Updated: 21 May 2026 13:44 BST |
7 min read
Awards season in the Premier League will see the familiar faces challenge for honours, with the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Declan Rice and Erling Haaland fighting for Player of the Year honours.
But beyond these elite figures who are so often in the headlines, there are those stars whose work goes unnoticed. Perhaps it’s because they perform an unfashionable job or because they are in a struggling team, sometimes it’s even because they’ve had an unfair amount of scrutiny poured on them due to a huge transfer fee.
This is where these players are recognised.
Method
Using the analysis of in-game data from SciSports, FootballTransfers has put together a team of the most underrated players in the Premier League this season.
These are players who have featured in at least 900 minutes in their role, and who have excelled based on the analysis of the analytics experts.
There are unsung heroes from some of the Premier League’s smaller clubs in this XI, but there are also some players from the bigger teams who have perhaps not been given the love they deserve.
All are considered elite performers in their positions by SciSports yet none are set to be in the reckoning when it comes to the main Player of the Year awards.
Goalkeeper: Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest)
The popular narrative this season is that Sels has lost his form. He was hailed as one of the top shot-stoppers in the Premier League last term, but some of the shine had disappeared from his performances this time around, critics have argued.
In fact, he’s had another very impressive season. With a save rate of 72.4%, he is slightly down on last season, but he still rates third in the Premier League in this regard behind Manchester City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Leeds United’s Karl Darlow.
He beats Darlow to a place in this team by virtue of his greater clean sheet percentage.
Right-back: James Justin (Leeds)
One of Justin’s strengths for Leeds this season has been his flexibility, but he takes the right-back berth in this team.
The former Leicester player only hooked up with the Elland Road club in August, but by SciSports’ analysis, he has been an enormous presence defensively for Daniel Farke’s side. Indeed, he rates among the best players across a raft of defensive categories, including open-play disruption, defensive positioning and, that vital attribute for the 2025/26 season, set-piece disruption.
Centre-back: Marcos Senesi (Bournemouth)
Arsenal fans might be astounded to learn that neither William Saliba nor Gabriel are SciSports’ leading centre-back in the Premier League this season. Rather, it is Bournemouth’s Argentine sensation Marcos Senesi.
Despite many of the league’s leading clubs seeking to sign him in the summer, with Liverpool apparently leading the way, the 29-year-old remains a comparatively unheralded figure and, therefore, makes this team.
He’s available on a free transfer in the summer, so someone is sure to pick up a bargain.
Centre-back: Ladislav Krejci (Wolves)
It’s not been the season that Wolves would have wanted, but central defender Ladislav Krejci has conducted himself superbly after arriving from Girona last summer.
In a defence that has conceded 67 goals, Krejci has stood out as a strong performer, according to SciSports, which ranks the 27-year-old right up there with Senesi.
He’s had plenty of opportunities to show off his defensive qualities, and he ranks in the top-third of players in each of SciSports’ six key metrics in this regard, showing that he is an immense defensive force despite his team’s toils.
Left-back: Patrick Dorgu (Man Utd)
It’s been a season of some frustration for Patrick Dorgu, who had started to catch the eye as an attacking midfielder in the latter days of Ruben Amorim’s reign and the early stages of the Michael Carrick era.
SciSports suggests that the 21-year-old left-sided player was underappreciated in his role as a full-back, though. He played little over 1000 minutes as a left-back or wing-back, yet according to the company’s analysis, he performed better than almost anyone else in that role.
Where James Justin shone defensive to get into this team, it was Dorgu’s attacking attributes that really caught the eye, with his passing, crossing and positioning all excellent. This explains why he may well find luck moving forward into a wing role on a more permanent basis.
Central midfield: Alex Iwobi (Fulham)
Former Arsenal and Everton star Iwobi has been reinvented as a central midfielder this season, playing a box-to-box role more than he played in his previous position on the wing. With impressive stamina and speed, the Lagos-born star has shone in this new position.
While Casemiro has won praise for his execution of the role this season, Iwobi is not far behind in SciSports’ analysis.
His offensive positioning ranks better than any other central midfielder in the Premier League, while his dribbling and crossing is also excellent – though given his history on the wing, that should come as little surprise.
Central midfield: Ryan Christie (Bournemouth
While Alex Scott gets much of the praise at Bournemouth, SciSports rates the performances of his central midfield colleague Ryan Christie as being the stronger this season.
It has been doing the unfashionable, ugly things where Christie has particularly excelled, going someway to explaining why his performances have been so overlooked.
He has been an elite disruptor this season while his counter control has been up there with the best in the Premier League.
Attacking midfield: Florian Wirtz (Liverpool)
‘What’s Florian Wirtz doing in this team given he has been considered a transfer flop since joining Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last summer?’ you may ask.
Well, SciSports rates his performance as the very best in the Premier League when it comes to attacking midfielders with no exceptions.
Wirtz blows the Premier League averages out of the water when it comes to chance creation passes and expected assists (xA), with his dribbling the best of any player in the attacking midfield role by a street. His passing, meanwhile, has been the third best in the league in this role, lagging only assist king Bruno Fernandes and Cole Palmer.
It may not have been the debut season he wished for, but there is still much promise there.
Winger: Samuel Chukwueze (Fulham)
With three goals and four assists, Chukwueze has chipped in nicely for Fulham this season.
Perhaps his most valuable contribution for the Cottagers has come defensively. He has been excellent at helping his side both turnover possession and control counterattacks, SciSports reports.
He’s typically been used from the start against the stronger teams, suggesting that Marco Silva loves these defensive attributes that he brings. It also suggests that he’s been unlucky not to play more regularly. Indeed, AFCON probably came at the wrong time for this, arriving after a five-match spell in which he had contributed decisively five times – including two goals in a 5-4 loss against Man City.
Winger: Jack Grealish (Everton)
How different Everton’s season might have been had Jack Grealish’s campaign not been prematurely ended by injury in January.
We didn’t see the 30-year-old back to his devastating best of his Aston Villa days, but there was glimpses of what might yet return.
Somewhat surprisingly, it’s not Grealish’s dribbling ability that particularly stands out in SciSports’ analysis, but rather his off-the-ball work, particularly in terms of open-play disruption and transition forcing.
Striker: Nick Woltemade (Newcastle)
Alexander Isak he isn’t, but Newcastle’s replacement for the Sweden international didn’t do too badly at all in his first Premier League season.
Woltemade ranks as the league’s best finisher based on SciSport’s figures, excelling particularly at close range.
Despite this, he’s struggled for goals and has drifted out of Eddie Howe’s starting XI in recent weeks after netting four times in his first five games.
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