The Wonderkid Power Rankings: West Ham & Newcastle youngsters among this week's top performers

Another week of top-flight action is in the books and for our reporters, that means another chance to run the rule over the brightest talent in the English game and to compile the latest edition of the Wonderkid Power Rankings – our weekly countdown of the best young players in the Premier League right now based on their performances at the highest level.

Last week, Newcastle’s Lewis Miley took top spot for the third successive week, with his imperious form cementing his place as our pick for the most in-form Under-21 in the game at the moment – but can he make it four in a row, or will one of the chasing pack steal top spot away from him?

Before we get going in earnest, we have to mark the departure of one of last week’s Top 10 from the rankings, with Manchester United’s talented defender Ayden Heaven losing his place after he was dropped from Michael Carrick’s first starting line-up. In his place, we have a brand new entry making their Power Rankings debut off the back of a truly spectacular goal. Let’s get down to it…

10. Eli Junior Kroupi – AFC Bournemouth (⬇️3)

A quiet week for the young striker, with the game against Brighton yielding just one meaningful chance for him – a blocked effort following a set piece – and little else to do besides that. There was plenty of willing running, but little service for the Frenchman to work with, and he didn’t make much of a dent in Monday’s 1-1 draw before being withdrawn in the second half.

9. Mateus Mané – Wolverhampton Wanderers (⬇️1)

Another young forward who wasn’t able to sink his teeth into a relatively dreary draw over the past weekend, although the 18-year-old did at least have an acrobatic overhead effort to add to the highlight reel – it just happened to lead to a relatively easy save. Other than that, Mané didn’t have his best day, failing with every attempted dribble and losing all nine of his one-on-one duels on and off the ball.

8. Charalampos Kostoulas – Brighton & Hove Albion (new entry)

Brighton’s pricey young summer signing has finally started to make his mark at the Amex in recent weeks, and after teeing up one of the two goals against Burnley in his last league match, the Greek forward followed that up with a stunning overhead equaliser against Bournemouth on Monday night. Kostoulas has yet to establish himself as a consistent player or a regular starter, but he’s starting to provide the kind of moments which make it easier to understand why the Seagulls spent so much money on him.

7. Adam Wharton – Crystal Palace (⬇️2)

Wharton won’t be a regular in our rankings for much longer – he turns 22 next month and will thus age out of consideration – but he seems increasingly likely to fizzle out rather than departing in a blaze of glory, at least based on his last few matches. He was disappointing again against Sunderland in an error-prone performance in which his mistakes outnumbered his better moments. A brilliant player, but also one having a slight wobble alongside the rest of his team right now.

6. Abdukodir Khusanov – Manchester City (⬆️4)

There were moments of naivety against Manchester United which made Pep Guardiola’s relative lack of faith in Khusanov seem more understandable. He could have been better positioned to deal with Bryan Mbeumo’s counter-attacking goal, and that came not long after the Uzbek’s failure to handle a ball across the box gave the Cameroonian another clear chance to score. But there was a lot of good work this week, too – between the derby game and the EFL Cup semi-final win over Newcastle, Khusanov racked up seven turnovers, five tackles, four interceptions, and 15 clearances. That’s an impressive stat sheet by any standards, and his composure on the ball was impressive throughout, and that sees him fly up the standings thanks to bad weeks by other players.

5. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (⬇️1)

When O’Reilly has a bad game, it’s usually a result of a weakness when defending against first-rate ball-carriers, and his one-on-one defending can leave a little to be desired – and that was the case against Newcastle in last week’s semi-final match, when he was beaten on the run on a few occasions and was perhaps a little fortunate not to see his lapses punished.

Whether as a direct result of that or simply because Guardiola wanted to rotate things a little bit, the left-back was back on the bench against Manchester United and although he did come on and avoided any glaring errors, he wasn’t able to influence proceedings or make a dent in the final third as City’s attack sputtered out at Old Trafford. An indifferent week for a fine player.

4. Michael Kayode – Brentford (⬇️1)

Another supremely talented young full-back who had a weekend he’ll be happy to forget, now – while Kayode was just as incisive going forward and supporting attacks as ever during Brentford’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea, he was also culpable for the opening goal and had one of his rougher rides at the back.

Not long after a clumsy clip of João Pedro’s heels could easily have cost his side a penalty, Kayode’s hurried clearance cannoned off of Enzo Fernández and back into the Brazilian’s path to gift him the first goal of the game. A rare moment in which the Italian’s lack of experience showed, and one of the first times since moving to England that he looked like he lacked a little bit of composure. A few other players around him having off weeks at the same time means that the damage to our former number one’s ranking is limited, however.

3. Lewis Hall – Newcastle United (⬆️3)

Newcastle didn’t have the best of weeks and failed to score in either of their matches, but Hall was among their better performers and was especially impressive in the 2-0 EFL Cup defeat to Manchester City – throwing himself about in defence (crucially blocking two seemingly goalbound shots) and creating numerous opportunities on the overlap.

Hall’s partnership with Anthony Gordon down the left flank has been reignited with impressive effect since his return from injury and he was among Newcastle’s primary creative outlets, teeing up three shooting chances and giving Khusanov and the rest of City’s defence an extremely stern test. It was one they passed, but Hall deserves plenty of credit, and he was rock solid at the back in the 0-0 draw with Wolves as well.

2. Lewis Miley – Newcastle United (⬇️1)

Miley finally loosens his grip on top spot after his first relatively indifferent week in a little while – and perhaps the first in which he started to look a little out of place as an emergency right-back, as he was employed once again in the game against Manchester City.

The 19-year-old was beaten a couple of times on the run and while he stuck to his task and certainly wasn’t culpable for either of City’s goals, he wasn’t able to impose himself on the game or on Jérémy Doku, the winner of their duel. Miley got a bit of a rest against Wolves, brought on only in the second half as a midfielder, and was tidy enough without finding the time to do much of note. A down week, but only by the very high standards Miley has set for himself over the last month or two.

1. Mateus Fernandes – West Ham United (⬆️1)

All of which means that last week’s runner-up, Mateus Fernandes, gets his just reward for an amazing consistent and impressive run of form and takes top spot for the second time this season. Week after week, the Portuguese midfielder has been as energetic and effective as the rest of his team simply hasn’t been – but now West Ham have a win to their name and Fernandes has his crown back.

He gets credited with the assist for Crysencio Summerville’s opener, not that a simple pass to feet ahead of a deflected shot was necessarily a remarkable piece of creativity – but this is a player who is destructive when defending (six ball recoveries this week), intelligent and economical when in possession (two chances created and only six misplaced passes), and who always seems to take the smart option when given a decision to make. A technically adept midfielder who wins the ball back more often than he gives it away and who creates more chances than he gives up, and who plays above the levels of those around him week after week – and a deserving number one.