Premier League player power rankings: Matchday 2

Kevin de Bruyne is out with an injury but Manchester City responded with a massive win over Huddersfield.

After each matchday in the English Premier League, Sportsnet will rank the top 20 players for the 2018-19 season. Regardless of reputation, everyone starts from scratch at Matchday 1, and will steadily move up, down, or out of the rankings as the games progress.

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1. Sadio Mané, Liverpool. (Last matchday: 4)
Another high-energy performance from Senegal’s finest. The combination of him and Mohamed Salah just seems to get better and better. Even against an improved Crystal Palace defence, the duo were a constant threat with Mané primarily in the role of creator and Salah usually on the finishing end, although they traded places for second goal that sealed the win at Selhurst Park.

2. Richarlison Andrade, Everton. (Last matchday: 1)
He’s done it again. Three goals in his opening two fixtures, and Everton looks a transformed side from last season as well. His link-up play on the left side with Gylfi Siggurdson has been terrific, while it does also help that Leighton Baines appears to be having a bit of a resurgence in the left wingback role.

3. Benjamin Mendy, Manchester City. (Last matchday: 2)
Hasn’t put a foot wrong, yet. Assisted Sergio Aguero’s hat-trick goal and is absolute raiding down defence’s right sides with ease. Manchester City were incredible last season, it’s scary to think that Mendy could make them even better.

4. Naby Keita, Liverpool. (Last matchday: 6)
This man is some talent. He has all the confidence in the world in his abilities, is keeping central attacking threats in his back pocket while leaving those who come for the ball at his feet in their dust.

5. Sergio Aguero, Manchester City. (Last matchday: N/A)
One of the best strikers in Premier League history couldn’t have got off the mark in the 2018-19 season in louder fashion, scoring a hat trick as his side pummelled Huddersfield 6-1 on Sunday morning.

He is now 10th on the all-time Premier League scoring list with 146 goals, but his ratio of 0.70 goals per game is the best of the lot, a shade ahead of Thierry Henry’s 0.68.

6. Marcos Alonso, Chelsea. (Last matchday: 17)
Chelsea were in disarray on the defensive end in the latter stages of the first half against Arsenal, and Marcos Alonso certainly played a role in that. But, an assist on the first goal and the match-winner capped off another super attacking performance from the 27-year-old, making it all the more bewildering why he was left out completely from a Spanish squad that struggled for ideas against Russia at the World Cup.

7. John Stones, Manchester City. (Last matchday: 15)
He’s become calmness personified as he grows into his role as the spearhead of City’s defence. Stones’ role is critical in Pep Guardiola’s style of building from the back, and as his chemistry alongside Aymeric Laporte builds, the challenge to unlock City’s defence will only become steeper.

8. Callum Wilson, Bournemouth. (Last matchday: N/A)
The striker scored one of the goals of the season this past weekend, collecting the ball just inside the opposition half before weaving his way around five West Ham defenders before coolly slotting past Lukas Fabianski with his left foot to level the scores before Cook’s winner just a few minutes later.

9. Christian Eriksen, Tottenham. (Last matchday: 13)
It won’t count as an assist on the scoresheet, but Christian Eriksen is Tottenham’s dead-ball specialist and was all set to take one with about 15 minutes remaining and the scores level at 1-1. Over came Keiran Trippier to whisper in his ear that he felt confident about this one, and the Dane stepped aside.

Trippier scored a fantastic goal, but much like his performances through the opening two games and seasons past, Eriksen’s ability to put others in perfect position to succeed is why he has became such an integral part of the team’s success.

10. Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool. (Last matchday: N/A)
Back-to-back clean sheets for Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk looks worth every bit the £75 million the club splashed to get him. Defence has been the biggest concern for the Anfield side the past few seasons and van Dijk is putting many of those concerns to bed.

11. Ryan Fraser, Bournemouth. (Last matchday: N/A)
As much as he would have been deserving a week ago, has staked an ever bigger claim this week. The pacy winger was terrific against West Ham United, and provided the perfect delivery from a free kick for Steve Cook to head in the winning goal.

