Actor and Monty Python alum John Cleese questioned whether the World Cup should be held in the U.S. in the wake of an ICE agent’s fatal shooting of a woman in Minnesota.

Renee Good was killed while operating a vehicle that agents ordered her to exit, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Good, according to Noem, refused and “attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle.”

Cleese, however, disagreed with Noem’s version of events.

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Cleese shared a post that showed ICE arresting a woman in Minneapolis in the aftermath of Good’s death. The actor suggested that FIFA may want to reconsider holding games in the United States.

“Is it a good idea to hold a major event like the FIFA World Cup in a country where the Rule of Law no longer exists,” Cleese asked in an X post.

President Donald Trump has threatened to keep games out of American cities he deems unsafe.

Cleese’s post was shared by tennis legend Martina Navratilova amid dozens of other anti-ICE posts.

John Cleese, an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer speaks at Pendulum Summit, World’s Leading Business & Self Empowerment Summit, in Dublin Convention Center. On Thursday, January 10, 2019, in Dublin, Ireland.  (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA CALLS ICE ‘EVIL THUGS’ AMID DOZENS OF SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FOLLOWING MINNESOTA INCIDENT

Noem said Good’s actions against ICE officers leading up to the shooting amounted to an “act of domestic terrorism.”

“An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot to protect himself and the people around him,” she said.

Democrats have rushed to portray it as an example of unjust violence by the Trump administration.

Hillary Clinton posted on X Thursday that “last night, at the corner where an ICE agent murdered Renee Good, thousands of Minnesotans gathered in the frigid dark to protest her killing.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE to “get the f— out of Minneapolis” during a Wednesday press conference, a sentiment that was echoed by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who also posted to the Department of Homeland Security, “Get out of our city.”

Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed as she drove her vehicle toward an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jan. 7, 2026. (ODU English Department/Facebook:Donna Ganger/Facebook)

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The Minnesota Timberwolves held a moment of silence for Good before their game on Thursday night. During the moment of silence, one fan in attendance yelled, “Go home, ICE.” Another yelled, “F— ICE,” and cheers erupted.

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young lumbered his way to the podium earlier this week, taking short, slow steps. He showed no emotion, so you couldn’t tell he was preparing for his first NFL playoff game any more than you could when he was benched last season.

Say what you want about Young’s inconsistency in games, but he’s consistent in everything he does before and after them.

Coach Dave Canales almost laughed on Thursday when asked if the top pick of the 2023 draft had done anything out of the ordinary preparing for Saturday’s wild-card game against the Los Angeles Rams (12-5), the first playoff appearance for Carolina (8-9) since 2017 and the first at Bank of America Stadium since 2015.

“Bryce is really consistent in terms of his prep, our normal conversations throughout the week,” Canales said. “He goes out there to practice and he just continues to lead the group and make sure we get to the right play.

“His demeanor stays pretty even, which is why he’s performed really well in critical situations, end-of-game situations, fourth down and those types of things.”

The Panthers lost their final two regular-season games, but they were awarded their postseason berth through a tiebreaker, as the Atlanta Falcons beating the New Orleans Saints on the final day of the season was the deciding factor in Carolina winning the NFC South crown.

Still, Canales and his team know Young will operate as if it’s business as usual.

“Bryce has grown in a million different ways,” running back Chuba Hubbard said. “But one thing about him, he’s always been cool in those moments since the day he got here.”

Since being drafted No. 1 in 2023, Young’s career has been defined by inconsistency and resiliency. Uneven performances played a role in Carolina failing to win back-to-back games since mid-October. But 12 times in his career — including six this season — Young has led the Panthers to a fourth-quarter or overtime game-winning drive.

The six comebacks tie him for most in the NFL this season. One of those was the Week 13 victory over the Rams — his wild-card opponent this week — when Young completed 15 of 20 pass attempts for 206 yards and three touchdowns and had a career-best 147.1 passer rating.

