To be successful in the Premier League, every player needs to show their individual talent, combined with the capability to work together as a team, to become an overall more cohesive unit. But are some teams being carried by the individual ability of their best player?
Interested in this, Livefootballtickets.com wanted to find out which Premier League team struggles the most without their star player. To do this, they reproduced the current Premier League table by removing the goal contributions of each team’s highest goal scorer so far this season. The results allowed the experts to reveal which team would have its performance most affected without the goals and assists of its star player.
Key points
- Manchester United is the most affected team in the league – they would be 8 points and 4 positions worse off without the goal contributions of Cristiano Ronaldo.
- The second most affected is Liverpool who are also 8 points worse off without Mo Salah’s goals and assists.
- Remarkably, if all the star players were removed from every team, almost 50% of the teams would benefit, showing just how dominant these players are.
Most affected PL team without their star player:
| Club | Player removed | Old position | Position Change | New position | Points with star players | Points without star players | Points Change |
| Manchester United | Cristiano Ronaldo | 4 | -4 | 8 | 38 | 30 | -8 |
| Liverpool | Mohamed Salah | 2 | -1 | 3 | 48 | 40 | -8 |
| Leeds United | Raphinha | 15 | -4 | 19 | 22 | 15 | -7 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | Raúl Jiménez | 8 | -2 | 10 | 34 | 29 | -5 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Son Heung-Min | 7 | 1 | 6 | 36 | 32 | -4 |
| Brentford | Ivan Toney | 14 | -1 | 15 | 23 | 20 | -3 |
| Arsenal | Emile Smith Rowe | 6 | 1 | 5 | 36 | 34 | -2 |
| Brighton and Hove Albion | Neal Maupay | 9 | -2 | 11 | 30 | 28 | -2 |
| West Ham United | Michail Antonio | 5 | 1 | 4 | 37 | 36 | -1 |
| Leicester City | Jamie Vardy | 10 | -3 | 13 | 26 | 25 | -1 |
| Chelsea | Mason Mount | 3 | 1 | 2 | 47 | 47 | 0 |
| Norwich City | Teemu Pukki | 17 | 0 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 1 |
| Watford | Emmanuel Dennis | 19 | -1 | 20 | 14 | 15 | 1 |
| Manchester City | Raheem Sterling | 1 | 0 | 1 | 57 | 59 | 2 |
| Southampton | James Ward-Prowse | 12 | 0 | 12 | 25 | 27 | 2 |
| Everton | Demarai Gray | 16 | 2 | 14 | 19 | 23 | 4 |
| Newcastle United | Callum Wilson | 18 | 2 | 16 | 15 | 19 | 4 |
| Burnley | Maxwel Cornet | 20 | 2 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 4 |
| Aston Villa | Ollie Watkins | 11 | 4 | 7 | 26 | 31 | 5 |
| Crystal Palace | Conor Gallagher | 13 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 29 | 5 |
The Premier League team that would struggle the most without their star player is Manchester United. With Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal contributions for the team removed, the Red Devils are 8 points and 4 positions worse off – dropping from fourth position to eighth.
Liverpool would be the second most affected team without their star man, Mohamed Salah, with the Reds also dropping 8 points without their talisman. The Egyptian forward has been in sensational form this season and has more goal contributions than any other player in the league (16 goals, 9 assists). Without Salah’s contribution, Liverpool have scored 43% fewer goals, but remarkably are only one position lower in third.
The third most affected team is Leeds United who are 7 points and 4 positions worse off without the goal contributions of their star man Raphinha. Leeds have struggled to repeat their electric performances from last season and will hope to turn it around in the last few months of the 2021/22 campaign. Without the Brazilian’s goal contributions, Leeds drops four positions to 19th place and have scored 41% fewer goals.
Dropping the fourth highest number of points is Wolverhampton Wanderers who, without the goal contributions of Raúl Jiménez, are 5 points and 2 positions worse off, placing them tenth. Tottenham Hotspur dropped the fifth most amount of points with 4 fewer points, but remarkably only moved down one position to sixth without Son Heung-Min’s contributions.
Premier League table with every team’s star player removed:
| New rank | Club | Player removed | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points Change | Original rank | Rank Change | Points with star players | Points without star players |
| 1 | Manchester City | Raheem Sterling | 23 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 57 | 59 |
| 2 | Chelsea | Mason Mount | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 47 | 47 |
| 3 | Liverpool | Mohamed Salah | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | -8 | 2 | -1 | 48 | 40 |
| 4 | West Ham United | Michail Antonio | 23 | 9 | 9 | 5 | -1 | 5 | 1 | 37 | 36 |
| 5 | Arsenal | Emile Smith Rowe | 21 | 9 | 7 | 5 | -2 | 6 | 1 | 36 | 34 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | Son Heung-Min | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | -4 | 7 | 1 | 36 | 32 |
| 7 | Aston Villa | Ollie Watkins | 21 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 4 | 26 | 31 |
| 8 | Manchester United | Cristiano Ronaldo | 22 | 7 | 9 | 6 | -8 | 4 | -4 | 38 | 30 |
| 9 | Crystal Palace | Conor Gallagher | 22 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 24 | 29 |
| 10 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Raul Jimenez | 21 | 6 | 11 | 4 | -5 | 8 | -2 | 34 | 29 |
| 11 | Brighton and Hove Albion | Neal Maupay | 22 | 7 | 7 | 8 | -2 | 9 | -2 | 30 | 28 |
| 12 | Southampton | James Ward-Prowse | 22 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 25 | 27 |
| 13 | Leicester City | Jamie Vardy | 20 | 7 | 4 | 9 | -1 | 10 | -3 | 26 | 25 |
| 14 | Everton | Demarai Gray | 20 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 19 | 23 |
| 15 | Brentford | Ivan Toney | 23 | 5 | 5 | 13 | -3 | 14 | -1 | 23 | 20 |
| 16 | Newcastle United | Callum Wilson | 21 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 18 | 2 | 15 | 19 |
| 17 | Norwich City | Teemu Pukki | 22 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | Burnley | Maxwel Cornet | 18 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 20 | 2 | 12 | 16 |
| 19 | Leeds United | Raphinha | 21 | 3 | 6 | 12 | -7 | 15 | -4 | 22 | 15 |
| 20 | Watford | Emmanuel Dennis | 20 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 19 | -1 | 14 | 15 |
