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Regardless of what some people say, the Premier League is the best league in the world. It may not have the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is the most competitive of Europe’s top five leagues.
No team has retained the Premier League title since 2009 after Manchester United won it on three consecutive occasions. Ever since then, it has been a fight for success, with no side dominating the league.
Chelsea have won the league three times since then, as have Manchester City. Manchester United have won two titles, but none since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, while Leicester City were the shock champions of the 2015/16 season, with the Foxes defying odds of 5000/1 to win the title in extraordinary fashion.
The Premier League has also seen some brilliant players over the years. Thierry Henry really made a name for himself in England, where he was sensational for Arsenal before leaving for Barcelona.
We have also seen the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo come from abroad and do the business, while the likes of Frank Lampard, Ryan Giggs and Steven Gerrard have all succeeded having come through the academies of clubs in England.
But that’s the past, and now back to the present. Here are the top ten players in the Premier League at the moment.
#10 Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Van Dijk is probably the best defender in the Premier League right now. He had a tough 2017, which he missed much of due to injury, before handing in a transfer request at Southampton, which meant he was in an out of the team for the first half of the 2017/18 season. In January, he completed a long-awaited move to Liverpool for £75 million, making him the most expensive defender in history, and he hasn’t looked back since.
He has had a superb 2018 so far. He established himself as a crucial member of this Liverpool side, and was a key player as they reached the Champions League Final, where they were beaten by Real Madrid. He has formed an excellent partnership with Joe Gomez at the start of this season, and they will play a massive part in Liverpool’s efforts to end a 28-year wait for the title.
#9 Christian Eriksen (Tottenham)
Eriksen is one of the most underrated players in the Premier League. After Gareth Bale made the move to Real Madrid back in the summer of 2013, Tottenham splashed the cash on a number of players from around Europe. This included the likes of Roberto Soldado and Paulinho, who flopped at White Hart Lane. Eriksen was one of the players bought to the club in that transfer window, and he was by far the best of the bunch.
The Dane has become a key man in the Tottenham side, and is now a vital cog in this team. He has the ability to pick a pass in the final third that others don’t see and is probably the only man in the Tottenham side with that ability. He maybe doesn’t have the pace of someone like a Lucas Moura or Son Heung-Min, but they wouldn’t be half as successful in that side if it wasn’t for Eriksen.
#8 David Silva (Manchester City)
Silva will go down as one of the Premier League’s greatest imports, having been a brilliant player for Manchester City since his move from Valencia in 2010. He was one of City’s first big money signings after their takeover, and even at £25 million, he looks like a bit of a bargain and has been worth every penny of that fee, and if anything, he keeps on getting better, even though he is now 32.
Silva has been a part of three Premier League title wins at City, and it is no coincidence that he has had his best seasons in the years they won the title. There aren’t many players who are better at passing the ball in the league than Silva. When the ball is at his feet, the game just seems to slow down, and he makes it look so easy. It would be no exaggeration to say that he would be one of the top players that we have ever seen in the Premier League.
#7 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Despite a short spell at Chelsea, Salah has only had one full season playing in the Premier League, and it was a record-breaking one. He failed to make an impact at Chelsea, but he certainly wasn’t the only one to struggle under Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, and he has gone on to prove his doubters wrong in the years since. He rebuilt his reputation in Serie A after leaving England and returned to the Premier League with Liverpool at the start of last season.
He scored a quite incredible 32 goals in the Premier League last season, the most by anyone in a 38-game season. His pace is such a threat, and suits this Liverpool team so well, especially the way Jurgen Klopp wants them to play. He did have an excellent first year at Anfield, and now the big test for him is to show that he can produce that level of performance on a consistent basis.
#6 N’Golo Kante (Chelsea)
The rise of N’Golo Kante in the last few years has been nothing short of remarkable. The midfielder was an unknown quantity when he joined Leicester City in 2015, but he is now among the best midfielders in the world, and everyone knows his name. The Frenchman’s ability to get around the park is almost unique in the game at the moment, and he has become a vital part of both the Chelsea and France side.
He has won two Premier League titles since moving to England, one with Leicester City, and one with Chelsea. He also picked up the PFA Player of the Year for the 2016/17 season, having been comfortably the best player in the Premier League that year. He was also part of the French side who won their second world title over the summer, and this week was named in the FIFPro World XI for the first time in his career.
#5 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
It’s almost as if the Premier League takes Sergio Aguero for granted sometimes. The Argentine has been one of the best strikers in the league, if not the world, in the seven years since he left Atletico Madrid to move to Manchester City. His goal record at City is nothing short of sensational. He has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last four seasons and has scored an incredible 147 goals in 212 Premier League games.
What is so impressive about Aguero is his consistency. He always seems to produce the goods when City need him. This was most memorable in the 2011/12 season, where he scored perhaps the most famous goal in Premier League history, that strike against QPR that won City the Premier League title for the first time.
#4 David de Gea (Manchester United)
There is no doubting that de Gea is the best goalkeeper in the world at the moment. It has been a tough few years for United since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, but the one constant in these turbulent times has been de Gea, who has gone from strength to strength.
It was a difficult transition from LaLiga to the Premier League for de Gea, who looked to be struggling to deal with the physicality of English football when he first moved to Old Trafford. But after a shaky couple of seasons, he established himself as United’s undisputed number one and has gone on to become the world’s best. He may not be as good with the ball at his feet as other goalkeepers, but very few have the same shot stopping abilities as the Spaniard.
#3 Harry Kane (Tottenham)
Not many people would have predicted it five years ago, but Harry Kane is now one of the top strikers in the world. It is perhaps a testament to his hard work and determination that he has made it this far. In his younger years, he spent a lot of time out on loan and spent time with four clubs before he broke through at Tottenham. Even in his time away on loan, he never really set the world alight.
However, in the last couple of years at Tottenham, he has been sensational and is unquestionably the best striker in the Premier League. His goal record over the last four seasons is excellent. He has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last four seasons, including scoring 30 in the league last year, the most of his career. He will hope that he can achieve success now with Tottenham, having never won a major title in his career.
#2 Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Another player on this list who has been sold by Jose Mourinho, and another man who got away from Chelsea. De Bruyne was another man who rebuilt his career abroad and had a successful spell with Wolfsburg before Manchester City paid £55 million to bring him back to England. He had a bit of a slow start to his City career, partly because of injury, but has only gotten better.
The Belgian had by far his best season with City last year and was in imperious form as they strolled to the Premier League title, becoming the first team to reach 100 points. He was unfortunate to miss out on the PFA Player of the Year Award, having topped the assists chart with 16. He was almost unstoppable in the final third and had the ability to pick a pass to tear apart an opposition’s defence.
#1 Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Hazard has become the best player in the Premier League over the last few years and continues to produce the goods for Chelsea on a regular basis. He is one of the best in the world and showed that off to everyone at the World Cup this summer, where he helped Belgium to third place. The 27-year-old has the ability to keep the ball under constant pressure and can go past a man with apparent ease.
He is more than capable of coming up with a moment that is genuinely world class, as he showed against Liverpool on Wednesday night. He has won two Premier League titles with Chelsea and has been a massive part of both, winning the Player of the Year award for the 2014/15 season. There have often been links with a move to Real Madrid, but that move has never gone through, and he has continued to do the business at Stamford Bridge.