Young’s history of leading late-game comebacks began in high school with a thrilling win over IMG Academy and continued in college when he helped Alabama stave off Auburn in the 2021 Iron Bowl.

As the Panthers prepare to host the Rams (4:30 p.m. ET, Fox), all eyes will be on Young and how he performs — because it will set the tone for what comes next.

The Panthers, according to league sources close to the situation, plan to pick up Young’s fifth-year contract option this spring. But they haven’t seen enough to begin thinking about whether a potential extension could be on the horizon unless Young convinces them during the playoffs — where Carolina begins as 10.5-point underdogs to the Rams, per DraftKings Sportsbook.

Despite the long odds, those who have coached and played alongside Young believe he is prepared to rise to the occasion just as he has so often in fourth-quarter comebacks.

“We won the game because of Young,” said Bill O’Brien, Young’s Alabama offensive coordinator in 2021 and now the head coach at Boston College. “He was amazing. One of his greatest traits is he’s very poised.”

YOUNG AND THE Alabama offense that averaged 39.9 points in 2021 were lifeless until 1:32 remained in the Iron Bowl. Young, in his first year as the starter, had been sacked eight times and the Crimson Tide trailed archrival Auburn 10-3.

Then Young came alive.

He led Alabama on a 12-play, 97-yard drive, capped by a 28-yard, game-tying touchdown pass to Ja’Corey Brooks with 24 seconds left in regulation. Young would go on to lead Bama to a 24-22 win in quadruple overtime.

Young had shown that sort of fourth-quarter magic in high school, too, when he engineered his first game-winning drive for Mater Dei High School in 2018. He led a nearly perfect nine-play, 75-yard series that ended with him faking an inside handoff and sprinting left for a 5-yard touchdown run to end IMG Academy’s 40-game win streak.

He carried that into the pros after Carolina drafted him No. 1 in 2023. Twelve of Young’s 14 career wins have come near the end of regulation or overtime, the most of any quarterback since he entered the league. At 24, he’s the youngest quarterback to orchestrate 11 game-winning drives before turning 25, passing Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.

That includes beating the Rams in Week 13, when Young threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan with 6:43 remaining.

Young’s prowess on game-winning drives, however, should come with an asterisk.

Unlike Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff and Bo Nix, who each have 10 game-winning drives since 2023, Young hasn’t had the luxury of playing with the lead often in the fourth quarter. In 42 of his 44 career starts, the Panthers have been tied or trailed at some point in the final period.

Carolina has trailed entering the fourth quarter in 32 of those games, going 5-27. The next closest quarterback to Young is Geno Smith, who has trailed in 28 games over that span.

Young’s inconsistent play is a significant reason the Panthers have trailed so often late in games.

Most of his stats this season rank in the bottom half of the league. He finished the regular season 22nd out of 28 qualified quarterbacks in QBR (47.7). He ranked 21st in passing yards (3,011), 20th in completion percentage (64), 26th in yards per attempt (6.3), 25th in attempts of 15-plus air yards (16%) and 27th in QBR when blitzed (44).

Despite the comebacks, Young’s QBR when the game is on the line hasn’t been great. He ranks 16th in the final two minutes of regulation and 13th in the final five. That’s better than his baseline but not enough to overshadow the rest of his profile.

Yet Young’s teammates continue to believe in him and his growth as a quarterback when it matters most.

“Every single time it’s the ‘got to have [it] moment,’ that’s what he does,” guard Austin Corbett said. “He understands pressure and understands it’s also a privilege, and that’s where he thrives.”

O’BRIEN BELIEVES YOUNG’S ability to overcome adversity and his understanding of the game will allow him to develop into a more consistent quarterback with more talent around him.

“I don’t think he worries about anything,” O’Brien said. “Nothing really fazes him.”

