moved to Everton. All seemed calm above the surface, but those legs were beating frantically, furiously, and frustratedly before things finally clicked.

More than a year after his stay at Goodison Park, he is flourish in a pond of medium size. Sigurdsson should rather be shamelessly housed in a team built around him rather than being placed in a pre-existing system and supposed to be performing well. Ronald Koeman, David Unsworth and Sam Allardyce all thought that Sigurdsson was only another interchangeable element of a chat machine, but Marco Silva was reaping the rewards of making him one of the most key elements of a more functional and powerful engine.

Six goals, two assists and 13 Premier League starts for a player who scored just six goals, five assists and 25 Premier League starts last season is the result. Sigurdsson has been used in an exclusive central position instead of being sidelined to make room for other players, and has the most Premier League minutes of any Everton player in this campaign. As the main star of the team that has moved up to sixth place, he is currently the best player outside the Big Five.

Matt Stead


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