12. Neil Etheridge, Cardiff City. (Last matchday: N/A)
The Cardiff City No. 1 saved a penalty a week ago, but it came in a moment of insignificance as his side was already trailing by two goals. Fast forward to its fixture against Newcastle United, and the Philippines native earned his side a potentially invaluable point by saving Kenedy’s 96th minute penalty to preserve a 0-0 scoreline.

13. Luke Shaw, Manchester United. (Last matchday: 11)
Manchester United’s defensive mistakes clearly overshadowed any of the positive they accomplished in the match, but this is now two straight solid performances from the English left wingback.

Considering his injury history, it was quite brave of him to go for a volley with two defenders all over him, and it led to Romelu Lukaku’s first goal of the season. He hurt himself in the process, but momentarily brought his side back in the game. If his central defensive teammates had done a better job, there would have easily been more glowing references of his performance.

14. Ederson, Manchester City. (Last matchday: N/A)
While all eyes are on what City are doing to teams with their clinical attacking, Ederson is quietly doing everything that’s asked of him and more.

As Huddersfield tried to press the Sky Blues in their own half, Ederson saw an opportunity to go long all the way to Aguero near the opponent’s box, and the Argentinian took care of the rest to result in the first assist for a goalkeeper on the season. There wasn’t much he could have done about the Terriers’ goal, but the overall organization City have shown in the back thus far starts with him.

15. Eden Hazard, Chelsea. (Last matchday: N/A)
The Belgian has played less than one half’s worth of minutes but is incredibly up there in every offensive category of note. With him confirming he will be staying at Chelsea for at least this season, we can all just sit back and enjoy the magic he provides with the ball at his feet.

16. James Milner, Liverpool. (Last matchday: 9)
Jurgen Klopp showed he is looking to keep his captain in pristine condition by substituting him in the 67th minute, but it was another sturdy performance from the 32-year-old. For all the fancy footwork and thrilling attacks his more famed teammates provide, Milner provides some much needed ruggedness to complement his side’s finesse.

Did you know: Milner’s next assist will tie him with David Beckham for seventh on the all-time Premier League list.

17. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool. (Last matchday: N/A)
Last year’s player of the year makes his first appearance, and he’s not even playing great. The Egyptian was a lively presence throughout the match, constantly looking to get in and around the Palace defence, but was more wasteful than he would have liked.

Still, he drew a penalty, a red card for Aaron Wan-Bissaka (one of Palace’s standout performers last week), and provided the assist that capped off Liverpool’s win.

18. James Maddison, Leicester City. (Last matchday: N/A)
Leicester City is desperate for someone to fill the gaping hole left by the departure of Riyad Mahrez, and while those are big shoes to fill, James Maddison has shown his intent to try and do so through the opening two fixtures.

The 21-year-old was denied by a spectacular David de Gea save in their opening match, and so was more than deserving of the deflection that helped his shot go in against Wolverhampton Wanderers and give his side a comfortable 2-0 lead.

19. Steve Cook, Bournemouth. (Last matchday: N/A)
Clean sheet a week ago and the winning goal against West Ham United this week. Second in clearances at this early stage with 22, Cook has Bournemouth thinking they might even be able to better their 12th place finish from last season after helping his side to the full quota of six points from their opening two fixtures.

20. Paul Pogba, Manchester United. (Last matchday: 5)
Fair to say that if this was only based on United’s performance against Brighton & Hove Albion, the French superstar would not have made the cut. Yet, on the average of his two performances thus far, he’s still deserving of a spot. If Lukaku had burried an easy chance that Pogba set up early on, things could have been quite different for the Red Devils this weekend, but alas, he did not and everything went south for United from there.

Honourable mention:
David Silva (Manchester City), Ruben Neves (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool), Jeffrey Schlupp (Crystal Palace), Glenn Murray (Brighton & Hove Albion), Shane Duffy (Brighton & Hove Albion), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Arsenal), Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal), Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City), James Tarkowski (Burnley), Ricardo Pereira (Leicester City), Alisson (Liverpool).

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