Tottenham Hotspur have overtaken the No. 1 spot in the Premier League standings following their 4-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers. Spurs defender Eric Dier is the highest rated player in the league, but Manchester City forward Stevan Jovetic took the Player of the Week for Aug. 23-25.
Spurs lead Manchester City and Chelsea by one goal in the standings and will face Liverpool this coming Sunday, while Man City squares off against Stoke City and Chelsea goes up against Everton on Saturday. Through two weeks, Tottenham also has the No. 1 overall rated player in all of the Premier League: Eric Dier. The defender has a player performance index of 70, which is tied with midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson of Swansea City.
The EA Sports Player Performance Index also ranks the top player for each week in the Premier League. Last week's honors went to Liverpool striker Raheem Sterling. The 19-year-old scored a goal and delivered an assist in the team's 2-1 victory over Southampton in Week 1. But Week 2 honors go to Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetic, who scored two goals in the team's 3-1 win over Liverpool on Monday. Jovetic had an index of 49 this week and beat out midfielders Eden Hazard (46) of Chelsea and Nacer Chadli (46) of Tottenham. Jovetic's overall index is a 57, which is good enough for ninth overall.
The ranking system also provides an "EA Sports Team of the Week" as well as the overall top club based on the grading criteria. The Team of the Week, which is essentially an All-Star lineup, includes strikers Emmanuel Adebayor (TOT) and Stevan Jovetic (MCI); midfielders Eden Hazard (CHE), Cheikhou Kouyate (WHU), Nacer Chadli (TOT) and Stewart Downing (WHU); defenders Seamus Coleman (EVE), Branislav Ivanovic (CHE), Ryan Shawcross (STK) and Eric Dier (TOT); and lastly, keeper Thibaut Courtois (CHE).
Although Tottenham is first in the PL standings, the PPI Index reveals that Chelsea is the league's top rated team with their combined score of 489 compared to Tottenham's 483. The average PPI for each player on Chelsea is a 32.6 - also the highest - which makes sense because they have four players in the league's top ten. The player and team rankings throughout the season should be interesting now that the system has new criteria to grade each performance.
For now, you can check out the Premier League standings and player rankings on the league's official website.
