1. OLIVIER GIROUD (10.0)

In the 8.5-year history of the WAGNH Community Player Ratings, we’ve had two perfect 10s, both rigged — i.e. instead of the usual 1-10 scale, the only option was to vote ‘10’ (or to abstain) — Paulo Ferreira’s farewell appearance in 2013, and that time Cesc Fàbregas was sent off for pinging Chris Brunt in the head in 2015 (he was aiming for the referee).

We’ve had others come very close to a perfect 10. Eden Hazard got as close as possible with his 9.9 against West Ham in 2019. He also notched a 9.8 (vs. Everton in 2016), as did Diego Costa (vs. West Brom in 2014). Ruben Loftus-Cheek got a 9.7 for his hat-trick against BATE in 2018.

Olivier Giroud has now achieved perfection through the actual process. Here’s the breakdown of all his votes — as usual, the top and bottom 12.5% are thrown out to give us more robust data against outliers (and trolls), though I take the higher of the raw average and the trimmed mean in most cases (and also do a visual check of the data to avoid any obvious tampering in the voting process). Once the set is trimmed, we are left with all 10s for Giroud.

Perfection.

2. ÉDOUARD MENDY (7.8)

Mendy may not be a perfect-10 in the ratings, but he’s been a perfect ten-like addition to the team this summer.

In turn, the defense in front of him has improved as well, which in turn has made his job easier — a positive feedback loop to contrast with the rather negative one we’ve had over the past couple years. Mendy continues to make the saves he needs to, collect the balls that come his way in the air, provide good distribution, and engender great confidence in all.

What more can we ask for?

3. KAI HAVERTZ (7.7)

November was a good month for the club, but a rather forgettable one for Kai, thanks to his bout with the coronavirus. Making his first start in six, we can now look forward to restoring what looked like our best midfield trio with him and Mount on either side of Kanté (though Kovačić has come back into form in the meantime as well — good problems to have).

vs. SEVILLA (CL, A, W 4-0)

PERFECTION (10.0): Giroud (10.0)

EXCEPTIONAL (9.0+): —

EXCELLENT (8.0-8.9): —

GOOD (7.0-7.9): Mendy (7.8), Havertz (7.7), Kovačić (7.7), Kanté (7.6, sub), Hudson-Odoi (7.4), Rüdiger (7.4), Azpilicueta (7.3), Emerson (7.2), Christensen (7.1), Jorginho (7.0)

AVERAGE (6.0-6.9): Pulisic (6.8), Mount (6.7, sub), Gilmour (6.5, sub), Ziyech (6.4, sub), Werner (6.4, sub)

POOR (5.0-5.9): —

BAD (4.0-4.9): —

TERRIBLE (3.0-3.9): —

OVERALL