PREMIER LEAGUE POWER RANKINGS: GAMEWEEK 9

2 weeks off and we're back and running in the Premier League. 7 clean sheets in the 10 games played. It seems a lot like defending has finally returned to some level of normalcy after the opening weeks but make no mistake this weekend had some exciting moments. There's VAR overturning "obvious" penalties on Trezeguet and Conor Gallagher which would most likely have changed the results of both games. There's a different Fulham penalty miss, Calviero clipping his own leg and slipping. And there's the Zidane moment. Nicolas Pepe breaking the fragile trust Arteta had in him as his head connected with Alioski. Liverpool showed just how big of a juggernaut they are with that flawless Leicester win. 

This week's power rankings? Only 2 new leaders in the different categories but there's some going up and down. Gone are the days of the Cazoo chart toppers. It's all about the blue side of London now. Let's dive right in.

But first a reminder of the rules

 With this power ranking series, I'll be answering that question. The rules are simple. 

• Every player started on a level playing field so only this season's performances count

• Players are grouped into 7 positions namely goalkeeper, centre back, right back, left back, centre/defensive midfielder, attacking midfield/wide forward and striker based on where they've played this season. 

• Players need to have played at least 50% of the minutes available to be considered for ranking.

Remember this is not a ranking of this weeks performances. That'll make for awkward reading. All performances for this season are considered.

GOALKEEPERS

It felt like it was coming didn't it? Mendy has been in many ways a breath of fresh air at Chelsea. True, he's not made too many spectacular saves and his defense in front of him have been impressive but you can't fault his clean sheet record. Martinez drops as a result with Welbeck lobbing him in the loss. Alisson can claim he's unfortunate not to be in the top 3 ahead of McCarthy but the Saint shotstopper pulled off some incredible saves to keep them level. Darlow drops to 5th this time after being saved from a more embarrassing scoreline by Timo Werner's bad day. Bernd Leno drops out despite a clean sheet with 10 men as he too was saved by the post on 3 separate occasions. Hugo Lloris steps in to replace him after an easy going performance against City.

CENTER BACKS

Controversial? Maybe but Kurt Zouma has been immense this season. This weekend his was without Thiago Silva (who's in 2nd) and was still at the top level. He rise is aided though, by Mings especially tough game against Brighton which sees him fall below his partner Konsa to 4th. Cresswell rises after a good performance against Sheffield United, providing both attacking and defensive influence. Balbuena though, falls to 7th. Vestegaard takes advantage of tough games for Dias and Fofana to rise to 8th.

RIGHT BACKS/ RIGHT WING BACKS

Trent remains the king of right backs but Reece who rises to 2nd is within touching distance and with his counterpart injured he has a chance to snatch top spot (the fixtures might make that difficult). Coufal rises into the top 5 with another clean sheet and impressive display. Neither Castagne or Semedo (wish he scored that sublime long shot) move and Southampton's Kyle Walker-Peters overtakes everybody's favourite (sadly), Tariq Lamptey who drops out. It was a soft red card and a overall bright performance but the former Tottenham man has been close to snatching the spot.

LEFT BACK/ LEFT WING BACKS

Ah yes, it was exactly what we thought, Liverpool smacking Leicester with 7 players out in the Robbo show. Best left back in the league so far but it's not by a mile. Chilwell has been extremely impressive, moving up to 2nd after forcing an own goal against Newcastle. Digne is back on the rise with his 2 assists pushing him up to complete the top 3. James Justin and Matt Targett both struggled this weekend. Cancelo did too, to a lesser extent. Regulion comes in in 7th sneaking ahead of Masuaku but he'll need to turn against Chelsea because former Chelsea player Ryan Bertrand is closing in.

CENTRE/ DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS

Tielemans didn't manage to translate his red hot form for the Belgium Red hot Devil's to the game against  Klopp's own Reds. He's still ahead by some way and Høljbjerg and Kante both rising to 2nd and 3rd respectively will need more slip ups to claim top spot. Villa duo of Luiz and McGinn both drop and round up the top 5. From there it's pretty much the same with the exception of a man that once led finally back to full fitness and back in. Phillips was good for Leeds against Arsenal and showed them what they've been missing.

ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS/ WIDE FORWARDS

Not the most exciting weekend for players in this category. Son struck through Ederson's legs but he's not top scorer anymore. Salah missed the Leicester and Mane while impressive had no influence on the scoreline at Anfield. Same story for Grealish and Rodriguez. For De Bruyne it was much worse as Mourinho worked a way out to minimize his threat. Bruno Fernandes rises to 7th with a well-taken penalty (at second attempt after controversially "giving" one away himself). Zaha who missed the Burnley game and Harvey Barnes who missed a glorious chance for an equalizer both drop following that. New! Pedro Neto has been gnashing his teeth just outside of this list and he creeps in her scoring off a rebound.

STRIKERS

If attacking midfielders struggled, the strikers had less of an issue. Kane got another assist, his 9th in as many games. He's still top however with the current top scorer (and Inzaghi x Dixie Dean reincarnation) Dominic Calvert-Lewin scoring 2 to stake his claim. Vardy and Bamford behind him struggled this weekend. Werner rises to 5th despite missing numerous chances but a pace burning run for his assist served as a reminder. Che Adams is up to 7th just behind Danny Ings with an extremely admirable performances. Watkins, Jiminez and Firmino close out the top 10 with the

latter scoring. Callum Wilson drops out after missing the Newcastle game.