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As the Premier League enters its final weeks, Manchester City have seemingly cruised to glory this season. Pep Guardiola’s side have created a huge gap between themselves and every other team with their unbelievable performances this season.
This might be one of the most one-sided seasons in recent history as even the nearest rivals Manchester United are an astonishing 16 points behind the leaders.
Certain players have failed to live up to the hype surrounding them and haven’t justified their managers' faith in them. Some of these players are going through their first seasons in English football and hence they are still adapting to the nature of the league.
However, others have been playing in the league for a while and their performances have attracted criticism.
Without further ado, here is a look at ten of the most disappointing players in the Premier League this season.
Note: All stats are as of 30 March 2018
#10 Victor Lindelof: Manchester United
Manchester United’s first signing of the summer, Victor Lindelof has been highly rated ever since his time at Benfica. Comfortable with the ball at his feet, he is adept at playing the ball out from the back. He also helps the team to build the attacks from deep inside with his composure and passing ability.
Initially, he was expected to collaborate with Eric Bailly at the heart of the defence but the Swede was given time to adapt to the nature of the Premier League. His league debut came against Huddersfield Town as a substitute for Phil Jones.
Within the first 20 minutes, Lindelof committed two huge errors that gave the Terriers a two-goal advantage quite early in the game. Ever since then, he has made subtle improvements but not enough to convince the gaffer to give him a regular starting spot.
Lindelof’s first season in English football would not be much memorable, for sure. He has made just 12 appearances in the Premier League so far and has been largely used as a backup for Phil Jones.
#9 Jese: Stoke City
Jese's career has seen a weird turn of events lately. A couple of years ago, the player was making sporadic appearances for Real Madrid but remained on the fringes of the first team.
However, on the player's insistence, he was sold to PSG. In Paris, the player was unable to make the desired impact and then he was loaned to Stoke City for this season.
The Potters seemed to have benefitted from the deal as they had lacked a proper goal-scorer and hence found some hope and solace in Jese. However, the player is yet to settle in properly in the club as a couple of factors have negatively influenced the game.
The premature birth of his son resulted in some health issues due to which the player was forced to miss games regularly. For any player trying to get accustomed to the Premier League, it's important to stay in the thick of things.
Jese had to miss matches due to certain unavoidable circumstances and hence it has affected his form. He has scored just once in 13 appearances - a disappointing return for a striker of his caliber.
#8 Alexis Sanchez: Arsenal & Manchester United
Alexis Sanchez’s future at Arsenal was subject to immense speculation ahead of the season as numerous teams were interested in acquiring the services of the Chilean. Manchester City came quite close to signing him, but Arsenal’s inability to sign a replacement meant that the deal stalled.
He had a mediocre first half of the season, in which he scored 7 goals for Arsenal in 19 appearances, and assisted thrice. However, often it looked like Sanchez was uninterested in playing for the Gunners and many thought that his time at the Emirates was over.
Wenger tried a lot to make the player stay, but the Chilean was adamant about leaving the club. Given Arsenal's relative lack of glory over the years, a lot of people felt that Alexis was right to seek to move on.
However, in January, the Chilean made a shock move to Manchester United amid strong rumors of him reuniting with Guardiola at the Etihad. This move reportedly made him the highest-paid player in the league but he has scored just once in the Premier League so far.
There has been a lack of clarity over his playing position and the player needs more time to work with his teammates. However, it cannot be denied that this has been one of Sanchez’s poorest seasons in his time in England.
#7 Gylfi Sigurdsson: Everton
Ahead of the season, Ronald Koeman had seemed to have struck gold by securing the signature of Sigurdsson for a club record fee. The playmaker was highly influential for Swansea in the past and Everton’s move was a statement of intent and ambition from the club.
He was signed along with Wayne Rooney and the duo was expected to propel the Toffees to greater heights. However, his form has been extremely uninspiring as he has scored just 4 goals and assisted thrice in 27 appearances.
Sigurdsson was deprived of proper pre-season training and hence his fitness levels were low in the early stages of the season. However, over the course of the season, he had enough time to improve his fitness and propel the team up the table.
The midfielder has often been shunted wide on the field and hence the team hasn’t been able to make the best use of his vision and widespread passing range. His set-piece deliveries have been poor as well and nothing seems to be going well for the player.
#6 Renato Sanches: Swansea City
From being the Golden Boy of Europe to find himself struggling to break into the first-team at Swansea; Renato Sanches has come a long way. His time at Bayern Munich did not go as expected and hence he was touted to rediscover his form at Swansea.
Paul Clement seemed to have pulled off the smartest loan move of the summer by bringing in Sanches. However, the lad has failed miserably and many problems have stemmed due to his lack of confidence.
Firstly, he has had troubles adapting to the physicality of the Premier League. Sanches gets in trouble whenever he his hounded upon by the opposition and hence his close control has been poor too.
He struggles with the ball at his feet and his passing has deteriorated too. He has been a liability in possession and has been unable to pull off his tricks and skills on the ball. He has neither assisted nor scored in any of his 12 appearances in the Premier League.
