In what has been an eventful season, no one team has more than two players featured in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index team of the season so far.
The lineup, picked on the players’ performances from the 15 Premier League games played revealed that players from eight different clubs make up the lineup.
DEFENCE
Petr Cech takes the goalkeeper’s spot in the team, having put in a series of imperious performances between the sticks since his slightly shaky start to life at Arsenal at the beginning of the season.
In possibly the most surprising inclusion in the whole team, Tottenham’s Kyle Walker comes in at right-back, although his PPI index of 209 is a marked decrease from the 230 of last season’s right-back choice Nathaniel Clyne and is comfortably the lowest in the team – showing the lack of quality at the position in the league currently.
His teammate Toby Alderweireld makes the team alongside him after playing a pivotal role in Spurs’ ongoing 14-match unbeaten streak, and the Belgian is joined by Crystal Palace’s Scott Dann in the centre of defence after the 28-year-old’s flying start to the campaign.
Completing the defence is the only man in the back line who plies his trade outside of London, Aleksandar Kolarov, the Serbian hitting the highest PPI index of the defence with 258.
Last season’s defence of the season after 15 games: Courtois, Clyne, Cahill, Terry, Cresswell
MIDFIELD
The midfield zips us straight back to London again, specifically north London, with Arsenal’s assist king Mesut Ozil who claims his rightful place in the team.
He’s joined by West Ham’s Dimitri Payet despite the Frenchman having missed the last month of the season with injury, and the Hammers star is partnered in the centre of midfield by Everton’s Ross Barkley.
Riyad Mahrez, the season’s most valuable player and unstoppable attacking force in Leicester City’s well-oiled defence-shredding machine, with a PPI index score of 441. With 10 goals and six assists this season, Mahrez has been pretty much the complete attacking player – and an almost unsung hero in the Foxes team.
Last season’s midfield of the season after 15 games: Tadic, Fabregas, Sigurdsson, Hazard
STRIKERS
Riyad Mahrez may have grabbed the ‘player of the season’ gong thus far, but it was by an absolute whisker from who else but his own teammate, Jamie Vardy. Vardy’s record-breaking streak of scoring in 11 straight games grabbed him most of the headlines and a PPI index score of 439.
He’s joined up front by Everton juggernaut Romelu Lukaku, who’s on his own five-match scoring streak in the league – having racked up 11 goals and four assists so far this term.
Last season’s strikers of the season after 15 games: Aguero, Costa
This team of the year is possibly the best way to show the general upheaval in the league since last season – with not a single player making it back into the best XI from last season. Whether any or all of these players will continue their form remains to be seen but, for now, they’re the undisputed stars.
Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Official Player Rating Index of the Barclays Premier League and 90mins