How Young handled being benched after an 0-2 start in 2024, his first under coach Dave Canales, epitomizes that ability. Since returning as Carolina’s starter in Week 8 of 2024, Young has averaged 196.7 passing yards per game and completed 63% of his passes for 38 touchdowns to 17 interceptions. He has a 12-14 record and a QBR of 52.

That’s a significant improvement from his 2-16 record before the benching, when he had 11 touchdowns to 13 interceptions and was averaging 176 passing yards per game for a QBR of 32.

He has improved, but he has not put together reliably strong performances and wins. He had a franchise-record 448 yards passing in Week 11 against Atlanta and a career-low 54 in Week 17 against Seattle.

“In this league, you’ve got to turn the page,” Young said after his poor outing against Seattle. “Good and bad comes with sports. That’s the maturity you have to have at this level.”

Canales called Young’s ability to compartmentalize and move on from adverse situations “special.”

“It’s really important for the big picture, especially when you’re standing in front of the group [saying] this drive’s going to be a touchdown drive, this next play’s going to be a big one,” he said. “To have that kind of salesmanship, it’s really important for the quarterback to have that.”

YOUNG’S BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT since his rookie season has been pre-snap reads, something O’Brien said was special during the quarterback’s college career. It has helped Young make plays even when protection breaks down, particularly in clutch situations, with big runs and throws.

“It’s a learning curve for a lot of quarterbacks,” offensive coordinator Brad Idzik said. “Bryce, he’s taking all these things in and continues to really grow with this offense and really push the guys forward of, ‘Hey, we need to all buy in to this pre-snap stuff that we’re trying to do to make sure that we give ourselves the best chance to take advantage of the matchups.'”

Idzik noted the 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 16, when some of Young’s biggest plays came on crucial third or fourth downs with pressure looks. He loved the way Young navigated protection and route concepts.

“He’s as calm as it gets under pressure,” Idzik said.

O’Brien said Young’s pre-snap reads play a big part in his ability to throw through the “trees” of big linemen despite being listed as 5-foot-10. He said that’s why former Alabama coach Nick Saban wasn’t fazed by Young’s size when recruiting him.

“He understands what’s happening pre-snap and then he’s able to make good, good decisions most of the time,” O’Brien said. “He can anticipate, which is one of the biggest, most important traits for a quarterback.

“He’s got a very quick release, so the ball is out before a guy can get his hands up to bat it down. Even when the guy’s hands are up, he can find a lane. He’s amazing at that.”

O’Brien credits Saban for putting all his quarterbacks, particularly Young, in adverse situations during practice.

“He’s able to use that pre-snap read to gain a lot of information,” O’Brien said. “One year [2021] we were playing Arkansas. They were dropping eight and rushing three. He broke the school record for passing yards [559 plus five touchdowns].

“I saw that [in the Week 16 Tampa game]. He was in the gun and using his cadence to gain information, and then zip it out there on a one-on-one.”

Young had only 191 yards passing in that victory, but he threw two touchdowns and had a 102.5 passer rating. Pre-snap reads were key.

“He’s done a great job this year of adding that to his tool belt,” Idzik said.

THREE PANTHERS QUARTERBACKS have won a playoff game: Jake Delhomme (5), Cam Newton (3) and Kerry Collins (1). Joining that list will be Young’s next challenge.

That’s why Canales and others say the pressure Young faced this season will benefit him long term, regardless of how far the Panthers go in the playoffs.

“That’s when things really ramp up,” O’Brien said. “So yeah, winning a playoff game will be important early on in his career.”

That’s easier said than done. Quarterbacks starting their first playoff game have a 72-94 record, according to ESPN Research.

Even future Hall of Famers had to wait for their first playoff win. Peyton Manning didn’t get his until his third NFL season. The same goes for Joe Montana. John Elway didn’t win his until his fourth.

Young isn’t looking that far ahead. He is focused on the wild-card game against the Rams, where he would benefit from a balanced offense like the Panthers had in the Week 13 win, when running back Rico Dowdle and Hubbard combined for 35 carries and 141 of the team’s 164 rushing yards.

