PlayTheGame

Alexander Hleb, Right Midfield - Arsenal (Pre-season rank: 60)
It is not like we forgot about Hleb when we were ranking players. At No 60, the Belarus midfielder is the highest ranked player on this list but he is punching well above his weight thus far. He may still not be quite the scoring threat his manager may wish for, but he does not disappoint in every other category, including the often illusive Assists category. Playing at Arsenal ensures healthy Average Goals For and Points totals and his Successfull Passes figure is more than respectable.
We have previously suggested that Hleb is a sell-high candidate because he is a master of control in tight marking, something that makes him a target for overzealous defenders and thus bound to be injured sooner rather than later. Considering that this was published in a piece suggesting Paul Scholes is also a sell-high candidate, we are ready to start believing our own hype.

Christopher Samba, Centre Back - Blackburn (Pre-season rank: 189)
Mark Hughes has quietly established Blackburn as a better than average side that will doubtless be challenging for a European place at season's end. This helps the club's players in the Points category but more important to PTG managers is the fact that Blackburn's quiet ascent has done little in promoting the club's players to a wider audience. Christopher Samba is a case in point. The Congo international is among the league leaders in the Defence category, while his AGA has stayed at a respectable sub-1 for most of the season. While his clean sheets are relatively low, his scoring potential and point tally more than make up for the tall central defender's solitary shortcoming.

Nani, Left Midfield - Manchester United (Pre-season rank: 292)
Strange but true: a Portuguese winder plying his trade at Manchester United and not named Ronaldo is attracting attention for his spectacular goals and quickness. Nani has not played enough to hold his own in the Successful Passes category but that has not stopped him from registering a AGF of close to 2 as well as scoring goals and registering assists, the latter total placing him among the league leaders. A healthy Points total courtesy of playing for one of the league's top clubs rounds out an impressive set of data points. All the more impressive considering that at the start of the season we anticipated that close to 300 Premier League players would do better.

Nyron Nosworthy, Right Back - Sunderland (Pre-season rank: 341)
Nosworthy is not among PTG's most valuable defenders but is on this list because at the start of the season he (along with the defensive corps of all three promoted clubs) was considered worthless. But he is not worthless, far from it. In fact, managers looking for a cheap lift in the Defence category could do a lot worse. The Jamaica international has been unfazed by the transition to the Premier League and looks to benefit if the rest of Roy Keane's men continue to make the necessary adjustments.

Elano Blumer, Left Midfield - Manchester City (Pre-season rank: unranked)
Although all of the above could make a strong case for it, the title of best-value player goes to Elano Blumer, the one-time virtually unknown Brazilian was one of several players brought to Manchester City by Sven-Goran Eriksson in the summer. So unimpressed were the PTG statisticians the Elano was unranked, simply dropping in at the end of our player list. Kudos to all those who spotted his potential early on and either moved him up their ranking lists ahead of their leagues' player allocations or snapped him up from the out-of-contract pool.

Others to have caught the eye are:
Andrew Taylor, Left Back - Middlesbrough (Pre-season rank: 112)
Liam Ridgewell, Centre Back - Birmingham City (Pre-season rank: 154)
Mathieu Flamini, Central Midfield - Arsenal (Pre-season rank: 186)
Niko Kranjcar, Left Midfield - Portsmouth (Pre-season rank: 258)
Phil Neville, Central Midfield - Everton (Pre-season rank: 308)
Luke Moore, Forward - Aston Villa (Pre-season rank: 310)