The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Arsenal, Liverpool & Newcastle starlets smash into season's first Top 10

A brand new Premier League season is underway, and that means the return of 3 Added Minutes’ regular Wonderkid Power Rankings – our way of keeping track of how the most talented young players in the country are performing at the highest level, and of working out who the best of the best actually are.

Every week during the domestic season, we’ll be combing a deep dive through the stats and our writers’ opinions to put together a Top 10 of the most in-form Under-21s in the top flight based not on potential or progress, but on how they’re actually playing and affecting the games they’re involved in.

At the start of a new season, our rankings will inevitably fluctuate rapidly and wildly – after all, we’re only judging our starlets on one single match so far – but we suspect that quite a few members of our first rankings for the 2026/27 season will be in it for the long haul, and can’t wait to see how they all pan out. Let’s take a look at the first Power Rankings of the campaign…

10. Archie Gray – Tottenham Hotspur

Gray became the youngest player ever to captain Spurs on Saturday, and whilst the game against Brentford may not have gone according to plan – to say the very least – the young utility man acquitted himself well as he filled in for Pedro Porro at right-back.

Gray ended the game without missing a single tackle and having won all but one of his one-on-one duels. His passing was tidy and while the decision to give him the armband was a surprise, he ended up looking better suited to the role than most of his team-mates after their distinctly tepid performance.

9. Josh Acheampong – Chelsea

The 20-year-old definitely didn’t put in a flawless performance against Fulham on Monday evening – he might have reacted better to the rebound which Gonzalo García scored from, for starters – but Acheampong did a hell of a lot more right than wrong, and was very heavily involved throughout. The Chelsea centre-back ended up with seven clearances, four tackles, six ball recoveries and an interception to his name as he threw himself into his work with noticeable intent.

8. Jérémy Jacquet – Liverpool

A promising debut for the young Frenchman, who got through his first game as a Liverpool player without a single blemish on his record – he won every tackle, every duel and every header, all while showing plenty of calm under pressure, passing the ball nicely when pressed by Newcastle’s attack. This wasn’t necessarily a stellar outing, nor did it create many moments for the highlight reel, but Jacquet simply didn’t put a foot wrong during a tough match for his new club.

7. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City

O’Reilly was one of the big breakout stars of the 2025/26 season and got things off to a good start in Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth, although it would have been even better had Erling Haaland managed to score the tremendous chance that the 20-year-old teed up for him after a lung-bursting run down the left wing and a subsequent pinpoint cross. Playing in an attacking midfield role, O’Reilly was creative, composed on the ball and passed it quite beautifully – and the only reason that there wasn’t any end product was that one of the world’s best strikers missed a bit of a sitter.

6. Luka Vušković – Brighton & Hove Albion

The talented Croatian defender will endure tougher tests of his credentials than a routine 4-0 win over a depleted Aston Villa side, but he passed with flying colours on Sunday – just one of his 112 touches of the ball went down as ‘unsuccessful’ as far as the statisticians were concerned and he was noticeably effective in the air, dealing with several of Villa’s somewhat half-hearted efforts to go direct. He looked like a threat from set pieces, too, and could easily have scored from a narrow angle after one corner routine.

5. Lewis Miley – Newcastle United

Such was the speed of the young midfielder’s development that Newcastle ended up missing him quite badly when injuries forced him out of the squad for much of the second half of last season – and luckily for the Magpies, he looks like he’s got himself back up to speed pretty swiftly.

Miley put in a lively performance against Liverpool during Sunday’s 2-2 draw, using the ball well, creating a couple of half-chances, and doing a ton of excellent defensive work which included an important blocked shot and six turnovers as he hassled and harried the visitors’ midfield. Industrious and effective in equal measure.

4. Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal

Reports suggest that Arsenal spent a portion of their summer doing their best to sell Lewis-Skelly, and few would have blamed the youngster if the speculation surrounding his future had derailed him at the start of a new season – but he looks as impressive as ever, and put in another fine performance after playing well in the Community Shield win over Manchester City.

No goals or assists today, although he managed both in pre-season, but Lewis-Skelly used the ball extremely efficiently in midfield, continually progressing play quickly while breaking down almost every Coventry attack which came anywhere near him – for those who keep tabs on the data, he ended up with four turnovers, one blocked shot and five wins from six in one-on-ones. A fine all-round outing from the 19-year-old, who made a compelling point about his place in Mikel Arteta’s pecking order.

3. Joshua King – Fulham

Quite a lot of Fulham’s hopes for the future have been pinned on the 19-year-old King, one of the few graduates of their academy programme to make the first team in recent years – and he started repaying some of the fans’ faith with a goal against Chelsea, albeit one which he had little right to score.

Robert Sánchez’s shocking positioning allowed King’s effort to squirt inside the near post, but while he was a little lucky in that regard it was also just reward for a thoroughly energetic outing. Much of Fulham’s best attacking playing flowed through the dynamic attacking midfielder, who seems to be growing gradually into his role while bearing the burden of expectation placed upon him.

2. Harrison Armstrong – Everton

Armstrong isn’t necessarily the most subtle or technical player who will trouble our Top 10s this season, but few young players can keep pace with him when it comes to raw work ethic – and his ceaseless willingness to throw himself into the action proved to be decisive against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Not only did he rack up a massive 11 turnovers as he hurtled about the pitch finding fires to put out, but he also teed up Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s opener by robbing Daniel Muñoz of the ball and then playing his team-mate in. Armstrong put constant pressure on Palace’s players, constant pressure on the ball, and it paid off handsomely.

1. Jack Hinshelwood – Brighton & Hove Albion

Sometimes, it’s incredibly difficult to work out who should take the number one spot. Not this time. Hinshelwood only touched the ball 25 times against Aston Villa but two of those touches resulted in goals and most of the others served a substantive purpose as well. There’s simply no arguing with an impact like that.

His first goal was an easy finish with a point-blank header after a fine run towards the far post, the second the result of the sheer tenacity shown by both himself and fellow midfielder Yasin Ayari to hunt down João Gomes as a pair, rob him of the ball, and make the most of the resulting opportunity.

Admittedly, it looked a little bit like a foul – but that was between Ayari and the referee. Hinshelwood maximised every touch he took, won every tackle he went in for and came on top in every duel he wound up in. A fine way to start the new season, and a performance worthy of our first number one spot of 2026/27.