Watkins, Hwang, Maddison: Nine Premier League players enjoying the best season of their career | OneFootball

Hwang Hee-chan, Ethan Pinnock and Eddie Nketiah are all enjoying great seasons.

Here we have nine players who are flying in the Premier League so much, we reckon they are enjoying the best season of their careers. None of these players were rubbish before 2023/24 for what it’s worth. We just think they have taken a bit of a leap, even at this early stage of the campaign.

Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves) Everyone thought Wolves needed to buy a striker, and Hwang Hee-chan took that personally. Everyone also wrote Wolves off this season, and Hwang Hee-chan took that personally. Pep Guardiola couldn’t remember his name so called him “the Korean guy”, and Hwang Hee-chan took that personally.

Six goals in 10 Premier League games to start the season is a superb return for the 27-year-old, whose previous best was five goals in 2021/22. Of course, 11 goals and 12 assists for Salzburg a couple of years before was an impressive return, but that is the Bobbinsliga, not Our League.

James Maddison (Tottenham) Tottenham Hotspur are title contenders because they signed James Maddison. That should be enough to end his section right here, but we are not going to do that.

Maddison was superb for Leicester City, producing seasons with 14, nine, 15, 20 and 19 goal contributions in the Premier League, so he is the best example of a player in this list always being very good at football. We are not discrediting the work he did at the King Power, but the transformation at Spurs and how influential he has been in north London…wow.

The 26-year-old is making a great case to start for England at Euro 2024 and finishing in the top four, let alone winning the bloody league, could be enough to convince Gareth Southgate.

Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford) Many were worried about Brentford without Ivan Toney. Not worried enough to consider them for relegation, but worried nonetheless.

Thankfully for Thomas Frank, Bryan Mbeumo has stepped up to carry the team on his back with Toney suspended until January. The Cameroonian forward already has six goals, three short of his top-flight career-high 2022/23 tally. He should smash that with no problems as he bids to steer the Bees towards a top-half finish.

Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton) The best thing about the emergence of Jarrad Branthwaite is the fact Michael Keane is a little further down in the defensive pecking order at Goodison Park.

Everton have been missing an awful lot in recent years and a decent central defender is certainly among those things. Branthwaite looks like a future captain and England international.

He obviously has to do a lot of defending because Everton are a bit pants, but the statistics show that the 21-year-old is one of the best tacklers in the Premier League. On top of that, he is in the top 25 per cent of top-flight defenders when it comes to clearances, interceptions, passes blocked, shots blocked, and ball recoveries.

Pedro Neto (Wolves) The Portuguese magician’s fantastic performances next to Hwang are certainly not going under the radar. Pedro Neto leads the Premier League in assists with seven and has a goal to his name as well.

He has always been a decent Premier League winger but this season just feels a little different. Neto is making a mockery of full-backs every week and he feels really for a move to a big team. Arsenal could be the one.

Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal) Speaking of Arsenal, they might have the best back-up striker in the Premier League. Eddie Nketiah is quite fortunate that £45m signing Gabriel Jesus is awfully injury-prone and he more than took his latest chance in the starting XI with the Brazilian watching from the stands.

Five goals in 10 games to start the season is brilliant for a player who has already matched his best goal tally in a Premier League campaign. It looks like there is more to Nketiah’s all-round game and his confidence is clearly high. He wouldn’t usually have taken on the shot for his third goal against Sheffield United, let alone score it, if he wasn’t full of it.

He might be enjoying the best season of his career but he still has a long way to go to officially overtake Jesus in Mikel Arteta’s striker pecking order.

Eddie Nketiah celebrates scoring against Sheffield United.

Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) Fifteen goals and six assists in the Premier League last term was a great return for Ollie Watkins. He is loving life under Unai Emery and there are no signs he will slow down any time soon.

There is talk of a big-money move to one of the so-called ‘big six’ teams and Watkins definitely deserves it, but why would he move? Aston Villa are going places under Emery and he has a superb modern striker at his disposal. A top-four finish this term would not surprise anyone.

Ethan Pinnock (Brentford) Whether or not this is Ethan Pinnock’s best-ever season is up for debate but it is about time he got the recognition he deserves.

Defensively, Pinnock is having a monstrous campaign, leading the Premier League in clearances and coming in at second for aerial duels won.

Is the Jamaican international the most underrated defender in the Premier League?

Mario Lemina (Wolves) A third Wolves player being on this list emphasises the incredible job Gary O’Neil is doing at Molineux.

Another underrated Premier League player who boasts incredible stats to start the season, Mario Lemina is showing a defensive side that we did not know existed.

The 30-year-old failed to impress at the level he has under O’Neil during spells with Southampton and Fulham. It’s good to see Wolves’ £9.7m purchase pay off.