There are zero players from the so-called Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ in our underrated XI.
Leeds United have three representatives, while Brentford only have two players from a team littered with underrated stars. We are reluctant to go overboard with the Bees, for reasons we shall explain.
Brighton, meanwhile, are just too good right now to have any underrated players. Pascal Gross and Maxim De Cuyper were, but not anymore. Not a chance. Diego Gomez would have been a fine pick if he hadn’t scored that bloody halfway-line goal. Everyone is talking about those three and so many other Brighton players, so they simply cannot qualify.
Anyway, here is our Premier League XI consisting of the division’s most underrated players.
GK: Caoimhin Kelleher (Brentford)
There was a reluctance to include too many Brentford players, but there is simply no better candidate for the goalkeeper position than Kelleher.
There are very few weaknesses in his game, yet he still does not receive the credit he deserves.
After years of playing understudy to Alisson at Liverpool, Kelleher took a chance by joining Brentford and has been more than up to the task. He could easily have crumbled under the pressure, but in his first spell as an undisputed No. 1, he has been brilliant and only seems to be getting better.
He ranks higher than Alisson this season.
RB: Jayden Bogle (Leeds)
One of three Leeds United players in this XI, Bogle was actually tipped for an England call-up by Gary Neville recently, but there hasn’t been quite enough noise for him to have breached the underrated threshold.
Leeds tied Bogle down to a well-deserved new contract until 2030 in August, and he has started the campaign in superb form.
CB: James Hill (Bournemouth)
Somehow still waiting for his first England call-up, Hill has been brilliant at the heart of Bournemouth’s defence since the start of last season and rightfully earns his place in our underrated XI.
Hill recently earned a 9.47 WhoScored rating for his performance against Manchester United, making two goal-line clearances, seven clearances, seven tackles and four interceptions. Will Thomas Tuchel finally give him a call next month?
CB: Tarik Muharemovic (Leeds)
One of the signings of the season so far, Muharemovic won’t be at Leeds for too long if he continues on his current trajectory, though the Whites are a club with a massive ceiling and ambitions of eventually returning to Europe. If Sunderland could manage it last season, why can’t Leeds?
CB: Chris Richards (Crystal Palace)
We have included three centre-backs because finding more than two attackers was apparently impossible. Crystal Palace also feel like the sort of club that should have a couple of underrated players.
Richards is probably the player we are most dubious about including, but he has been a solid performer for Palace since joining from Bayern Munich in 2022.
He has exceeded expectations and done a decent job of ensuring Palace did not fall off a cliff following the departure of club captain Marc Guehi.
LB: Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest)
Williams has been underrated for so long that we are starting to wonder whether he is actually underrated anymore. There are a few left-backs in contention, unlike in our overrated XI, with Brentford’s Keane Lewis-Potter and Newcastle United’s Lewis Hall also fair picks.
But it is Williams who gets the nod as Nottingham Forest’s most consistent performer since the start of 2024/25, a period in which he has worked under five different managers.
DM: Boubacar Kamara (Aston Villa)
Perhaps the most underrated player in the Premier League, Kamara goes about his business very quietly, but very effectively.
That is the best way to operate as a No. 6, or at least it was back in the day when Claude Makelele earned his own ‘role’, a role that has arguably become the most important in modern football. Kamara is one of the best exponents of the Makelele role in the Premier League, yet he very rarely gets the recognition he deserves. Villa fans won’t care; in fact, they will probably be delighted, as it keeps the Red Cartel’s filthy paws away.
DM: Vitaly Janelt (Brentford)
Brentford have numerous underrated players, but because they are such a system-orientated club, there is a slight reluctance to go overboard and include four or five of Keith Andrews’ men. Janelt could easily be joined by Keane Lewis-Potter, Nathan Collins and Kevin Schade. If Thomas Frank, Christian Norgaard, Yoane Wissa and, to an extent, Bryan Mbeumo are anything to go by, the grass is not always greener.
Janelt still gets the nod in our midfield alongside Kamara. He has started the season very well, even allowing for his sending-off against Liverpool, and earned a Germany call-up for the first time in October, though Jurgen Klopp did select two squads for the four-week Nations League break. Still, he made his senior international debut against Serbia and it was fully deserved.
That international recognition has got more people talking about Janelt, but the 28-year-old is still going under the radar as one of the Premier League’s most effective midfielders.
AM: Alex Iwobi (Fulham)
Fulham’s best player right now, Iwobi is really coming of age, proving to be one of the few players excelling under new manager Alvaro Arbeloa after elevating his game to another level under Marco Silva.
The Arsenal academy graduate has always been a tidy player, but he was perhaps a little too tidy, lacking the cutting edge and quality required to really take games by the scruff of the neck. Iwobi seems capable of doing that now and, my word, do Fulham need it.
AM: Anton Stach (Leeds)
The lack of noise surrounding Stach’s future in the summer came as a surprise after an incredible 2025/26 campaign, his first in English football. We are not advocating for the big boys to swoop in and take every other club’s best players, but transfer interest is a good indication of progress.
Stach’s stock is not quite as high as it was towards the end of last season, but he is no worse a player now, and Leeds fans will be delighted that he did not leave in the summer.
ST: Nicolas Jackson (Aston Villa)
Jackson is rapidly losing the underrated tag thanks to his performances for Aston Villa, who reunited him with his old Villarreal boss Unai Emery in the summer after Chelsea deemed him surplus to requirements.
Get Jackson in the right environment and he is the definition of a handful for a centre-forward. He runs relentlessly, carries the ball well, possesses blistering pace and, while he is not the most clinical finisher in the world, still scores goals.
He has been the shot in the arm Villa needed to get their season up and running after a slow start.
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