Moreover, he has been suffering due to a hamstring injury too and that has kept the player out of the squad for some time now. This season will probably go down as the worst one that he has endured in such a young career.
#5 Granit Xhaka: Arsenal
Arsenal has a very contrasting squad currently, as their forwards are menacing but the back end of the pitch is palpable. Amongst the top six, Arsene Wenger’s side provides the worst protection to their backline by playing Granit Xhaka as a holding midfielder.
Xhaka is primarily a creative player, who likes to commit forward and does not like being held back to do his defensive duties. Wenger has actually tried to somehow convert the Swiss midfielder to a more defensive-minded player but all the efforts have gone in vain.
He continues to disappoint in the deeper role as his concentration and tackling is just not good enough for a player playing that deep on the field. He often fails to read the attacking moves properly and hence lets the opposition run past him easily.
Though Xhaka has recorded just three defensive errors in the league this season, this statistic fails to depict the entire story. A lot of Arsenal’s problems arise from deep midfield, and Xhaka is the one player to blame for that.
#4 Alvaro Morata: Chelsea
It is well known that Alvaro Morata was not Antonio Conte’s first-choice to replace Diego Costa in the summer. However, the club was unable to sign Romelu Lukaku from Everton and hence had to resort to signing Morata for a club-record fee.
Blessed with a good technique on the ball and a terrific first-touch, Morata possesses a good finishing instinct too. He was impressive for Real Madrid last season, albeit the fact that his role over there was much lesser than the one he has at Stamford Bridge.
At Madrid, he was a backup striker and was often called up from the bench to make an impact in the second half of the games. Morata has rarely started regularly for any club he played for before Chelsea, and it looks like this extra pressure of being the main man in front of the goal has seen his performances on the field deteriorate.
Morata’s fitness has also been a huge matter of concern and the Spaniard has missed a lot of matches owing to his back problems. In certain games, he has failed to put in easy chances and hence the team has suffered.
He is yet to score a Premier League goal in 2018 and his poor form is one of the main reasons why Chelsea find themselves out of the top-four now.
#3 Petr Cech: Arsenal
Petr Cech will surely go down as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League era owing to his brilliant years spent in Stamford Bridge. At 35, he is still the number one choice custodian for Arsenal.
He was renowned for his quick reflexes and brilliant command inside the box during his Chelsea days. However, ever since his move to Arsenal, the player’s quality has never been the same after a great first season.
It also should be noted that Chelsea always had a strong defence to support Cech. At Arsenal, he does not enjoy that privilege and that has not supported his case either.
The former Czech Republic international has been guilty of as many as seven defensive errors, and that’s a lot in a single Premier League season. His concentration has not been the best and hence the goalkeeper has randomly given the ball away to the opposition in dangerous situations.
Though he has given a timely reminder of his talent and quality, the negatives surpass the positives by miles. Arsenal most definitely will have to find a younger replacement for the veteran this summer.
#2 Kelechi Iheanacho: Leicester City
Leicester City seemed to have found the perfect replacement to Jamie Vardy when they signed Kelechi Iheanacho in the summer. The former Manchester City starlet had made waves at Etihad and moved to the Foxes in search of regular playing time.
There was a general consensus that the Nigerian was being underutilized under Guardiola and hence the move to the Foxes was a welcome move for the player and his fans too.
But until now, he has failed terribly at Leicester, as Iheanacho has scored just once in 15 Premier League appearances. However, his work-rate has always been impressive and hence that makes him an exciting young prospect.
Iheanacho’s finishing is safe and precise too, but this season has been completely different. The player looks short of confidence and needs a lot of backing to bounce back to his previous form.
Back in the day, he was compared to Marcus Rashford due to his talent and breakthrough in a big club. However, this season will go down as the worst one that he has endured in his young career so far.
#1 Tiemoue Bakayako: Chelsea
Chelsea made a host of mistakes that have led to their inconsistent outings this season. One of those mistakes has to be Nemanja Matic’s sale to Manchester United.
The Serbian was allowed to leave as the Blues looked to replace him with a much younger prospect in Tiemoue Bakayako. The midfielder had an excellent season with AS Monaco last time around, and Chelsea looked to build the midfield around him and N'Golo Kante.
Essentially seen as a box-to-box player, he has been downright shambolic for major portions of the season. Bakayako fails to make the most of his runs to the opposition box due to his poor finishing technique.
He has also been unable to put in the easiest of chances and hence disappoints in the attacking aspect of the game. When asked to sit back and defend, Bakayako loses his concentration regularly to let the opposition’s attacking moves go past him.
He then makes some horrible tackles to break the play and hence it can be seen that Bakayako has not done any of his assigned duties properly. Asking anyone to replace Matic is a bad decision. Asking Bakayako to do so is even worse.
There is an apparent lack of clarity over his best playing position in the team. With Kante already in the side, Bakayako should be given the license to roam ahead and orchestrate the play from the centre.
He has scored just twice and assisted twice in 25 matches in the Premier League. Until Conte finds a proper position for him, Bakayako will only flatter to deceive.
