Premier League 2019-20: Player Power Rankings | Week 1

The Premier League season commenced last week with 2018-19 runners up, Liverpool, hosting Norwich City at the Anfield. The Reds gave Norwich a bludgeoning, putting 4 past them in the first half, but though the fearless visitors got a consolation.

On the day that followed, holders Manchester City visited the London Stadium at West Ham United. In a VAR stricken game, which saw a penalty retake ordered, a bizarre offside call, and plenty of dumbfounded faces, the Blues from Manchester had no problems whatsoever in putting five goals past the London-based club.

Elsewhere, as Arsenal defeated Newcastle by the barest of margins, Tottenham struck twice in the twilight hours of the game to defeat newly-promoted Aston Villa, 3-1. In the battle of players turned managers, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United slammed 4 goals past Frank Lampard's Chelsea to get their campaign underway.

Among the other teams, Burnley and Brighton registered 3 goal wins while Everton failed to open their win account. Wolves and Leicester played out a goalless draw, the only other scoreless game apart from the Everton game.

We saw brilliant performances from some expected faces, some unexpected faces, so here are the Power Rankings for Premier League 2019-20, Week 1.

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#10 Lewis Dunk

Dunk was immense at the back end against Deeney and Gray

Brighton was handed a trip to Vicarage Road as their opening fixture of the Premier League season. With Gerard Deulofeu, Troy Deeney, and Andre Gray, leading the attacking lines for Watford, a clean sheet is a huge achievement for the defense. The credit for the clean sheet goes to Brighton's solid CBs, Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy.

Both players were good in their duels, strong in the air, focused on their tackling - traits that bring about a good defensive performance. Lewis Dunk went a step ahead though and registering a goal-line block and an assist, which puts him over his defensive partner.

Dunk's defensive stats read 7/12 duels won ( 3/5 aerial), 2 interceptions, 2 tackles won (100%), 7 possession recoveries, 54 accurate passes (91%), and 6/7 accurate long balls. His assist was a brilliant through ball following a dribble from deep. The block he made was from nearly 12-yards out while the score was still 1-0 in favor of Brighton but all momentum towards Watford.

Dunk comes in at #10 in the Power Rankings.

#9 Ainsley Maitland-Niles

Maitland Niles was good at the defensive end and also got an assist to his name

A big advantage of having someone of Maitland-Niles' talent in your side is the versatility. The 21-year-old had a brain fade moment in the Gamper Trophy when he passed the ball into his own net against Barcelona.

Despite that, Unai Emery awarded him a starting spot at the right-back position. It has to be said, Niles stepped up to the trust placed on him by the Arsenal boss. When the Gunners were gasping for a breakthrough goal, Niles accelerated from his position and pinched a pass from Schar, he continued his run and lobbed a pass to Aubameyang which put him right in front of goal.

Niles was good with his dribbling and defensive duties and created an early chance by dribbling past two Newcastle defenders down the wing. He made 4 tackles, 3 interceptions, 3 dribbles and completed 89% of his 46 attempted passes. He also made 5 ball recoveries and won 10/17 ground duels.

If he carries on in the same way, he can give Bellerin a good fight for the RB spot.

#8 David de Gea

David de Gea showed a glimpse of his best against Chelsea

David de Gea showed why he was labeled as United's biggest asset a season ago. 2018/19 was a season he would want to wipe off his mind, except for the game against Tottenham. He made a lot of errors, notably, the mess he made of a very weak Lionel Messi shot in the away leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.

He had a good start to his campaign against Chelsea with a clean sheet. We saw an aspect of de Gea that he's not exactly known for which is his footwork. He was played in by the defense several times and he was quite good with his feet. His number of touches (35) surpassed that of Andreas Pereira (26) and was nearly comparable to Rashford (44) and Lingard (36).

In between the sticks, he made 7 saves in total. Ross Barkley's low driven shot towards the far post, Emerson's two attempts from outside the box, Mason Mount's well-placed shot towards the low corner, all were important in the context of the game. He was beaten for good only once when Tammy Abraham struck the post very early.

A clean sheet, good saves, apt positioning, composed with the ball at his feet - an altogether a good start for the United #1, who'll be very important for United's chances at top 4. de Gea takes up

#7 Virgil Van Dijk

They watch him score, they watch him defend: Virgil Van Dijk

Virgil Van Dijk had a solid start to the Premier League 19-20 campaign. When we talk about Van Dijk, we say, "Watch him defend, watch him score", and he did both against Norwich. In the 28th minute, he converted from Mo Salah's corner to make the score 3-0 in favor of Liverpool.

Liverpool took a 4-0 lead at half-time but the scoreline didn't reflect the game completely. Even though Liverpool played very well and in the ascendency, Norwich wasn't surrendering to the horror press of Liverpool, and they kept building from the back splitting their center backs, and they kept up their attacking motive whenever possible.

Van Dijk was as solid in the defensive end as you'd expect, making the most tackles and winning the most number of duels in the team. The Dutch defender won 3/3 ground duels, 5/6 aerial duels, won 3 tackles, and made 5 interceptions. He registered 50 passes (87%) and his presence was as important as it could have gotten.

Big Virg comes in at #7.

