ARSENAL deserve huge credit for the way they’ve burst out of the blocks this season.
On the brink of October, the Gunners are top of the Premier League having won six of their first seven games.
Given that Mikel Arteta’s side also won their first European fixture of 2022/23, it would perhaps be reasonable to expect this supremacy to be reflected in the Dream Team rankings.
While plenty of Emirates residents are providing plentiful returns, not least the popular Gabriel Jesus (£5.7m) who has racked up 45 points, it’s Manchester City assets who are dominating the Stats Centre at this juncture.
Joao Cancelo (£7.6m) is already in a bracket of his own in his position having established a 17-point lead at the top of the defensive rankings.
The Portuguese full-back has earned seven 7+ ratings this campaign, only one player has more at this stage – more on him in a moment.
Cancelo built some serious momentum prior to the international break, registering 41 points across his last five outings.
Similarly, Kevin De Bruyne (£7.5m) is the current outright best asset in his field.
The brilliant Belgian doesn’t have the luxury of Cancelo’s extensive lead as he’s just eight points ahead of surprise package Pascal Gross (£3m).
However, the 31-year-old’s numbers make for ominous reading – he’s raced to eight assists in no time at all and has a goal plus two Star Man awards in addition.
And of course the forward rankings have been rendered a mockery by Erling Haaland (£8.7m) who, unsurprisingly, is the only player to have gained more 7+ ratings than Cancelo.
City’s relentless No9 has scored 14 goals in all competitions at a rate of one every 52.5 minutes – obscene.
Haaland has already bagged two hat-tricks, which came in consecutive games to give him a freakish haul of 51 points in Game Week 4.
For comparison, only two other forwards, Ivan Toney (£4.9m) and Aleksandar Mitrovic (£4.7m), have 50+ points to their name in total.
The Norwegian goal-machine has amassed 121 points from just seven Game Weeks’ work.
For those keeping track, that gives Haaland a 67-point lead at the top of the rankings which already looks like an insurmountable deficit.
Cristiano Ronaldo (£5.5m) is the only player in Dream Team history to have reached 400+ points – in 2007/08 – but Haaland has given himself every chance of joining the exclusive group with his flying start.
Elsewhere, Phil Foden (£5.7m) and Ruben Dias (£5.7m) are also within the top 15 performers overall at this stage, giving City five representatives in total to Arsenal’s one, the aforementioned Jesus.
This is not meant to be a dig at the Gunners at all, just a reminder that the league table doesn’t always tell the full story.
Arteta’s troops may be doing tremendously well but in the realm of Dream Team, City still reign supreme.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
