André Onana (Manchester United)
The Cameroonian had a debut season to forget in England. A series of blunders during a nightmarish Champions League campaign helped contribute to Manchester United’s group-stage exit, while high-profile errors on the domestic front led to serious questions about his future. Onana has enjoyed a far better start this time, dropping no conspicuous clangers and keeping five clean sheets in 11 games, the highest of any goalkeeper. He is overperforming in shot-stopping metrics and boasts a pass-completion rate that is on course to be higher than last season. An unexpectedly reassuring presence during another period of early-season turmoil at Old Trafford.
Ola Aina (Nottingham Forest)
Only awarded a one-year contract extension last summer after a stop-start first season at Forest punctuated by a trip to the Africa Cup of Nations and injury, Aina has played well enough in the past three months to have those responsible for this parsimony ruing their reluctance to offer him a longer deal. Having started the season at left-back, the Nigeria international was switched to the right after three games and has thrived. The tight rein on which he kept Luis Díaz during Forest’s win over Liverpool was one of the best defensive performances of any player in this campaign.
Nikola Milenkovic (Nottingham Forest)
In a feature that could have been comprised exclusively of Forest players, the Serbia captain is a standout inclusion as a Premier League success story since his £12m summer arrival from Fiorentina. Drafted into a side that haemorrhaged goals from set pieces last season, Milenkovic needed little or no time to acclimatise while helping transform Nuno Espiríto Santo’s defence into the top flight’s second meanest. While Forest’s scattergun approach to transfer business has been the subject of derision, the outstanding partnership forged between Milenkovic and his central-defensive sidekick Murillo is a major contributory factor to the club’s unexpectedly exalted league position.
Michael Keane (Everton)
A peripheral figure who made only nine league appearances last season, Michael Keane has already equalled that total with 11 games of this campaign played. Almost certainly one of the four or five unnamed players who Sean Dyche acknowledged that Everton fans didn’t want to see in his side, the 31-year-old is unlikely to keep his place now that Jarrad Branthwaite has returned to fitness but was a decent deputy, even scoring two goals. The pick of them? A left-footed screamer into the roof of the net from a tight angle against Ipswich that will have had even his most vocal detractors on their feet.
Antonee Robinson (Fulham)
While Robinson’s season-on-season improvement will not surprise Fulham fans, his remarkable form has raised eyebrows among those less used to seeing him play. Ranked third among Premier League defenders when it comes to making tackles and interceptions, it is going forward that he has excelled in a Fulham side performing well above expectation. The pacy United States international has been accumulating frequent-flyer points with his regular overlapping sprints down the left wing and no top-flight defender has bettered his three assists. On current form, Robinson is arguably the top flight’s best left-back and the force is very much with the 27-year-old known as Jedi.
Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)
A squad player under Jürgen Klopp, Gravenberch has taken just 11 games to become the outstanding defensive midfielder many Liverpool fans didn’t realise their club already had on the books. The young Dutchman is thriving in his deep-lying role as the sitting midfielder in the double-pivot favoured by Arne Slot, a position in which he previously played for Ajax. “This season my goal is to play even more than last season and I’m on my way,” said the midfielder who has started each of Liverpool’s 11 Premier League matches and failed to finish only one of them.
Pape Sarr (Tottenham)
When Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to demolish Aston Villa after going a goal behind their standout performer was Sarr. The 22-year-old Senegal international won the ball nine times in midfield and his direct running at the visitors led to two of his side’s four goals. An apparently tireless athlete whose excellent partnership alongside Dejan Kulusevski in Ange Postecoglou’s midfield has edged James Maddison to the fringes despite the England international not having done a great deal wrong. With more questions being asked of the Australian following Spurs’ home defeat against Ipswich, he will hope Sarr’s work ethic helps keep him in a job.
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Matheus Nunes (Manchester City)
A bit-part player last season following his move from Wolves, Nunes has made the most of the additional responsibilities handed to him by Pep Guardiola due to the club’s injury crisis. A central midfielder by trade, Nunes has been deployed on the left and in all competitions has scored three goals, provided four assists and created seven big chances. With reports suggesting Nunes has done enough to earn himself a spot in his favoured position upon the return of Jack Grealish and Jérémy Doku from the treatment room, the 26-year-old could yet enjoy an extended run in the team.
Facundo Buonanotte (Leicester)
On loan from Brighton, this teenage Argentinian winger has come into a promoted side that was always likely to struggle and made an immediate impact. A first-team staple despite Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Madvididi’s stellar contributions to Leicester’s promotion cause last season, Buonanotte has already equalled last season’s top-flight tally of three goals while providing two assists. Always keen to take on defenders on the edge of their own box, he is similarly enthusiastic when it comes to getting his hands dirty and is happy to do his fair share of defensive donkey-work.
Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest)
Few expected this thirtysomething throwback to trouble the Golden Boot standings, but there he is on eight goals, rubbing shoulders with Mo Salah and Bryan Mbeumo, with only Erling Haaland ahead of them. The lone striker at the tip of Nuno Espiríto Santo’s 4-2-3-1 spear, Wood’s physicality makes him a handful while he is also benefiting from the excellent service provided by Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Not as good in the air as he should be, the big Kiwi is a scorer of important goals, with each of his eight having contributed to the points tally which has Forest riding high in fifth.
Liam Delap (Ipswich)
Despite being just 21, Delap had something of a point to prove when he moved to Ipswich after three fairly underwhelming loan spells from Manchester City at various Championship clubs. Thrown in at the deep end due to Ipswich’s failure to secure other summer targets, he got off the mark with a wonderful solo goal against Fulham and has since added five more. Fast, fond of a stepover, a tormentor of central defenders and blessed with the ability to strike the ball with the power of 10,000 suns, he is well on his way to repaying the faith in him shown by Kieran McKenna.
Source: theguardian.com