Carolina has totaled 118 rushing yards in its past two games, including 19 in the 16-14 Week 18 loss to the Bucs.

The Panthers believe their quarterback is ready to meet the moment the playoffs offer.

“No one’s more calm in clutch moments,” said Frank Reich, who was Carolina’s coach when it drafted Young. “Always has been … always will be.”

We’re halfway done-ish!

The Premier League is now 21 games in — just a bit past the exact halfway of the 38-game season — and we’ve reached a point where the league is taking a week off and every team has played every other team at least once. So, that means it’s time to check in on the various award races.

Most of the Premier League’s awards are determined by statistics: Golden Boot (most goals), Playmaker of the Year (most assists), Golden Glove (most saves), and, yes, they also have something called “The Premier League Most Powerful Goal,” which is given to the player who kicks the ball the hardest before it crosses the goal line.

But there are four other “major” awards that are fun to think about: goal of the season, young player of the season, manager of the season and player of the season. Here is who deserves each award to if the season ended today, plus the next two runners-up.

Goal of the Season

If it feels like there haven’t been as many great goals this season, it’s because, well, there haven’t been that many open-play goals.

A goal from a throw-in or a corner kick has such a high bar to clear for it to deserve a place on this list. Sure, we’d throw a bone to one of those clipped diagonal balls to a guy at the top of the box who then volleys it into the upper corner, but teams are getting smarter about set pieces, so they’re not trying that anymore. And, unfortunately, the beauty of most great coals comes from the inefficiency in which they arise.

At the same time, it does seem like we’ve seen a minor reemergence of players just smacking the ball as hard as they can and hoping it stays under the crossbar. Maybe because defenses are more organized and harder to break down than ever before, there’s more space in the area extending out from the top of the box and a little more freedom or frustration leading to some more goals from long range?

Anyway, enough with the theorizing, and on to my top three picks for Goal of the Season.

3. Dominik Szoboszlai vs. Arsenal, Aug. 31

I love the headline on the Premier League’s website for this one: “Szoboszlai makes history with Guinness Goal of the Month award.” What kind of history did he make for this wonderful free kick? Was it the hardest-hit dead ball of the decade? Can they measure spin now, and so did that thing have less spin than any shot ever recorded? Is this the latest winning direct free-kick goal in a match between the previous season’s top two teams?

No, the history Szoboszlai apparently made was that he became the first player from Hungary to win a Premier League-trademarked award. What an important day for Hungarian soccer.

At the time, this seemed like it might be the most important goal of the season. It marked three straight wins for Liverpool, and after two more consecutive victories, they’d already built up a six-point lead on Arsenal. Fast forward to today and Arsenal are comfortably in first place, 14 points ahead of fourth-placed Liverpool.

2. Harrison Reed vs. Liverpool, Jan. 4

When it’s not your year, sometimes it’s really not your year.

Reed hadn’t scored a Premier League goal since April 15, 2023. He’d scored three Premier League goals in his entire career. He turns 31 at the end of this month. He’d only played eight Premier League minutes in 2025-26 prior to this match, and the only reason he was subbed on in the 89th minute against Liverpool was because Fulham have multiple players away at the Africa Cup of Nations.

I hope he doesn’t take another shot this season because if he doesn’t, then he might win the Premier League’s Goal of the Season award with his only attempt.

1. Zian Flemming vs. Wolves, Oct. 26

This is my favorite kind of goal: technically perfect, aesthetically simple, and intellectually brilliant.

It looks so easy: one guy kicks it straight, and then another guy kicks it straight, and it ends up in the back of the net. But this goal never happens without a perfect 45-yard diagonal ball under pressure, and the pass never happens if Flemming doesn’t recognize it, peel off the defender’s shoulder, and signal that he’s an option for a ball over the top.

