Ronaldo rockets onto form rankings leaderboard but new face leads the way
After the weekend’s action there is a new leader in WhoScored.com’s player form rankings from Europe’s top five leagues, while Cristiano Ronaldo has shot into the top ten.
The Juventus star - now sixth - had a direct hand in all three goals for his side, scoring twice and assisting the other, but that still wasn’t enough to overcome Parma in a six-goal thriller. The Portuguese turns 34 today and his efforts did take his seasonal goal tally to 17, ranking third overall, six of which have come in his last six league appearances assessed here.
The two players ahead of the veteran forward in the scoring charts both place higher in the form rankings too, though Kylian Mbappe relinquishes top spot from the previous week having failed to find a way past Lyon as PSG lost for the first time all season in Ligue 1.
Lionel Messi did manage to extend his goal haul, becoming the first player this season to reach and indeed surpass the 20-league goal landmark with a brace against Valencia. The Argentine has now scored in eight consecutive league appearances, notching 12 goals in that time, but he could only retain second spot this time around.
Leapfrogging the Barcelona star is one of his weekend opponents, with Dani Parejo in the form of his career, this week extending his Valencia contract as a consequence. The Spanish midfielder scored from the spot with one of five attempts in total at Camp Nou - three on target - while completing 49 of 51 passes (96 per cent), along with three tackles and match-high of six interceptions to claim a man of the match rating.
The 29-year-old has now scored in four of his last six league appearances from the middle of the park, while creating 18 chances, completing 13 tackles and 12 dribbles in that time.
Highly sought after Lille forward Nicolas Pepe shoots all the way up to fourth having scored one and assisting another in a 4-0 win over Nice, taking his tallies to 16 and eight respectively for the season, while Atalanta talisman Alejandro Gomez drops one place to fifth.
Elsewhere Paul Pogba drops four places in seventh despite another sumptuous assist in a 1-0 win over Leicester, while Julian Draxler is down to ninth and sandwiched between Premier League pair Raheem Sterling and Raul Jimenez. Both shoot into the top ten having not featured on the leaderboard at all last time out, with there former registering two assists in victory over Arsenal and the latter scoring in the win over Everton to back up the brace he netted against West Ham last week.
Sergio Agüero qualifies once more having now started six of Manchester City’s last eight league games, with his hat-trick against Arsenal helping to earn a spot in 11th, while Edinson Cavani, like both of his aforementioned PSG teammates drops down the leaderboard and out of the top ten.
AC Milan’s teenage stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma (13th) deserves a special mention as the only goalkeeper in the top 20 having earned a third successive man of the match award from WhoScored.com, helping his side earn points against Napoli and Roma in the process.
Meanwhile there are new faces in the form of 21-year-old Leganes striker Youssef En-Nesyri and RB Leipzig full back Marcel Halstenberg, with the latter joined by teammate Yussuf Poulsen, while Thorgan Hazard makes his return following a man of the match display against Schalke, registering an assist and completing 11 dribbles.
Premier League duo Heung-Min Son and Josh King also make the cut despite seeing their respective weighted ratings over the last six matches drop marginally, and Frankfurt forward Sebastien Haller competes the top 20, just as he did in last week’s rankings.
QUALIFYING RULES
Only ratings taken from each player’s last six league matches are considered, weighted chronologically, with the most recent match carrying greater importance and so on. To qualify each player must have featured in their side’s last league game and started at least six of the last eight available.
