The 15 best players in the Premier League, January 2018

15 - Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester)

He sweeps up everything in the middle of the park, distributes accurately to teammates and was the best player on the pitch in a 2-0 win against Watford, then not far off it in a 0-0 draw with Chelsea against the player he was signed to replace: a certain N'Golo Kante, who is conspicuously absent from this month's Babbello Index.

It seems increasingly likely that Leicester will have to deal with some increasingly large bids for Ndidi in the summer transfer window.

14 - Jan Vertonghen (Spurs)

Vertonghen is probably one of the best centre-backs in world football. Made sure Man Utd didn't get close to scoring at Wembley, was excellent against Everton and kept another clean sheet against Swansea. Statswise there's nothing really to shout about: 12 tackles, nine interceptions and 285 successful passes made in five games - upper midtable returns. Interestingly, 122 of those passes were in the opposition half - Vertonghen affects play all over the pitch.

13 - Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)

Another weird month for Liverpool in which they dismantled one of the best ever Premier League teams but then failed to show up against Swansea, and yet another month in which Firmino set the standard for his teammates.

A tireless worker, Firmino is infinitely innovative, dropping into holes and linking play to facilitate Jurgen Klopp's attacking style of play. Two goals and one assist for Firmino in January, including one of each against Man City.

12 - Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

Salah as been so brutally awesome this season that many clubs, including Real Madrid according to various rumours, now regard him as a transfer target in the same bracket of elite player as Eden Hazard.

The Egyptian only played three games in January but scored twice and assisted another - his pace, determination and quickness of thought makes him one of the very best forward players in the league. Just wasn't quite on top of his game last month but then neither were the rest of his team, some of the time.

11 - Leroy Sane (Man City)

Cardiff City discovered the secret to stopping Leroy Sane is to try and break him in half, and that injury sustained thanks to Joe Bennett's disgraceful lunging tackle in an FA Cup match could well disrupt Man City's attacking flow going forward.

Sane says Pep Guardiola has been making him observe the movement of Lionel Messi in a bid to improve and whatever else he's been learning on City's training ground has all worked.

One goal and two assists in three games doesn't do justice to the nightmares Sane has been inflicting on full-backs all season and particularly last month. He has the second highest number of assists in the league for the season to date.

10 - Raheem Sterling (Man City)

Always looks like he needs to practise his finishing yet Sterling has a knack of ending up on the scoresheet for this Man City side. Scored once and assisted two in January but was noticeably quiet in the away game against Liverpool, for whatever reason.

No matter, he has improved remarkably under Guardiola this season and was unbelievably good against West Brom and Newcastle last month.

9 -Riyad Mahrez (Leicester)

His new Facebook location might read: 'Sulksville, population Mahrez' but before the transfer window shenanigans Mahrez was flying. Two goals and one assist in three games is great for a player marked tightly every single time he gets the ball and his overall performances have been exceptional over the previous month. What a shame he's all sad now.

8 - Kyle Walker (Man City)

Is Walker now the best right-back in European football? Dani Carvajal might have something to say about it, and Dani Alves won't stop wearing that darn cape... but Walker is up there alongside both. His all-round game has improved beyond what anyone expected of him and his ability to link passing play as a central midfielder as well as stretching defences as a right winger makes him an incredible asset for Man City.

Walker is still technically a defender, which makes the 167 successful passes in the opposition half he's made - the seventh highest of any player in the league for January - rather impressive.

7 - Anthony Martial (Man Utd)

Seems finally to have adapted to and accepted Mourinho's tactical demands and has been rewarded with an extended run in the Man Utd first XI as a result. It's easy to forget that Martial wasn't a youth academy hopeful but a very expensive transfer and this month he has shown exactly why, scoring three goals in four games - two of them absolute peaches, 20 yard hits into the top corner - and securing the three points against Burnley with the other.

6 - Christian Eriksen (Spurs)

No player created as many goal scoring chances in the Premier League in January as Christian Eriksen. In total he made 14 of them, while scoring two and assisting a goal of his own in the four games he played. Eriksen provides the cutting edge and star quality which makes Pochettino's team good enough to compete at the very top - his absence is painfully obvious whenever unavailable through injury.

5 - Fernandinho (Man City)

Fernandinho just sits between midfield and defence and makes everything tick. His positional awareness is second to no-one, his passing always careful, considered and accurate - 324 successful passes is second only to Nicolas Otamendi.

He sets the tempo for passing, keeps everything moving like a finely tuned watch and is excellent on the ball, like a miniature Sergio Busquets, or perhaps more accurately, an only slightly limited avatar of Guardiola. This season the Brazilian has even added goals to his game and scored another last month.

4 - Sergio Aguero (Man City)

Aguero scored five goals in four games in January, putting him on 17 for the season behind only Mo Salah and Harry Kane. That is despite the striker having missed part of the season injured after a car crash and while carrying almost sole responsibility for central striking duties now that his partner Gabriel Jesus is out. His finishing is devastatingly accurate - the goal against Newcastle couldn't have been any more perfectly struck.

3 - Harry Kane (Spurs)

Spurs' talisman scored three goals in five games and became the club's all time top scorer in the Premier League in doing so. Hasn't scored a hat-trick in a while (a month) but is never far away from a goal or two - Kane took 19 shots on goal in January, five more than Salomon Rondon in second place.

2 - Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Created 11 chances, scored three goals and completed 30 dribbles - 14 more than Wilf Zaha in second place. Hazard is one of the very best footballers in Europe and Antonio Conte is doing well to extract the most from him, giving the Belgian license to roam and affect play where he deems it appropriate.

1 - Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)

What a player. Kevin De Bruyne epitomises this great Man City team, has a perfect first touch, incredible vision and speed and a determination to win that ensures he usually does. There's a bit of hidden aggression to his game too and if you kick De Bruyne, you only make him stronger, as Dele Alli found out in December.

Two assists and one goal for De Bruyne last month, as well as 11 chances created. There's a fair chance he ends the season with a quadruple in addition to his surely guaranteed individual awards, which I'm sure you'll agree is quite good.!