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EPL 100: Ranking of Premier League's Best Players After Matchday 34

Sam Tighe

Now that the UEFA Champions League quarter-final frenzy has died down, it's time to turn our attention back to the Premier League's run-in. With just four gameweeks remaining, the battle at the top intensifying and the struggle to avoid the drop reopening, there's rarely been as much to play for at this stage.

Only performances in the 2018-19 Premier League season affect this ranking. Reputations, cup performances and European showings matter not.

To be eligible, players need to have started at least 50 per cent of games—so in this case, 17 (or more) out of 34.

Players who have appeared in multiple positions (Wilfried Zaha, Mohamed Salah and Bernardo Silva) are categorized by the spot they have played in most. If those values are level, they fall into the category for the role they played most recently.

Our rankings provide a week-to-week idea of who has been the best in each position this season. So if a Team of the Season were crowned right now, the No. 1s in each category would be our choices.

Goalkeepers

Marc Atkins/Getty Images

The most notable mover this week is Ben Foster, and it's for the wrong reasons. Among a tight cluster of closely related performers in the middle of the pack, the Watford No. 1's grievous error to allow Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score drops him three spots.

Martin Dubravka's on the rise thanks to a commanding showing against Leicester City, while Alisson Becker's clean, solid performance against Chelsea edges him slightly further from Lukasz Fabianski at the top.

Bernd Leno's been dependable for several weeks. It's not out of the question that he'll challenge for second, or even first, over the home stretch.

Biggest rise: Martin Dubravka (+3)

Biggest fall: Ben Foster (-3)

                        

Top 10 Goalkeepers
Rank Player Club
1 Alisson Becker (Stay) Liverpool
2 Lukasz Fabianski (Stay) West Ham United
3 Bernd Leno (Stay) Arsenal
4 David De Gea (Stay) Manchester United
5 Martin Dubravka (+3) Newcastle United
6 Ederson Moraes (Stay) Manchester City
7 Kepa Arrizabalaga (Stay) Chelsea
8 Ben Foster (-3) Watford
9 Hugo Lloris (Stay) Tottenham Hotspur
10 Rui Patricio (Stay) Wolves

Right-Backs/Right-Wing-Backs

Marc Atkins/Getty Images

We are so, so short of right-back talent in the Premier League.

The top five have all had good seasons, but beyond that it's picking between the inconsistent (Cesar Azpilicueta, Seamus Coleman) or the generally underwhelming (Ashley Young, DeAndre Yedlin).

Yan Valery is excepted from those groupings somewhat, as he only made the first-team breakthrough in December and is therefore playing catchup.

The most positive story from this section this week is Kyle Walker, who is arguably uniquely qualified to deal with the threat of Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha—and proved as much.

Biggest rise: Multiple (+1)

Biggest fall: Multiple (-1)

                      

Top 10 RBs/RWBs
Rank Player Club
1 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Stay) Liverpool
2 Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Stay) Crystal Palace
3 Kyle Walker (+1) Manchester City
4 Ricardo Pereira (-1)
Leicester
5 Matt Doherty (Stay) Wolves
6 Cesar Azpilicueta (Stay)
Chelsea
7 Yan Valery (+1) Southampton
8 Seamus Coleman (-1) Everton
9 Ashley Young (Stay) Manchester United
10 DeAndre Yedlin (Stay)
Newcastle

Left-Backs/Left-Wing-Backs

Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images

Ryan Bertrand's steady rise continues; he's been excellent over the past few months and on Saturday handled Wolves with aplomb.

We welcome Nacho Monreal to the rankings, who has played more games at left-back/left-wing-back than centre-back, so he lands here. His season has been very stop-start due to injury, but in the games he's played, he's generally been good. Danny Rose drops out as a result.

Matt Ritchie delivered the game-winning assist against Leicester City and then dug in to help protect the lead. It's not the first time that's happened, and it won't be the last.

Biggest rise: Ryan Bertrand, Matt Ritchie (+1)

Biggest fall: Jose Holebas, Sead Kolasinac (-2)

                     

Top 10 LBs/LWBs
Rank Player Club
1 Andy Robertson (Stay) Liverpool
2 Luke Shaw (Stay) Manchester United
3 Lucas Digne (Stay)
Everton
4 Ben Chilwell (Stay)
Leicester
5 Jonny (Stay) Wolves
6 Ryan Bertrand (+1)
Southampton
7 Matt Ritchie (+1) Newcastle
8 Jose Holebas (-2) Watford
9 Nacho Monreal (New!) Arsenal
10 Sead Kolasinac (-2)
Arsenal

Centre-Backs

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

It might seem strange to see Antonio Rudiger move up, given he injured his knee against Liverpool, but for 40 minutes he looked solid, and it was after his departure that Chelsea caved inward.

Michael Keane also missed a second straight game, so there's grounds for a swap.

Burnley boys James Tarkowski and Ben Mee are trending the right way, the former moving up three and the latter joining the ranking. They've helped their team sail clear of relegation worries.

Lewis Dunk has had a difficult month and drops out. 

Biggest rise: Ben Mee (New!)