But what I love most is how the goal uses the complexity of the sport as a decoy. The Wolves defenders are so worried about all of the different potential passing combinations underneath that they give the passer too much time to look up and leave just another space for the attacker to run into.

Then, once the pass is played, everyone on the field starts running toward the ball — watch the video: both teams drift in the same direction the ball is heading, especially Sam Johnstone, the Wolves goalkeeper. And that’s what allows Flemming to tap the ball into the net: the flight of the ball makes it so the side-footed shot spins the ball in the opposite direction you’d expect, and the momentum of the play pulls Johnstone just far enough away that he can’t dive quickly enough, back from where he came.

The best goal of the season came from a game between the two worst teams in the Premier League.

– Is Premier League parity a sign of quality — or these teams stink?
– Ranking transfer needs for top clubs in January
– The inside story of why Man United sacked Ruben Amorim

Young Player of the Season

What happens when the Premier League realizes that players peak earlier than everyone once thought at the same time that the Premier League’s financial advantage over the rest of the world reached escape velocity? You get a league with a ton of fantastic young players.

I’ve only selected three, but there are probably at least 10 others worthy of this award, which goes to the best players aged 23 or younger at the start of the season.

Jérémy Doku has made the leap this year. Elliot Anderson will probably start for England at the World Cup. Ryan Gravenberch won it last year and is still eligible. Michael Kayode‘s throw-ins are more valuable than maybe any other specific skill from any other player. Moisés Caicedo, Florian Wirtz, Josko Gvardiol, Riccardo Calafiori, Rayan Cherki, Cole Palmer, Alejandro Garnacho? All eligible for this award. And Bukayo Saka will probably — and rightfully — actually win it if he stays healthy for the rest of the season.

However, we’re giving this out purely based on the player’s performance from the first half of the season. So, here’s the top three.

3. Adam Wharton, midfielder, Crystal Palace

For the unfamiliar, Opta’s expected possession value (xPV) is just a way to determine how much everything a player does with the ball increases or decreases their team’s chances of scoring.

For example, Liverpool’s Milos Kerkez is eligible for this award. He will not be winning this award because, among other things, he’s contributed minus-0.4 xPV to Liverpool this season. Typically, the only players who contribute negative values are forwards because the metric doesn’t award players for shooting, and forwards often will either lose possession when the ball is in a high-value area or they’ll pass the ball backward, out of a high value area. For Kerkez, his xPV matches what you’ve seen if you’ve watched; he is not helping Liverpool win soccer games.

Wharton, though, is doing the opposite for Crystal Palace. He’s the only player in the league who ranks in the top 10 for expected possession value added via defensive actions and in the top 10 for open-play passing. He’s 21 years old, and he’s already one of the best midfielders in the world.

2. Hugo Ekitike, forward, Liverpool

One simple way to calculate the “value” a player has provided to a team is to take their xPV, add it to the number of non-penalty goals they have scored, and see what comes up.

The promise of Ekitike, when Liverpool signed him, is that he was the rare center forward who could do both: score goals but also create all kinds of other value in buildup play, with his ability to win headers, beat players off the dribble, and create dangerous opportunities for his teammates. And despite playing in a mostly dysfunctional team for most of the season, Ekitike has already shown that, at age 23, in the most competitive league in the world.

Only two 23-and-under players have generated more than eight non-penalty goals and xPV combined, and Ekitike is one of them.

1. Morgan Rogers, attacking midfielder, Aston Villa

There’s one main reason why Villa are 11 points clear of sixth place, more than halfway through the season: Rogers has gone nuclear. Here’s his shot map so far this season:

That’s six goals from just around 2.5 expected goals, or xG. And while I absolutely would not expect that to continue, Rogers has won so many extra points for his team by scoring so many low-probability opportunities.

Add that to the fact that he’s one of the best half-space players in the league — he’s second in the league in through balls completed; he’s the one who takes Villa’s patient possession and turns it into actual danger — and Rogers has provided more value to his team than any other young player in the league.

