The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Man City gem bulldozes into podium spot as Chelsea starlet joins top ten

We’re getting close to the end of the season, which means that there aren’t too many editions of the Wonderkid Power Rankings left to get through before the curtain comes down – and that means only a few last chances for the Premier League’s most talented youngsters to earn first place in our weekly countdown of the best young players in the top flight.

Last week, Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly took the crown for the second time after an impressive outing against Real Madrid, but can he keep the title after the second leg in the Bernabeu?

Before we crack on with this week’s countdown, we’ve got one player falling out of the Top 10 this time out – Brighton & Hove Albion’s Carlos Baleba, who didn’t have the best game in the 4-2 defeat to Brentford. His departure leaves room for a rising star to return to the rankings, at least…

10. Tyrique George – Chelsea (re-entry)

The 19-year-old has been used sparingly by Enzo Maresca since the international break, but always to good effect – in three appearances over the past month, he’s now scored two goals after bagging against Legia Warsaw in the first leg of their Europa Conference League quarter-final and now adding a fine equaliser against Fulham. George only touched the ball four times after coming on as a late sub at Craven Cottage, but one of those touches involved him rifling the ball into the back of the net from 20 yards. His first Premier League goal, and surely not his last.

9. Malo Gusto – Chelsea (⬇️2)

It’s a Chelsea one-two to kick this week’s rankings off, with Gusto falling a couple of places after a pair of relatively tidy but ultimately fairly nondescript substitute appearances over the course of the past week. It would take some pretty granular analysis to find anything he did wrong, but he wasn’t much of a factor in the final third and a shot straight at Bernd Leno against Fulham was his only appearance on the highlight reels. Still in very decent form of late.

8. Yankuba Minteh – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️2)

The Gambian winger missed one presentable headed chance from just inside the six-yard box against Brentford and played a role in the build-up to Danny Welbeck’s goal, but was otherwise relatively quiet in a game in which he struggled to get on the ball. Not entirely his fault as the Seagulls as a whole didn’t make much use of possession, but it was still a weekend that won’t live long in Minteh’s memory.

7. Jack Hinshelwood - Brighton & Hove Albion (⬆️1)

It was a slightly better afternoon for Minteh’s team-mate Hinshelwood, however, with the England Under-21 star returning to his preferred midfield role and playing in very tidy fashion – with a moment of real quality to take the edge off of a disappointing defeat, courtesy of his perfectly-weighted through ball into Kaoru Mitoma for Brighton’s second. All in vain, but Hinshelwood continues to perform very nicely during a relatively rough spell for his side.

6. Patrick Dorgu – Manchester United (⬇️1)

Since joining United, Dorgu has been among their better players, but he’s definitely more comfortable supporting the attack than he is in his own third defending one-on-one, and that was occasionally evident in both the absurd match against Lyon and in getting dribbled past twice during the 1-0 loss to Wolves. In fairness, he did also win ten ground duels at the weekend and did plenty of solid work, but he has his better weeks when he gets more chances to get close to the opposing penalty area.

5. Mateus Fernandes – Southampton (⬆️4)

The Portuguese midfielder’s form has see-sawed a little bit in recent weeks and he dropped several places after a bad showing last weekend against Aston Villa – but he looked more like his usual, dynamic self as Southampton picked up a rare point at the London Stadium this time around.

Comfortably the best passer on the pitch, he also caused West Ham’s midfielders several problems with his dribbling skills, drawing four fouls, and did some good work protecting the defence when the ball was coming back the other way. No goals or assists on this occasion, but plenty of flashes of his undoubted class.

4. Milos Kerkez – Bournemouth (⬇️2)

It feels a little harsh to drop the Hungarian left-back down a couple of places as he quite frankly didn’t do anything wrong this weekend – but he was only intermittently involved in a dull 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace and other players simply had the chance to shine that much brighter this week.

When tested at the back, which was very rarely, Kerkez did his job admirably and there were some nice passes to set off some of Bournemouth’s forays into the Palace half, but it would be generous to say that he was an especially influential player over the course of a poor game. A three-star performance in a one-star viewing experience.

3. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (⬆️1)

It seems strange now that Pep Guardiola seemed so reluctant to give O’Reilly more minutes, given that everything the makeshift left-back touches seems to turn to gold right now.

In the manager’s defence, there are occasional moments at the back in which it becomes apparent that O’Reilly is a midfielder forced into an unfamiliar position but his grace on the ball, his passing and his awareness of space suggest he’ll be a superb number ten if he gets the chance to play there, too, as did his tap-in against Everton, his second goal in as many games, scored after cleverly finding half a yard inside the six-yard box. A big talent on frightening form.

2. Dean Huijsen – Bournemouth (⬆️1)

If we learned anything new about Huijsen this weekend, it’s that he doesn’t have the best instincts directly in front of goal, as rather demonstrated by the awkward hash he made of what would have been a gilt-edged chance for a striker after Antoine Semenyo’s shot fell practically into his lap. Thankfully, at the other end, Huijsen simply reaffirmed the fact that he’s a hugely impressive defender.

His stats sheet was superb against Palace, with eight clearances, three interceptions, a blocked shot and a 100% completed tackle rate to his name in a game in which he dealt with absolutely everything that came his way for 90 minutes in his usual calm and unflustered manner. Another excellent performance, and perhaps another step towards that rumoured Real Madrid move.

1. Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal (-)

Despite Huijsen’s excellence, however, we could see no good reason to take Lewis-Skelly off of top spot and the freshly-minted England international earns a second consecutive week at the summit of our rankings, largely off the back of another fine display in the Champions League.

When he wasn’t busy getting stamped on by Antonio Rüdiger, he was nutmegging his opposing man, drawing fouls, moving the ball on well and handling anything his vastly more experienced counterparts could throw at him (one mistake which led to a shot aside, admittedly). A solid second-half substitute appearance against Ipswich Town followed, but the main story was the confidence and ease with which he handled an occasion that would have overawed most teenage players. A worthy number one, once again.