Shane Long’s the most in-form Irish man right now. If anyone is surprised, where the hell have you been?
The Southampton striker is steaming hot at the moment. He’s scored three goals and contributed three assists in his last four games and he’s leading the way for Ronald Koeman’s on-fire Saints.
The only game Southampton haven’t won in their last eight was away to Leicester and Shane Long wasn’t playing that day either. The Tipperary man is rampant heading into the summer and another goal against Man City at the weekend bodes very well for Ireland.
Elsewhere, Ciaran Clark scored as Villa almost won a game at Watford – they conceded two in injury time to lose again but… nearly.
Shane Duffy was back for Blackburn with the only goal and a man of the match display in their 1-0 win over Rotherham.
Joe Mason ended his 12-game goal drought with a strike for Wolves whilst the most intriguing of them all was David McGoldrick back amongst the goals for Ipswich.
The classy front man has now featured in the last seven games for his club and he played the full 90 minutes and scored in their 3-2 win over MK Dons at the weekend.
With Daryl Murphy still failing to feature since the international break and Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle struggling with injury of late, McGoldrick is back and firing at the right time and has moved his way up to 12th in the power rankings table.
Both Jon Walters and Harry Arter made returns for their clubs at the weekend, the latter of which playing the whole game for Bouremouth against Everton.
That match included another 90 minutes for Darron Gibson who has played Everton’s last three games. One of those was an FA Cup match – a semi-final at Wembley no less – and, with Gibson’s last league game before that way back in December, his form ranking is still suffering as a result.
A reminder of the stipulations:
- Only league games are considered (based on the WhoScored rating each player receives).
- Stats only include Premier League and Championship performances.
- Each player’s last three league games constitutes their form rating.
- 0.5 will be deducted for each match a player misses in his own ‘Last Three Games’ period.
- To account for standard, Championship players will be rated at 80% of their form.
Seamus Coleman’s injury sees him drop from the top 11 for the first time since the inception of the SportsJOE power rankings and, if Martin O’Neill was going to pick his team right now based solely on the stats of the players from the top two English divisions, here’s what he would get.
Stephen Quinn’s consistency for Reading sees the midfielder work his way back into the stats-based 11.
Glenn Whelan and James McCarthy are ever-presents whilst Matt Doherty and Cyrus Christie are starting to make themselves comfortable as two of the nation’s top 11 players.
With a number of players dropped from their clubs, others injured, and big names slipping out of the reckoning, it’s good to know there’s consistency somewhere.