Manager of the Season

Before we get into the choices, I’d just like to point out the past six winners of manager of the month. Last March, it was Nuno Espirito Santo … with Nottingham Forest. In April, it was Vitor Pereira with Wolves. In August, it was Liverpool’s Arne Slot. In September, Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner. And then the last two winners were Ruben Amorim (Manchester United) and Enzo Maresca (Chelsea).

So, four of those six guys have been fired, one of them is somehow on the hot seat despite winning the Premier League in his first season in England (Slot), and the other one is currently coaching a team that emerged from the holiday period with one point from five matches (Glasner) — all of which were against teams in the bottom half of the table at the time.

What does that mean? It reminds me of a piece from FiveThirtyEight a couple years ago that looked at how almost everyone that won Executive of the Year in the NFL was fired soon after. One potential reason why: the award went to teams who outperformed expectations, and teams often outperform expectations because they get lucky or do something unsustainable. The award then raises the team’s expectations, and then they fire the executive when they regress back to the mean.

This warrants further research in the Premier League, but I think the reasoning here is quite similar. Maybe not quite for Amorim and Maresca, but they both lost their jobs after a downturn in results and a public falling-out with the front office.

So, how can we identify three managers who aren’t inevitably going to come crashing back to Earth?

3. Daniel Farke, Leeds United

I am aware that approximately zero people who read this column will agree with me. But hear me out: all that a manager really has control over is the chances their team create and concede. Whether the goalkeeper makes a save or the forward converts the header, that’s mostly divorced from whatever tactics and patterns and player interactions led to the shot in the first place.

And yes, Leeds are currently in 16th place. But through 21 games, they have a roughly even xG differential — good enough for 11th-best in the league. And unlike Burnley and Sunderland, Leeds really didn’t spend big this past summer. Wage estimates have them as a bottom-three payroll team, and Transfermarkt estimates them as the second-least valuable squad in the league.

Despite their performance in the Championship last season, Leeds have relegation-level talent, and they’re performing like a borderline top-half-of-the-table team. Sunderland and Burnley, meanwhile, are 20th and 19th in xGD.

Not only that, Farke actively made a tactical change midway through the season that directly coincided with an uptick in his team’s play. Despite their place in the table, Leeds are outperforming their resources in a very real way, and their manager made a very real change that had a very real effect on their performances. Come the end of the season, I don’t think this choice is going to look as strange as it does right now.

2. Mikel Arteta, Arsenal

Arsenal are the best team in the world right now. They just are — they never give up goals and they seemingly go three deep at every position. They spent €63.5 million on a center forward who has been a total flop (Viktor Gyökeres), and it hasn’t mattered at all. All of their star players have been out for significant periods of time due to injury and, again, it hasn’t mattered at all.

It’s no guarantee that they win the league — even if they maintain their current performance level. But they’re also the favorites to win the Premier League and the Champions League. You can’t ask for more than that.

While this was a smartly and patiently and expensively built team that is peaking as all of its core players enter their peak years, Arteta deserves a ton of credit for the unique model of play he’s landed on. He’s helped create one of the better defensive teams we’ve ever seen through an approach that limits goals both by dominating possession and by being equally comfortable defending in their own penalty area. That’s a rare combination, and it’s deadly when combined with a level of set-piece execution we’ve rarely, if ever, seen before.

It all just makes so much sense together: there’s enough offensive skill to chase games when need be, but the dominant defense makes the set piece goals especially valuable since Arsenal don’t need to score as much. And those burly physical defenders who are so hard to score against? They double as dominant set-piece threats.

Set pieces have been the sport’s most undervalued tactical resource, and Arteta’s Arsenal are showing us what happens when one of the richest and most talented teams in the world takes full advantage.

1. Keith Andrews, Brentford

If this were any club other than Brentford, Andrews would be No. 1 with a bullet. This team lost their two best strikers this summer, and they lost the coach who seemingly guided them out of the Championship and into Premier League stability when Thomas Frank went to Tottenham. You’ll never believe what happened next: There are 17 games remaining, and if the season ended today, Brentford would qualify for the Champions League this season.

