Sometimes statistics and common sense don't go hand in hand

A month ago CIES Football Observatory revealed its list of the best performers in the top five European leagues and surprisingly Chelsea's midfielder Jorginho was in third.

A similar statistical survey done by InStat gave eyebrow-raising results - according to expert statistics, Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo has been the best player in the Premier League this season.

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Pep Guardiola's side are on the road on winning a treble with the Premier League and Champions League after lifting the Carabao Cup last month and the Portuguese defender has become crucial for the team's steady advancement.

The metric used to define the rankings measure 'the technical gestures achieved by players, their playing time, as well as the level of the competitions in which matches were played'.

City paid 9 billion KSH for Joao Cancelo and as far as the numbers say - the Portuguese outperformed his team-mate Kevin de Bruyne and Manchester United main man Bruno Fernandes.

The 26-year-old right-back has made 25 league appearances for Man City this season, with setting up three goals and scoring one.

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Ex-Juventus flankman has contributed just as much to City's attack as he has to their defensive stability - with a pass success rate of 81.8% and averaging two shots per game in the 2020/21 season.

Etihad squad dominate the survey - top four places on the list are vacated by mentioned Cancelo, Rodri, de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez.

Trailing after them are West Ham's January arrival Jesse Lingard, another City star Ilkay Gundogan, Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish, one more City member John Stones, Liverpool's Joel Matip and Kurt Zouma of Chelsea - these players make up the top ten on the InStat Performance Index.

But where are the likes of Kane, Salah, Fernandes?

For a regular fan of the sport the list does not make much sense. Harry Kane, who has 21 goals and 13 assists, has ranked lower than Man City's Raheem Sterling, who has nine goals and six assists.

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And again, out of form Sterling also scored higher than Bruno Fernandes, with 16 goals and 11 assists. Sterling is also above his incredible young team-mate Phil Foden.

Manchester United's Fernandes is ranked...wait for it...15th! Despite being the best player for United, Portuguese midfielder is not favoured by InStat's algoritm.

Another surprise comes in a form of Nathan Ake - City's occasional defender ranks as high as Dortmund's striker Erling Haaland.

If all top five European leagues are considered, Cancelo was only outscored by three players - Barcelona's Lionel Messi, PSG's Neymar and Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski who would have probably took the top spot if he hadn't been injured for the last month or so.