5 surprise Premier League standouts

We’re now far enough into the Premier League season that players’ data might start to tell us something. Not definitively, 9 games isn’t a big enough sample to make grand declarations about anyone’s quality or lack thereof. But it’s enough to go “hmm, that’s interesting.”

And that’s what we have today: 5 Hmm, That’s Interesting players. Guys who have strongly stood out in some way and deserve to be watched more closely going forward to see if these trends continue.

Arijanet Muric: GK, Ipswich

Last season, Arijanet Muric made 10 starts for Burnley. He was excellent in them, but apparently not excellent enough to win a job off the younger and quite a bit more expensive James Trafford.

Ipswich noticed how well he played as the No. 2, decided he’d improve them, and they appear to be correct. His shot-stopping and claims have been just as good for the Tractor Boys as they were for his previous employers.

Muric is a towering 6’6” (1.98m) with an impressive wingspan, and he’s using it to great effect, putting up the best claims numbers in the league. He appears to be £10m extremely well spent by Ipswich.

Konstantinos Mavropanos: CB, West Ham

I can hear the Arsenal fans everywhere going: “Really?” Yes, really! Konstantinos Mavropanos got off to a bit of a shaky start to his West Ham career after arriving from Stuttgart last season, but he’s been a bright spot in a relatively shaky overall team defense.

West Ham’s poor pressing structure and slow midfield is putting their center backs under enormous pressure, but Mavropanos is rising to the challenge with some pretty outrageous ball-winning numbers.

A high volume of defensive actions from a center back isn’t necessarily indicative of quality. Everyone knows the famous Paolo Maldini quote: "If I have to tackle, I have already made a mistake.” But Maldini spent his career with Carlo Ancelotti, Marcel Desailly, and Gennaro Gattuso in front of him doing all the tackling. Mavropanos has a sieve in front of him.

The impressive thing here is that every number pops. Tackles, tackles won percentage, interceptions, aerial win percentage, blocked shots, defensive action OBV. Dude’s doing it all.

Lewis Hall: LB, Newcastle

OK, this one’s not that big of a surprise. Hall was an impressive youngster at Chelsea and was outstanding for his age in his first season playing regularly at Newcastle. But he appears to have taken a significant leap forward in both his one-on-one defending and passing contributions, and is now just one of the best all-around fullbacks in the Premier League.

Enough of that starting a right back at left back nonsense for England. Thomas Tuchel is likely to hand Hall his first England cap soon, and he might hold down that role for a decade.

Harry Winks: CM, Leicester

This is comfortably the most fricked up looking StatsBomb radar I’ve ever seen from a guy who’s actually starting every game and has a decent sample size. What on earth?

In his time at Tottenham, Winks drew praise for his ball retention abilities, and an equal amount of criticism for his limited game in possession and poor defensive contributions. He’s classy on the ball, but lacking in athleticism and ability to beat a man on the dribble or carry forward. He seems to have amplified all of these qualities in both directions at Leicester this season.

Winks is one of the most effective passers in the Premier League this season, and also perhaps the league’s least defensively active deep-lying midfielder. He is completely carrying the team in one phase of the game, and requires being carried due to being utterly useless in another. We haven’t seen a guy like this since Jürgen Klopp invented running in 2015.

Antoine Semenyo: RW, Bournemouth

OK, enough with these guys who do unsexy stuff like “defend” and “pass.” Here’s a guy who scores and assists, with some underlying numbers suggesting he’s going to do a lot more of it.

Antoine Semenyo was very solid last year in his first campaign as a big contributor for Bournemouth. This year, he’s become the team’s best attacking player from the right wing, contributing some big shot and key passing volume.

Semenyo’s xG per shot and shot OBV numbers aren’t looking so hot, which I’d put down to half poor shot selection, half Bournemouth being a pretty mid attacking team that doesn’t put amazing passing options near him often enough. I’ll be watching to see if his shot volume goes down a bit while xG per shot and xA go up, as new striker signing Evanilson settles in. —KM

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