Majestic Messi back on top of player form rankings at Ronaldo’s expense
Following a full weekend’s action across Europe’s top five leagues with the return of the Premier League, the player form rankings are back and it’s all change at the top, albeit with a very familiar face leading the way once more.
New qualifiers
There is only one new qualifier on this week’s leaderboard in the form of Roma striker Edin Dzeko, though the Bosnian is straight in at number two. The 32-year-old endured a frustrating first half of the season, with just two league goals in 16 appearances, but a match-winning brace at the weekend took his tally to seven following five goals - and an assist - in as many games as Roma continue their ascent up the table in Serie A.
Rises
The most significant climber this week is of course Lionel Messi, who returns to top spot for the first time just over a month following a 50th career hat-trick at the weekend. All three strikes against Sevilla were trademark, exquisite finishes, while an assist for Luis Suarez’s late clincher means he now leads the way outright in Europe’s top five leagues for both goals (25) and assists (11).
Elsewhere Casemiro climbs from 12th to fifth after another decisive display at the weekend, following up goals against Atletico and Girona by winning a crucial and extremely controversial penalty against Levante. While the Brazilian’s blatant dive wasn’t his finest hour he chipped in with five tackles and three interceptions as Santiago Solari’s side were forced to grind out a win.
Jadon Sancho is up one place, meanwhile, after yet another match-winning display, this time against in-form Bayer Leverkusen. The teenager took his eighth league goal of the season superbly on the volley having moments before become only the fourth player in Europe’s top five leagues to reach ten assists, teeing up Dan-Axel Zagadou’s opener.
Elsewhere there were eight risers outside of the top ten, with Salvatore Sirigu (11th) the most notable, earning the highest form ranking of any goalkeeper all season. The Torino shot stopper earned a fifth consecutive clean sheet against Atalanta and was just pipped to a third successive WhoScored.com man of the match award by goalscoring teammate Armando Izzo, who also climbed into the top 20 (14th) in the process.
Falls
While Nimes midfielder Teji Savanier (now third) and Raheem Sterling (fourth) each fell one place at the top of the leaderboard, the biggest drop in the top 20 was that of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese took top spot last week but drops to sixth after a goalless display against Bologna and his second lowest WhoScored.com match rating of the season (6.41).
Elsewhere Sergio Aguero (eighth) Youssef En-Nesyri (ninth) and Kevin Volland (tenth) keep their places in the top ten despite dropping down the rankings, while Paul Pogba falls just outside from ninth to 12th. Marcel Halstenberg retains his place on the leaderboard in 17th but the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Dani Parejo, Kingsley Coman, Kerem Demirbay, Paulo Dybala, Nicolo Zaniolo and Yussuf Poulsen have all made way this week.
QUALIFYING RULES
Only ratings taken from each player’s last six league matches are considered, weighted chronologically, with the most recent match carrying greater importance and so on. To qualify each player must have featured in their side’s last league game and started at least six of the last eight available.
