A penalty-loving Serb, reinvented Manchester United full-back and free-scoring Seagull – they all feature in Barnaby Lane’s look at the top-flight stars who’ve pleasantly surprised in 2017/18
Andrew Robertson
After a 2016/17 where Liverpool’s leaky defence cost them on more than one occasion, Reds fans were desperate for Jurgen Klopp to shore up his backline during the summer. That he did – but an £8 million left-back from relegated Hull was hardly what Kopites had in mind.
By the second half of 2017/18, however, those underwhelmed with the Scotsman’s signing had forgotten such feelings. Robertson has been the quiet success of the season at Anfield, establishing himself as an important element of Jurgen Klopp’s red machine since December’s 5-1 trouncing of Brighton, and all but confirming the end of Alberto Moreno’s career on Merseyside.
The 24-year-old has been concrete defensively but also demonstrated his devilish delivery in the final third, having created 21 chances for his team-mates in the league alone. That even neutrals were surprised by his omission from the PFA Team of the Year says it all.
Ashley Barnes
It took Barnes until mid-November to get off the mark this season, and even since then he’s scored only eight goals in 23 appearances for Sean Dyche’s side – just one more than he's managed bookings in that period.
But the 28-year-old has proved something of a clutch player for the high-flying Clarets, who are bound for Europe in no small part thanks to him. Barnes’s rejuvenated partnership with Chris Wood produced four goals in successive games for him against Southampton, Everton, West Ham and West Brom – and in all of those he scored Burnley’s first or only goals.
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The striker has impressed technically as well – those efforts against the Hammers and Baggies were each brilliant – so much so that he could earn an international call-up for Austria, whom he qualifies for through his grandmother (and represented at U20 level).
Luka Milivojevic
The Serb must have ice running through those veins of his. Crystal Palace have been awarded an astonishing nine penalties this season in the Premier League, eight of which the 27-year-old has taken. Seven have found the back of the net (the one that didn’t? The last-minute miss that would have beaten Manchester City on New Year’s Eve).
Milivojevic has added another three goals to take his total for the season to 10, but he’s been generally influential throughout the campaign; a trusted lieutenant for Roy Hodgson in the Eagles’ battle to avoid the drop.
Abdoulaye Doucoure
The outstanding French midfielder in the Premier League this season? Paul Pogba? N’Golo Kante? Tiemoue Bakayoko? (Erm, OK – definitely not that last one… nor the first, for that matter.)
Nope. “I want to be one of the best midfielders in the league,” Watford’s Doucoure said in September following his side’s 2-0 win over Southampton where he opened the scoring (with his hand, admittedly) – one of seven strikes he’s managed this campaign. “I have to work on that and at the end of the season you’ll see where I am.”
Lofty ambitions, sure, but for much of the season he’s not been too far off. Since a difficult start to life at Vicarage Road – upon signing in February 2016, Doucoure was immediately turfed out on loan to Granada – he’s only missed one game all season (through suspension) and thrived as a box-to-box force.
If you believe reports, the Frenchman’s performances have impressed some of the Premier League’s top clubs including Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal. A slightly disappointing end to the season might put paid to a move, but he’s certainly planted seeds of hope.
Lewis Cook
‘Looks like a 15-year-old but plays like a 30-year-old’ is a fair compliment to pay Bournemouth midfielder Cook (unless he's forgotten his ID at the supermarket, or something).
He was signed as a teenager from Leeds in summer 2016, and Cherries boss Eddie Howe has been quick to recognise his talent. No midfielder in Bournemouth’s squad has more top-flight minutes under their belt this season than the 21-year-old, and his displays have even earned him a first England cap under Gareth Southgate (much to his grandfather’s delight).
His own manager has compared him to former Bournemouth team-mate Jack Wilshere – thankfully for his playing style, rather than injury record. “There are parallels to draw between the two,” Howe said in March. “They're both dynamic players, creative players, and they've got an eye for a pass.”
Ashley Young
Jose Mourinho has no fewer than four other potential left-backs at his disposal, yet his decision to give Young a swing there ahead of Luke Shaw, Matteo Darmian, Daley Blind or Marcos Rojo has proven an unlikely success.
Since moving further downfield, Young has reinvigorated what looked to be a dying career at Old Trafford, and even played himself back into international contention. The 32-year-old was recalled to the England squad in November by Southgate after a four-year sabbatical, and is hotly tipped to be part of the Three Lions squad that travels to Russia this summer.
Like many of United’s longest-serving players of the past, Young’s versatility has proved an invaluable asset – and earned him a one-year contract extension in March.
Jordan Ayew
Swansea’s biggest downfall this season has been their inability to score. Carlos Carvalhal’s side have managed only 27 goals in the Premier League – the joint-lowest total in the division with bottom side West Brom.
However, the Swans have enjoyed some positive contributions from their top scorer Ayew, especially during the second half of the campaign after his positional switch to a more central role.
Under Carvalhal and alongside his brother Andre, who was re-signed by Swansea in January, Ayew has been the key figure in his club’s march towards safety, managing 11 goals in all competitions. Remarkably, the Welsh club haven’t lost in any of those 11 matches either.
With five games to play and the Swans still hovering dangerously above the relegation zone, Carvalhal will be praying his family affair up front continues to reap rewards.
Jamaal Lascelles
You’d be hard-pressed to name a more influential Premier League captain this season than Lascelles.
Before 2017/18, he had only one dismal season of top-flight experience under his belt, but even then the young stopper was leading by example and trying to drag up the more experienced underperformers around him. It was no surprise therefore that Rafa Benitez chose the former Nottingham Forest man as his new skipper upon the Magpies’ relegation in 2016.
With Lascelles in the side this term, Newcastle have conceded only 0.93 goals per game on average in Premier League matches he's played this season (say our pals at STATS), and his captain’s contribution of three goals – earning five extra points for the Magpies – could end up helping his team to an unlikely top-half finish.
Ederson
What’s been most surprising about the Brazilian keeper this season is just how good he’s been.
Having signed for a fee of £34.7m from Benfica last summer, nobody expected the 24-year-old netminder to flop exactly – but City fans were still haunted by Claudio Bravo’s disastrous debut season at the Etihad. Certainly, few expected him to offer David de Gea a fight for the title of league’s best keeper either.
Ederson might not be on the Spaniard’s level just quite yet – let’s face it, there aren’t many keepers who are – but he's done remarkably well to slot into Pep Guardiola’s system so seamlessly and thrive.
Murray scored 11 goals in his previous three seasons of Premier League football for Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, leading to the reasonable conclusion that he probably wouldn’t ever replicate his useful record lower down the English pyramid.
This season alone with Brighton, however, the striker – now 34 – has scored 12 times, making him the fourth-highest-scoring Englishman in the top flight behind only Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Jamie Vardy.
That’s more goals than Marcus Rashford, Charlie Austin and Danny Welbeck, all of whom are in with a shout of being named in England’s World Cup squad. It’s highly unlikely that the veteran will even be considered, but he’ll probably feel content with just being mentioned in the same conversation.
