Villa Players In Actim Top 100 Index – 2009/10 Season
Written by Dan on May 12, 2010
We’ve been checking in on the Actim Top 100 Index all season long on a roughly monthly basis and I’m very happy to include the final standings in the 2009/10 Season Review series as Villa actually top out the team table with no less than 10 players in the 100. If that surprises you, wait until you see who came in right behind us!
Before I get to that, here are the 10 players who finished in the Top 100 this year:-
- 6th Gabriel Agbonlahor – 621 points
- 11th James Milner – 560 points
- 12th Richard Dunne – 551 points
- 14th Carlos Cuellar – 538 points
- 15th Ashley Young – 523 points
- 23rd Brad Friedel – 481 points
- 37th James Collins – 420 points
- 66th Stiliyan Petrov – 370 points
- 67th Stephen Warnock – 369 points
- 77th John Carew – 362 points
The average number of points acquired by these 10 players is 479.50. We had 7 players in the Index in 2008/09 with an average of 445.00 points and 10 players in 2007/08 with an average of 453.50. Clear progress.
Here’s how we compare with the rest of the Premiership:-
| Team | No. of Players | Average Score |
| Aston Villa | 10 | 479.50 |
| Birmingham | 10 | 365.60 |
| Chelsea | 8 | 514.25 |
| Man Utd | 8 | 468.25 |
| Liverpool | 8 | 420.25 |
| Arsenal | 7 | 445.14 |
| Tottenham | 7 | 398.14 |
| Man City | 6 | 482.67 |
| Everton | 6 | 409.50 |
| Fulham | 5 | 367.80 |
| Blackburn | 4 | 357.75 |
| Burnley | 4 | 354.25 |
| Sunderland | 3 | 417.67 |
| Stoke | 3 | 367.67 |
| West Ham | 3 | 338.33 |
| Wigan | 2 | 373.50 |
| Wolverhampton | 2 | 373.50 |
| Hull | 2 | 359.50 |
| Bolton | 1 | 363.00 |
| Portsmouth | 0 | 0.00 |
Yes, that’s Birmingham City right behind us and they also have 10 players in the final 100. However, their average score betrays their general positioning within the index – Joe Hart who is on loan from Man City is their highest placed player in 31st position with 430 points. Roger Johnson is their next best player with 407 points in 42nd place and James McFadden just squeezed into the Index in 100th place with 320 points.
Top 10 Goalkeepers
Of course our own Brad Friedel is among the ten best goalkeepers in the Premiership:-
| Rank | Name | Team | Overall Ranking | Actim Index |
| 1 | Petr Cech | Chelsea | 17 | 518 |
| 2 | Brad Friedel | Aston Villa | 23 | 481 |
| 3 | Jose Reina | Liverpool | 24 | 473 |
| 4 | Joe Hart | Birmingham | 31 | 430 |
| 5 | Tim Howard | Everton | 33 | 429 |
| 6 | Heurelho Gomes | Tottenham | 40 | 415 |
| 7 | Shay Given | Man City | 43 | 404 |
| 8 | Mark Schwarzer | Fulham | 44 | 403 |
| 9 | Manuel Almunia | Arsenal | 51 | 386 |
| 10 | Paul Robinson | Blackburn | 60 | 375 |
Top 10 Defenders
Richard Dunne, Carlos Cuellar and James Collins rank among the ten best defenders in the league:-
| Rank | Name | Team | Overall Ranking | Actim Index |
| 1 | Patrice Evra | Man Utd | 10 | 574 |
| 2 | Richard Dunne | Aston Villa | 12 | 551 |
| 3 | Carlos Cuellar | Aston Villa | 14 | 538 |
| 4 | Leighton Baines | Everton | 19 | 504 |
| 5 | John Terry | Chelsea | 22 | 488 |
| 6 | Thomas Vermaelen | Arsenal | 26 | 465 |
| 7 | Ashley Cole | Chelsea | 32 | 429 |
| 8 | Bacary Sagna | Arsenal | 36 | 422 |
| 9 | James Collins | Aston Villa | 37 | 420 |
| 10 | Jody Craddock | Wolverhampton | 38 | 418 |
Top 10 Midfielders
Ashley Young and James Milner are 2 of 5 Englishmen in the Top 10 Midfielders, but only one of them will be going to the World Cup.
| Rank | Name | Team | Overall Ranking | Actim Index |
| 1 | Frank Lampard | Chelsea | 1 | 776 |
| 2 | Francesc Fabregas | Arsenal | 5 | 636 |
| 3 | Florent Malouda | Chelsea | 9 | 578 |
| 4 | James Milner | Aston Villa | 11 | 560 |
| 5 | Antonio Valencia | Man Utd | 13 | 544 |
| 6 | Ashley Young | Aston Villa | 15 | 523 |
| 7 | Steven Gerrard | Liverpool | 25 | 471 |
| 8 | Darren Fletcher | Man Utd | 28 | 445 |
| 9 | Gareth Barry | Man City | 29 | 432 |
| 10 | Vassiriki Diaby | Arsenal | 30 | 432 |
Top 10 Strikers
Gabby is the top placed English striker in the Top 10, but there’s no place for him on the plane to South Africa. Emile Heskey didn’t even make the Top 100 players, but is part of the 30 man provisional squad and more than likely will be in the final 23 man squad.
| Rank | Name | Team | Overall Ranking | Actim Index |
| 1 | Didier Drogba | Chelsea | 2 | 703 |
| 2 | Carlos Tevez | Man City | 3 | 673 |
| 3 | Nicolas Anelka | Chelsea | 4 | 658 |
| 4 | Gabriel Agbonlahor | Aston Villa | 6 | 621 |
| 5 | Wayne Rooney | Man Utd | 7 | 585 |
| 6 | Darren Bent | Sunderland | 8 | 581 |
| 7 | Jermain Defoe | Tottenham | 16 | 523 |
| 8 | Emmanuel Adebayor | Man City | 18 | 505 |
| 9 | Craig Bellamy | Man City | 20 | 499 |
| 10 | Dirk Kuyt | Liverpool | 21 | 494 |
Team Of The Season
Carlos Cuellar, who a section of the fanbase love to keep telling us is not a right back, joins Richard Dunne and James Milner in the Actim Team of the Season:-
Unless I missed anyone, the highest placed recognised right back in the Index was Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna in 36th place with 422 points.
If Actim Picked The England Squad
Just for fun I re-sorted the top placed England players in the Index to create a 23 man World Cup squad. With Glen Johnson the only recognised English right back in the Top 100, I had to include the controversial Carragher in the same position. Lennon was the only right sided midfielder available, so I put Ash on that side and that allowed Wolves’ Matthew Jarvis to come into the squad.
[Pic Credit: Premier League / Orginal Data from Actim]