The reason I’m a little uncertain of the choice here is that we know Brentford are one of the most data-driven clubs in the world, and their manager might have less influence on proceedings than any other in the league does. But I think that says more about what the modern role of the manager is than anything about Andrews himself. The modern manager (or head coach, as teams are increasingly opting for as the title) needs to work with an ever-churning collection of players, figure out the best way to arrange them on the field, and be OK with constant communication and direction from people who aren’t actually soccer coaches. Hasn’t Andrews done all of that?

It’s not just that Brentford are in fifth, either. Per FBref’s estimates, they have the smallest wage bill in the league, and they have a plus-0.2 xG differential per game — currently eighth best in the league and competitive with the three teams above them. It’s really incredible how Brentford continue to lose their best attackers, year after year, and never get worse. Andrews is my choice for manager of the season because this year, they got better.

Player of the Season

With the decline of open-play scoring in the Premier League this season, we’ve also seen a decline in individual attacking performance. There’s been a grand total of one world-class attacker in the Premier League this year, which is bizarre but also kind of fun, as it opens things up in the POTY conversation for defenders, midfielders, and maybe even goalkeepers?

But the longer I looked at this, I started to realize that there are only two players who really seem to warrant the POTY designation through the first half of the season. And so, I’m still selecting a top three, but consider No. 3 to be more of a symbolic choice.

3. Gabriel Magalhães, center back, Arsenal

I’m a little less high on this pick than I used to be because I view center backs like the NFL views offensive linemen. The penalty for making a mistake is so massive that it’s really hard to overcome the negative value you create by getting called for holding or, say, falling down and letting Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade have a free header from three yards our or, I don’t know, passing the ball to Bournemouth’s Evanilson while you’re under no pressure and he’s standing directly in front of an empty goal and also playing for the other team.

Gabriel did both of those things, but then he also went on and scored goals for himself in both of those games. Now, he’s only scored three goals this season, but he has two more assists and is probably the single most important figure in Arsenal’s single most important strength: their set piece goal-scoring. On top of that, he’s one of the starting center backs in one of the most dominant defenses of the modern era. Arsenal have allowed 14 goals this season and half of them came in the handful of matches Gabriel has missed.

2. Declan Rice, midfielder Arsenal

You don’t need stats to understand how good Rice is — just watch a game. He’s the most physically dominant English midfielder since … no, yeah, I’m just gonna stop it there. He’s the most physically dominant English midfielder ever. He covers a ton of space, his ball striking shrinks the field, his ball carrying makes it seem like Baltimore Ravens Running Back Derrick Henry wandered onto a soccer field, and c’mon. He just looks freaking huge out there.

It’s funny. According to FBref, the most similar player to him is PSG’s João Neves. Neves was the starting defensive midfielder for the best team in the world last season. He’s fantastic, and Rice does everything he does while also being much bigger than him.

But here are some stats just to confirm what you see every weekend. The company Gradient Spots grades every action by every player in the Premier League each weekend, across a number of categories, and then they normalize the grades on a 0-100 scale. The six major ones, to my mind, are passing, shooting, crossing, carrying, defending carries, and making challenges. And there is only one player in the league who grades out at a 75 or better in all six categories:

Rice is the best all-around midfielder in the world, and I don’t think there’s really even an argument for anybody else.

1. Erling Haaland, center forward, Manchester City

Goals win soccer games, and Golden Boot-leader Haaland has twice as many goals as all but one other player in the Premier League. Not only that, Haaland also has nearly twice as many expected goals as any player in the Premier League.

I frequently find myself leaving Haaland’s entries brief in exercises like this, but I think that’s sort of the point: He doesn’t do much else, but he does the most important thing in soccer twice as well as almost anyone else in England. What more do you need me to say?