Premier League POWER RANKINGS – Virgil van Dijk among the new entrants

It was quite the action packed Premier League weekend – with 34 goals spread across the 10 fixtures, albeit not that evenly spread.

Tottenham were the big winners in thrashing Everton 5-0 but there were also huge triumphs for Manchester City, who defeated Manchester United 4-1, while Chelsea and Aston Villa ran out 4-0 winners over Burnley and Southampton respectively.

Meanwhile, Arsenal continued their fine form following a 3-2 win at Watford as they continue their push for a return to the Champions League, while Liverpool edged out West Ham to maintain their unbeaten Premier League record in 2022.

One team who won’t be taking their recent three points for granted though are Brentford as they ended a run of just one point in eight by seeing off relegation-threatened Norwich at Carrow Road.

With those results in mind, meet your latest Top 10 of our Power Rankings… 

10. Son Heung-min (down one)

Tough crowd these power rankings.

Son scored a good goal against Everton to help Spurs to victory on Monday night, but it’s form of other players elsewhere that see him drop slightly down on the list.

It of course follows his superb strike against Leeds United previously in what has otherwise been an inconsistent campaign for the forward.

It rather sums up Spurs this term by blowing hot one minute and cold the next.

The back-to-back goals are the first time he has netted in consecutive games since December when he went on a run of four and fans will now hope this run of form is here to stay.

A big sign of that will be scoring against Manchester United this weekend, having netted just twice against a team in the top half of the table since September. 

Spurs need one of their best attacking outlets to turn it on against one of their challengers this season for a top four place. 

9. Christian Eriksen (new entry)

While the power rankings are mostly about form, sometimes you have to take into account an instant impact.

That’s where Christian Eriksen comes in who made just his second Premier League appearance for Brentford at the weekend and his first full start following his horrifying cardiac arrest at Euro 2020 last summer.

Eriksen was coming into a Brentford team who have been close to free-fall recently, taking just one point from a possible 24 as they edged closer to a relegation battle.

But the Dane’s presence on the pitch proved influential as he helped guide his team to an excellent 3-1 victory at Norwich, with Ivan Toney netting a hat-trick.  The Bees will now be hoping the former Spurs star is the key to keeping them in the Premier League this term.

Christian Eriksen’s first Brentford start resulted in them ending a run of just one point in eight

8. Phil Foden (down three)

While he wasn’t exactly anonymous against Manchester United – it’s hard to be when your side for a period has over 90 per cent of the ball – City’s derby victory wasn’t his most sparkling performance.

And in a week where there were several stand out performances from players really hitting their stride, Foden was always going to take a knock in the power rankings.

The England star though will remain an important component to Pep Guardiola’s side as they look to retain the Premier League title and it’s hard not to see him make some crucial contribution when the chips are down like against Everton recently.

Another average display in his next match though could see him drop out of the top 10… 

Despite Manchester City’s domination over Manchester United, Phil Foden failed to shine

7. Philippe Coutinho (new entry)

If there is one thing Aston Villa must put on their priority list this summer it’s trying to work out a deal that will keep Coutinho at Villa Park.

Since arriving on loan from Barcelona in January he has been key to the Villa attack and after a rough patch of form from the West Midlands outfit has been pulling the strings behind their recent revival.

A goal and an assist in the 4-0 victory over Southampton was a reminder that when on form his creativity is of the highest class in the Premier League – as his manager and former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard would likely agree.

If Villa are to progress next season, they must keep the Brazilian who could help kick off an exciting new era at Villa Park if Saturday’s evidence is anything to go by.  

Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard embraces Philippe Coutinho during the win over Southampton

6. Eric Dier (down two)

A bit harsh to drop a defender who has just kept a clean sheet in a 5-0 win but like his Tottenham team-mate Son, it’s a case of other players leaping ahead rather than a tumble down.

There’s also the factor that he had very little to do in the victory over Everton, so had little opportunity to demonstrate why he was so high up in the power rankings in the first place.

