The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Spurs and Bournemouth starlets battle for number one spot

Once again, 3 Added Minutes have reviewed the tape, checked all the stats and added a dash of our writers’ opinions to answer a tricky question – just who is the best young player in the Premier League?

Last week’s run-down of the Top 10 most in-form Under-21s in the top flight saw Newcastle United’s Lewis Hall reclaim top spot from Dean Huijsen, but can he hang on after his side suffered consecutive defeats and he endured an ankle injury? Read on to find out…

Before we get underway, we always make a note of any players dropping out of the rankings, and there are two this week – Patrick Dorgu, who we praised last week only for him to promptly gift Ipswich Town their opening goal and get sent off, and Carlos Baleba, who had a relatively mediocre week despite Brighton’s back-to-back wins. With that admin out of the way, on with the latest countdown…

10. Adam Wharton – Crystal Palace (new entry)

If you’d told us at the end of last season that Wharton wouldn’t make the Top 10 until March, we wouldn’t have believed you – although we might have guessed that injury was involved, to be fair. But Wharton is starting to get back to his best, playing some gorgeous passes and demonstrating his usual good work off the ball in Palace’s 4-1 thrashing of Aston Villa before a very tidy substitute appearance against Millwall in the FA Cup. He’s only just back to match fitness after a lengthy lay-off but is starting to purr again, and it will be interesting to see whether he makes Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad.

9. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (re-entry)

O’Reilly making our rankings after an FA Cup match is starting to become a bit of a tradition – he was brilliant against Leyton Orient in the last round and he was the hero of the comeback against Plymouth Argyle this weekend, too, scoring twice with excellent headers from set pieces to steer City out of (another) sticky situation. His touch and composure on the ball was highly impressive for such an inexperienced player, too, and we look forward to Pep Guardiola immediately benching him out of Top 10 contention next week.

8. Savinho – Manchester City (⬇️3)

It was a rather more forgettable week for Brazilian winger Savinho, who was given a rest during the win over Plymouth following a lively but ultimately ineffective midweek outing against Tottenham Hotspur – he saw plenty of the ball but couldn’t get on the score-sheet, missing one excellent chance from 10 yards out and seeing five more shots either get blocked or head off target. It was the same sort of story out of possession, with plenty of huff and puff but few ball recoveries at the end of the day.

7. Ethan Nwaneri – Arsenal (⬇️1)

Arsenal’s own daring young winger was considerably more effective off the ball than Savinho, winning no fewer than seven ground duels over the course of a 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest, and his dribbling was sublime once more – but in the final third, Nwaneri wasn’t able to find a way through to goal either. Three shots, all blocked, but he offered plenty of penetration and may have made more of it with better attacking players around him.

6. Mateus Fernandes – Southampton (⬇️3)

A definite off week for Fernandes, who has generally been the silver lining to the gigantic rain cloud hanging over St. Mary’s but was no more effective against Chelsea than any of his team-mates in another thumping defeat. There were a couple of flashes of his passing quality, to be fair, but for the most part he was neither able to make inroads through the middle nor win possession back when required. He’s been an excellent all-round midfielder for most of the season, however, and this was a pretty rare bad game.

5. Yankuba Minteh – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬆️3)

The Gambian winger has had an up-and-down first season at the Amex Stadium, and still gets things wrong occasionally, as demonstrated by a clumsy challenge on Tino Livramento which gave Newcastle a penalty in the eventual 2-1 extra-time win in the FA Cup – but he’s getting a lot right of late, too.

He scored the equaliser against the Magpies, with a deflected finish after an excellent run put him through on goal, and while he was less effective in the final third against Bournemouth he also put in a fine defensive performance which allayed some of the concerns about his work out of possession, making seven tackles tracking back to help keep the Cherries at bay on a number of occasions. A good week for a player hitting his best form yet.

4. Lewis Hall – Newcastle United (⬇️3)

Sadly, it wasn’t such a great week for our former number one. Hall got a bit of a working over from Mohamed Salah and his supporting cast against Liverpool, and while he did make some important interventions he was also very lucky not to concede a penalty after bring Salah down inside the box – and he was guilty of giving the ball away in a dangerous area which led to a Dominik Szoboszlai chance, too.

Worse than that, however, Hall also picked up an ankle injury which ruled him out of the defeat to Brighton – we’re waiting to find out whether that will rule him out for any length of time, and if he is indeed out for a few weeks then Power Rankings rules mean that he’ll drop out of the Top 10 for the first time since breaking into it. Hopefully, it’s not as bad as feared.

3. Milos Kerkez – Bournemouth (⬆️4)

The Hungarian left-back had endured a mild downturn in form over the past few weeks and another former number one had slipped down the ladder a little – but a much better week against Brighton and Wolves puts him right back in the mix towards the top of the table.

He picked up an assist against Brighton, playing Justin Kluivert in for a brilliant goal, and did plenty of good work at the back in both matches, especially against Wolves when he was heavily involved throughout, made four tackles and managed to rile Matheus Cunha up enough for the Brazilian to get himself sent off. A much improved week with few faults to pick at.

2. Lucas Bergvall – Tottenham Hotspur (⬆️2)

The Swedish midfielder has, very quietly, been among the top flight’s most consistent performers over the last few months, and probably deserves considerably more praise than he’s been getting – and even though Spurs lost to Manchester City, Bergvall put in yet another impeccable performance.

Tidy in possession, always finding space to provide a passing option and moving it on efficiently himself, Bergvall was also industrious when the opposition had the ball, racking up five tackles and seven successful ground duels, no mean feat against a Guardiola midfield, even one that’s some way from top form. Bergvall might not be getting the recognition he deserves, but he’s earned his regular place in the starting line-up under Ange Postecoglou.

1. Dean Huijsen – Bournemouth (⬆️1)

With Hall vacating top spot, there was only one choice for number one – Bournemouth centre-half Huijsen reclaims the throne after yet another highly impressive week in which his work in behind the defence and his calm use of the ball stood out a mile.

Granted, he missed a penalty in the shootout win over Wolves, but he isn’t in the team for his work from 12 yards out, and his effort in his own area was beyond reproach. Between the FA Cup game and the defeat to Brighton, he was responsible for no fewer than 15 clearances, two blocked shots and six interceptions as his ability to read the game prevented chance after chance, and his passing out from the back gave the Cherries a fine platform for possession, especially against Wolves.

Another good week, and Huijsen gets his fifth week at the top. No wonder he’s getting linked with just about every big team in Europe right now...