West Ham players free fall from Bleacher Report power rankings

West Ham were hoping to bounce back after a disappointing week 8 loss to Brighton 1-0. Instead, the Irons put up another toothless effort in a very similar 1-0 loss to Spurs. The remaining players in Sam Tighe‘s Bleacher Report from West Ham are hanging on by a thread.

The Bleacher Report weekly ranking, EPL100 can be seen here. It ranks the best players by positions after each week, taking into consideration their performances from the week that was, and the form they have strung together over the past few matches.

Let’s get into the Iron’s rankings:

Keepers – Lukasz Fabianski: 7th

The West Ham keeper holds the honor of “biggest fall” in the keeper category this week with a drop from 4th position. It isn’t really on Fabianski as much as it’s on other keepers getting wins. Fabianski was great in the match, making some timely saves including double save in the second half that kept West Ham in the match right up until the final whistle.

The goal that beat him was a header that Lamela tucked far post out of his reach. I still don’t know how offside Harry Kane didn’t affect play as he had to bend backward to get out of the way of the low cross but I digress. Fabianski is still one of the best Premier League keepers, but his team is letting him down right now. Hopefully, a match with Leicester will right the ship.

Right-backs – Pablo Zabaleta: 7th

Zabaleta has been so solid for West Ham in the past month and a half and deserves his spot on this list. He was denoted for “biggest fall” alongside Watford’s Daryl Janmaat but both only dropped one spot. The right-back top ten featured six stays of positioning suggesting that not much was happening in the world of right-backs for match-day nine in the Premier League, so until next week we’ll have to wait for some major movement.

Centre-backs – Issa Diop: 16th

Welcome back, Issa Diop! Diop was dropped for matchday 8 after that Brighton loss but has re-earned his position back with a stellar showing against Tottenham. The jokes were out in full force for the French defensive ace; check your pockets Issa, and let out Harry Kane.

Diop had a few ridiculous tackles in this match especially on Harry Kane which certainly helped him regain his top 20 spot after relegation a week prior. Diop really stood out in this match and even separated himself from Fabian Balbuena who has also looked superb up to this point.

Central/Holding Midfielders – Declan Rice: 14th

Like Fabianski, Declan Rice is in a position where if his team fails he will drop in power rankings. Rice has been a rock in midfield for West Ham, although Sissoko and Lucas Moura did slice through the left side of the midfield by targeting Aaron Cresswell and Felipe Anderson who couldn’t stop much of anything. Rice did what he could, but his responsibility is the center of the pitch and he was solid there for the entirety of the match.

Rice has been a game changer for West Ham since he rejoined the starting XI at Everton. He is a no doubt starter and other than his contract which remains an issue, Rice is going to save his manager some money in January as the club no longer needs a stud DM.

Attacking Midfielders/Wingers – Felipe Anderson: 20th

Ohhhh, Felipe, you’re hanging on by a thread! There’s not a ton to say about Anderson who got hammered on social media for his defensive coverage on the Tottenham goal this weekend. I assumed he’d be dropped out of the top 20 after falling to 17th the week prior, but I guess he staved off relegation by the virtue of not a lot of other players having great weeks. Regardless, Tighe’s respect for Anderson who I believe was wrongfully blamed on the goal, is nice to see.

Strikers – Marko Arnautovic: 9th

This is a justified drop in the striker top-ten, which most West Ham fans won’t want to admit, but Arnautovic has not been doing anything offensively in the last two matches. After captaining and scoring for an Austrian side that beat Northern Ireland over the international break, It looked like Arnie would come back to West Ham reinvigorated and posied to get back in the goals, but that just wasn’t the case.

His knee may still be bugging him, but if the medical team is clearing him and he is willing to play then there is no excuse for Arnautovic on the pitch. I assume he will be paired up top with Chicharito which should provide him with some central support against Leicester. West Ham can’t regress in form at this time so look for Arnie to climb back up this list.