Still, Dier has shown promising improvement under the management of Antonio Conte and back-to-back clean sheets in the Premier League are a fair measure of this.

Keep another one at Old Trafford and he may be heading back near the top again. 

Eric Dier has been part of a Tottenham team that has kept back-to-back top flight clean sheets

5. Bukayo Saka (new entry)

Arsenal are flying so it was only a matter of time before one of their stars broke into the power rankings.

And few Gunners supporters would complain that Saka is that man either, with the left-sided star flourishing this term as his team edge closer to sealing a first return to the Champions League in five years.

Against Watford on Sunday, he set up Martin Odegaard to give Arsenal the lead with fewer than five minutes on the clock before then responding to a Hornets equaliser by netting to restore the Gunners’ advantage.

That’s now three goal contributions in as many Premier League games for the England international and he will remain crucial in this last quarter of the season.

Bukayo Saka is a new entry in this week’s power rankings for high-flying Arsenal

4. Virgil van Dijk (new entry)

Liverpool may have been far from their best in defeating West Ham United 1-0 on Saturday, but once again Virgil van Dijk and his fellow defenders ensured they played their part by keeping out the Hammers for another clean sheet.

In fact, the Dutchman’s defensive record for 2022 makes for remarkable reading. Since the 2-2 draw with Chelsea at the start of the year, Van Dijk has played seven Premier League games and scored just as many as he has conceded (two).

There were concerns earlier in the season that Van Dijk had lost an element of sharpness following the severe knee injury that kept him sidelined for most of the 2020-21 season.

But that notion can be laid to rest now. Van Dijk is performing as well as he has in a Liverpool shirt and could spur his side on to an unprecedented quadruple.

Virgil van Dijk is congratulated by boss Jurgen Klopp following victory over West Ham

3. Dejan Kulusevski (up four)

For all of Tottenham’s huge highs and crashing lows recently, one player who seems to be critical towards all the highs is Kulusevski.

Spurs’ recent dips into the transfer market have been horrendous, but in the current Juventus wideman they look to have found a star who can take a lot of the attacking burden off Son and Harry Kane.

His two assists against Everton make it five goal contributions in his first six games for Spurs, and there appears to be more to come from the 21-year-old Swede.

Based on his form now, Spurs will be all too happy to convert his loan deal into a permanent switch this summer with the former Parma star settling into the Premier League extremely comfortably. 

Dejan Kulusevski has proven to be an exciting addition to the Tottenham attack

2. Harry Kane (down one)

Kane is finally knocked off top spot and it’s certainly not something of his own fault following another clinical display against Everton.

Two goals, including a sensational low volley across goal into the bottom corner, was the perfect way for him to surpass Thierry Henry’s 175 goals to make him the sixth greatest Premier League striker ever.

The England captain is now only one behind Frank Lampard as he keeps surpassing all the greats of the top flight.

At one point in December he only had one Premier League goal to his name but since then he has rattled off another nine – enough to take him into the top five marksman this season, but not enough to keep him power rankings’ top dog.

Harry Kane’s two goals against Everton have helped him shoot up the goalscoring charts

1. Kevin De Bruyne (up one) 

Big teams need their biggest players for their biggest games and De Bruyne certainly didn’t go missing in Sunday’s Manchester derby.

Manchester City were not exactly off form but they had been wobbling in recent times following defeats by Tottenham as well as far from convincing displays in victories over Peterborough United and Everton.

And with Liverpool’s winning machine hot on their heels the pressure was on at the Etihad Stadium. De Bruyne though stood up to the task by producing a man of the match worthy performance, scoring twice and setting up another goal in the 4-1 win.

He also did it with the captain’s armband, indicating that perhaps there is also leadership potential in the Belgian to be mined. Just when you thought he couldn’t get any better… 

Kevin De Bruyne’s excellent display in the Manchester derby sees him top the power rankings