The so-called Premier League ‘top six’ always seem to dominate Premier League statistics, leaving the ‘other 14’ often cast aside.
However, research conducted by BetVictor has aimed to correct this and have ranked the best players outside of the ‘top six’.
To do this, players were sorted and grouped by shared position and their statistical profiles were input into the ranking algorithm. The algorithm is designed to find the player with the most optimised output per 90-minutes by calculating a Z-score (standard score) per performance statistic and average Z-score per player. A high average Z-score indicates that a player is outperforming other players in that position across multiple statistics.
Using this data, we have ranked each player by their ‘Average Z-Score’ (from lowest to highest) to see who are the best non-’top six’ players in the Premier League this season:
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1. Raphinha
Leeds may be struggling at the wrong end of the table, however, the Brazilian’s performances have been a beacon of light this season. They will need Raphinha to return to top form if they are to turn their fortunes around. He has an Average Z-Score of 0.52. Photo: JON SUPER
2. Declan Rice
Rice has shown at club and international level that he is one of the best players in England and his form this season has only elevated his status as one of the country’s most dominant midfielders. He has an Average Z-Score of 0.56. Photo: Laurence Griffiths
3. Ruben Neves
Wolves have had a fantastic season and naturally, Ruben Neves has played a huge part in this. It is clear why many top clubs across Europe are eyeing a move for the Portuguese international in summer. He has an Average Z-Score of 0.57. Photo: Dan Mullan
4. Wilfried Zaha
Zaha is perennially discussed as being one of the best players that doesn’t play for a ‘top six’ side and his performances this season have shown why he always seems to feature high up in these debates. He has an Average Z-Score of 0.63. Photo: Christopher Lee