The CIES Football Observatory have announced their best Premier League XI of the season so far, and five Manchester City players (Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo Rodri and Bernardo Silva) have been included.
Five Liverpool stars (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson, Mo Salah, Jota and Sadio Mane) and one Chelsea player (Edouard Mendy) made up the rest of the team. CIES use their own Performance Index to determine who should be selected, utilising Opta stats with the condition of a minimum of 900 minutes played.
Supporters on Twitter were not surprised that so many of City’s first team were included but were querying some of the other selections:
So it’s basically city and liverpool
— Z3us (@Z3us71916714) December 20, 2021
Mane and henderson??
— Joul (@CityJoul) December 20, 2021
Ederson ain’t still given the respect he so deserves
— John Samuel (@EneojoJohn) December 20, 2021
Mount > Mane this season
— Hadi El Ammoury (@HadiAmmoury) December 20, 2021
what in the bias is that? Henderson over rice?😭
— Daniel (@1894aniel) December 20, 2021
The disrespect to Kyle Walker
— David Freeman (@DfreeJr87) December 20, 2021
Hendo???? Lmao
— CALeB_225 (@Auguste_Landry) December 20, 2021
Fair
— Sahil (@Sahilpa86232916) December 20, 2021
It is interesting to note that no player outside of the current top three was included, which may suggest that CIES’s Performance Index does skew towards those playing in the best teams.
Saying that, though, it is hard to quibble with most of the eleven, although the selection of Mane, in particular, ahead of the likes of Riyad Mahrez, does seem rather puzzling.