Biggest fall: Lewis Dunk (Out)

                   

Top 20 CBs
Rank Player Club
1 Virgil van Dijk (Stay)
Liverpool
2 Aymeric Laporte (Stay) Manchester City
3 John Stones (Stay) Manchester City
4 Antonio Rudiger (+1) Chelsea
5 Michael Keane (-1) Everton
6 Toby Alderweireld (Stay) Tottenham
7 Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Stay)
Arsenal
8 Victor Lindelof (Stay) Manchester United
9 Jan Bednarek (Stay) Southampton
10 Jan Vertonghen (Stay) Tottenham
11 Fabian Schar (+2) Newcastle
12 Jannik Vestergaard (Stay) Southampton
13 Kurt Zouma (-2)
Everton
14 James Tarkowski (+3) Burnley
15 Willy Boly (Stay) Wolves
16 Shane Duffy (-2)
Brighton
17 Ben Mee (New!) Burnley
18 Nathan Ake (New!) Bournemouth
19 Conor Coady (-1) Wolves
20 Fabian Balbuena (New!)
West Ham

Defensive Midfielders/Central Midfielders

PAUL ELLIS/Getty Images

There's a case for a move up for N'Golo Kante, Declan Rice, Paul Pogba and Fabinho, as they all played well. For all of them to do so is impossible, though, so only Kante gets the nod, edging ahead of Georginio Wijnaldum.

In the lower half, we welcome two new faces in Jordan Henderson, who is on a hot streak of form thanks to switching to a more attacking role, and James Ward-Prowse, who has been superb this calendar year, adding personality and goals to his game.

Everton were terrible against already relegated Fulham. Idrissa Gueye drops accordingly.

Biggest rise: James Ward-Prowse (New!)

Biggest fall: Idrissa Gueye (-2)

                      

Top 20 DMs/CMs
Rank Player Club
1 Fernandinho (Stay) Manchester City
2 Bernardo Silva (Stay) Manchester City
3 David Silva (Stay) Manchester City
4 N'Golo Kante (+1) Chelsea
5 Georginio Wijnaldum (-1)
Liverpool
6 Declan Rice (Stay)
West Ham
7 Paul Pogba (Stay) Manchester United 
8 Fabinho (Stay)
Liverpool
9 Joao Moutinho (Stay) Wolves
10 Moussa Sissoko (Stay) Tottenham
11 Lucas Torreira (Stay) Arsenal
12 Harry Winks (Stay) Tottenham
13 Etienne Capoue (+1)
Watford
14 Abdoulaye Doucoure (+1) Watford
15 Idrissa Gueye (-2) Everton
16 Ruben Neves (Stay) Wolves
17 Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Stay) Southampton
18 Ashley Westwood (Stay) Burnley
19 James Ward-Prowse (New!) Southampton
20 Jordan Henderson (New!) Liverpool

Attacking Midfielders/Wingers

Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images

Every now and then, Bournemouth's attack blitzes someone. They have been wildly inconsistent this season, but when they're hot, watch out.

True to form, Ryan Fraser was at the centre of all things good for the Cherries last weekend. He's closing in on 20 combined goals and assists, sitting one short, with 12 assists making up the bulk of his work. David Brooks was also excellent and gets a boost, too.

Further down, we've got some major reshuffling. Anthony Martial may have won a penalty, but his overall performance against West Ham wasn't good, and Everton's attackers fell after a bad day against Fulham.

Biggest rise: Multiple (+2)

Biggest fall: Gylfi Sigurdsson (-4)

               

Top 20 AMs/Wingers
Rank Player Club
1 Raheem Sterling (Stay) Manchester City
2 Eden Hazard (Stay) Chelsea
3 Sadio Mane (Stay) Liverpool
4 Mohamed Salah (Stay) Liverpool
5 Heung-Min Son (Stay) Tottenham
6 Leroy Sane (Stay) Manchester City
7 Ryan Fraser (+2) Bournemouth
8 Diogo Jota (-1) Wolves 
9 James Maddison (-1) Leicester
10 David Brooks (+2)
Bournemouth
11 Nathan Redmond (Stay) Southampton
12 Christian Eriksen (+2) Tottenham
13 Anthony Martial (-3) Manchester United
14 Wilfried Zaha (New!) Crystal Palace
15 Felipe Anderson (+2) West Ham
16 Richarlison (-3) Everton
17 Gerard Deulofeu (-1) Watford
18 Lucas Moura (New!) Tottenham
19 Gylfi Sigurdsson (-4) Everton
20 Dele Alli (-2)
Tottenham

Strikers

Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images

Sunday's match between Liverpool and Chelsea was your quintessential Roberto Firmino exhibit. He didn't score and didn't assist but showed good form, setting the tone up front by linking play well and helping press.

He jumps into fifth, replacing Raul Jimenez, who was nonexistent against Southampton.

Callum Wilson dropped four spots last week, but he responded with a goal and two assists, leading to a rise of two. Clearly he's the sort of player who responds to a public dressing down!

Biggest rise: Callum Wilson (+2)

Biggest fall: Several (-1)

                      

Top 10 Strikers
Rank Player Club
1 Sergio Aguero (Stay) Manchester City
2 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Stay)
Arsenal
3 Harry Kane (Stay) Tottenham
4 Alexandre Lacazette (Stay) Arsenal
5 Roberto Firmino (+1) Liverpool
6 Raul Jimenez (-1)
Wolves
7 Callum Wilson (+2) Bournemouth
8 Jamie Vardy (-1) Leicester
9 Marcus Rashford (-1) Manchester United
10 Salomon Rondon (Stay) Newcastle

                            

Instagram.com/brsamtighe

All statistics via WhoScored.com.

   

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