Premier League Form Rankings ahead of Gameweek 31
As part of WhoScored.com’s new partnership with fantasy football platform MondoGoal we’ll be providing content twice a week to help you to choose the best available Premier League XI, giving you the chance to win some great prizes in the process.
Later in the week we’ll be selecting our WhoScored Expert’s XI ahead of gameweek 31 in England’s top-flight but we’re kicking off with a new feature on the site that accompanies our new ‘You vs WhoScored’ contests. From now on you can see which players, by position, are performing the best based on their last three appearances and in this weekly blog we’ll detail those that come into each weekend’s matches in a rich vein of form.
Goalkeepers
It’s Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois that leads the form rankings as far as keepers are concerned, earning a score of 7.39 over appearances against Hull, Southampton and West Ham. With the Blues hosting Stoke this weekend,who have failed to score on each of their last 6 visits to Stamford Bridge, he’ll be hoping for another clean sheet come Saturday.
Liverpool’s Simon Mignolet (7.33) is back on form and not far behind his compatriot courtesy of impressive recent showings against United, Swansea and Burnley, but with a trip to the Emirates ahead the Reds keeper could have a far busier afternoon to contend with.
Elsewhere Mark Schwarzer (7.31) and Adrian (6.97), who each rank among the top 6 keepers based on form over their last three appearances, go head-to-head in a game that looks set to be make or break for the home side. The Foxes are 7 points adrift of safety and with their game in hand coming against Chelsea, they will need their veteran shot stopper to replicate the sort of performance that saw him pick up a rating of 8.04 in Leicester’s last outing at the King Power Stadium, ending in a 0-0 stalemate with Hull.
MondoGoal Premium Option: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea) – £8.1m
MondoGoal Budget Option: Adrian (West Ham) – £ 6.6m
Defenders
The fact that four Arsenal men break into the top 10 in-form defenders shows just how much the Gunners have progressed recently, now in with a realistic chance of leapfrogging City into second and, dare I say it, mounting a late and unlikely title charge. Arsene Wenger’s men have a tough fixture against Liverpool this weekend but have won 8 successive league matches at home, with a revitalised defence at the base of that success.
January signing Gabriel has certainly added strength in depth in that area and started his career in North London in fine form, currently leading the way of all defenders over their last 3 appearances with a score of 7.96. Phil Jagielka has returned to form to silence some critics of late and he’ll be hoping to carry impressive displays in back-to-back wins over Newcastle (8.34 WhoScored rating) and QPR (8.52) into this weekend’s clash with Southampton.
Further down the top 10 the appearance of Swansea summer signing Federico Fernandez is also noteworthy, with the Argentine scooping WhoScored’s man of the match award last time out against Aston Villa with a rating of 8.15. Coming up against a Hull side that have failed to score in 8 of their last 11 away matches in the league, he could be in line for another impressive score this Saturday.
MondoGoal Premium Option: Federico Fernandez (Swansea) – £8.1m
MondoGoal Budget Option: Gabriel Paulista (Arsenal) – £7m