Too old? Too expensive? Too, erm, rubbish? Which Premier League stars have shocked the experts in 2016?
Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe
Yes, we know Eden Hazard is back to his beguiling best and the indefatigable Alexis Sanchez remains the scourge of Premier League defenders the land over. We expected that anyway.
But who has caught us by surprise in 2016?
Jermain Defoe
Only seven players in Premier League history have ever found the back of the net more times than Jermain Defoe. So why is his name forever absent from discussions over the league’s greatest goalscorer? After all, few players in the modern game are as criminally underrated as Defoe who, at 34, remains as sharp as a serrated blade.
With 19 goals across the calendar year, it’s no exaggeration to say that, without him, The Black Cats’ nine lives would have been up a long time ago. While not exactly a one-man team, the other ten would look rather doomed without the veteran striker notching at an alarming rate.
Victor Moses
You’d have got long odds on Victor Moses becoming an undisputed starter under Antonio Conte’s Chelsea revolution at this season. And that’s without mentioning a dramatic change of position, from orthodox left-winger into the epitome of the athletic, modern right-wing back.
The former Crystal Palace youngster spent the previous three campaigns embarking on rather middling loan spells at Liverpool, Stoke and West Ham but his energy and driving runs from deep have handed his career a much-needed lifeline at Stamford Bridge.
Idrissa Gana Gueye
That Idrissa Gueye emerged unscathed from the wreckage that was once Aston Villa is testament to his commitment, consistency and in-vogue tenacity. The same season that claimed the careers of Jolean Lescott and Micah Richards only shoved reluctant hero Gueye into the spotlight and into the arms of Everton.
And the 27-year-old has proven the perfect foil for Gareth Barry in Ronald Koeman’s otherwise underperforming side, relishing the dirty work while demonstrating an extensive passing range that had previously gone unnoticed. However, a slight dip in displays during Everton’s autumnal struggles have rather taken the sheen off what has been a well-deserved step into the big-time for N’Golo Kante-lite.
Joe Allen
While Brendan Rodgers’ ‘Welsh Xavi’ remarks handed critics ammunition on a platter, such comparisons appear even more ridiculous now. Not because Allen has underperformed, however. More because, unlike Xavi, Allen’s sharp, incisive passing has been overshadowed by an element of his game that no one knew existed until the start of the season. Goalscoring.
The all-action all-rounder, whose industrious displays for Wales during Euro 2016 earned him a place in the Team of the Tournament, edging out Paul Pogba and William Carvalho no less, has already scored the same amount of Premier League goals for Stoke in five months (4) as he managed in three years with Liverpool.
David Luiz
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. When Chelsea accepted defeat in their doomed pursuits of Leonardo Bonucci, Kostas Manolas and Alessio Romagnoli and turned to the flamboyant yet flawed David Luiz, we were not exactly expecting a series of assured defensive displays and a multitude of clean-sheets.
Yet the Brazilian has thrived as the ball-playing lynchpin of Conte’s infamous back three, leaving those dirty defensive duties to Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta, all the while becoming a crucial cog in Chelsea’s well-oiled machine.
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