#6 Erik Pieters

Pieters was solid defensively and claimed two assists

31-year-old Erik Pieters started at the left-back spot for Burnley against Southampton. He assisted two out of the 3 goals that Burnley scored. His first assist was meant only as a clearance which was misjudged by the Southampton defenders as it bounced over their heads and fell to Barnes, who dribbled and finished.

The second assist was a well-weighted and measured ball which curved into the far post of the Southampton goal where it was met again as the score went to 2-0 in a matter of 7 minutes.

In the defensive end, Pieters put up good numbers. He won 7 tackles and 1 aerial duel, both at 88% and 100% success rate respectively. In addition to that, he made 2 clearances and 2 interceptions. In-game, he had the most number of touches on the ball and the most number of successful tackles. He was dribbled past only once and made 5 ball recoveries as well.

It was quite an unexpected performance from the 31-year-old and we'll see if he keeps up the intensity in the coming matchdays.

#5 Riyad Mahrez

West Ham was a victim to Mahrez's underrated talent

Mahrez was surprisingly preferred over Bernardo Silva to start the game against West Ham. The Algerian who won the AFCON 2019 put up a stellar show at London Stadium. Looking bright and confident in possession and off it, he notched up two brilliant assists, both to Sterling.

Both of Mahrez's assists split the defense and released the attacking player on a 1v1 with the keeper. To his credit, Mahrez had five key passes against West Ham. To add to his attacking stats, he made 4 tackles out of the 4 that he attempted and completed 2 dribbles. He had over 60 touches in the game and also won 7 out of his 13 ground duels.

Mahrez has made it clear that a squad player role is too good for his caliber and although Bernardo Silva will be the go-to winger, Mahrez can be trusted eyes closed. Whether the opposition is West Ham or Chelsea or Liverpool is the least of concerns for Pep.

#4 Marcus Rashford

Rashford converted his penalty before scoring a second

Marcus Rashford started on the left-side in a 4-2-3-1 formation for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United against Chelsea.

In the 17th minute, he was called into action when he won a penalty and stepped up from 12 yards out. Rashford placed his penalty high towards his left-hand side, which Kepa Arrizabalaga had no chance of saving.

He was good with his movements and made himself available on the counter-attack alongside Anthony Martial. Soon after the second goal, he made a good run in behind to defense to meet Pogba's ball and finished calmly past Kepa Arrizabalaga to make it 3-0 for the Red Devils.

Despite a low passing accuracy, he was a constant attacking outlet with a good amount of pace, and he also won 3 tackles. Rashford also won 6/11 ground duels.

With two goals to his name and lively performance, Rashford seals the 4th spot in the Power Rankings.

#3 Harry Kane

Kane scored 2 late goals to seal Spurs' victory

Harry Kane started for Tottenham against Aston Villa in what proved to be a tougher than expected fixture for the Spurs. Tanguy Ndombele gave Spurs the lead with his shot but it was Spurs' main-man who scored two late goals and took the game away from Villa's reach.

Kane broke his goalscoring duck in the month of August with a fairly simple finish after the ball landed sweetly for him inside the box. His second goal was the finish of the highest order, placed perfectly into the corner, hit from outside the box.

Kane also got 2 key passes but he was weak in duels, winning only 1/8 in the ground and 1/3 in the air. However, he was lurking near the box and got 8 shots on goal, 3 off-target and 3 were blocked. His 1 tackle was the only defensive stat to his name and as evident from his heat map, he was not dropping much deeper to help in defense.

Kane slots in at #3.

#2 Ashley Barnes

Barnes scored a brace in Burnley's win

29-year-old Ashley Barnes was spectacular against Southampton. He scored both the goals for his team, both assisted by Erik Pieters.

He capitalized from the defensive error before putting the ball past Angus Gunn with a sublime finish. His off the ball movement was vital in his second goal as he sneaked in behind the defense, perfectly in place for the loopy ball by Pieters.

Moreover, he attempted 4 dribbles and completed all 4. He won 5 out of 12 aerial duels and 6 out of 8 ground duels on the day. He also made 1 tackle successfully. Barnes' movement was highly problematic for the Southampton defense, especially when he got 1v1 against them and he'll need to do this more often if Burnley is to aim for the top half of the table.

Ashley Barnes comes in at #2 in the Power Rankings and he'll need to stay here for quite some time if Burnley is to do well.

#1 Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling got a hattrick against West Ham

Coming in at the top spot for Power Rankings in Week 1 is Raheem Sterling. A hattrick in the opening week is more than enough reason to put him at the top spot. Sterling bagged 3 goals against West Ham, all from open play, and finished at the top of scoring charts across the league in the first week.

Sterling was a menacing presence in the left-wing, with good exchanges with Zinchencko, Mahrez, and de Bruyne. de Bruyne and Sterling combined to hit West Ham in the fast-break as Sterling scored his first goal and City's second.

It was Mahrez who lobbed a ball over the defense for Sterling to latch onto, which he did, and he finished with an exquisite adjusted lob over Fabianski's head. In the death, Mahrez threaded a through ball to set Sterling free which got him his hattrick.

Sterling was second only to Van Dijk last season and he is wasting no time to get on the front foot this time. He is firing from the word go.