Matt is an experienced sports journalist and Senior Editor at Football FanCast with 15 years of experience covering football across the Premier League, EFL and Scottish football. Since joining the publication in 2019, he has progressed from writer to Assistant Editor and Senior Editor, a position he has held since 2021.  

A Sports Journalism graduate, Matt previously served as Arsenal and Premier League Editor at VAVEL and gained club-media experience with Chesterfield FC. His journalism has appeared through the Press Association, with his work featured by Sky Sports and the Daily Mail.
 

Throughout his career, Matt has interviewed prominent football figures including Arsène Wenger, Ray Parlour, Alan Smith, Lucy Bronze and Steph Houghton, while also appearing on Arsenal Fan TV and Love Sport Radio.
 

Today, Matt leads Football FanCast's features team, overseeing opinion coverage, editorial standards and content strategy while continuing to provide detailed football analysis.

Arsenal won the Premier League and reached the Champions League final last season but there is a belief that they lack genuine star power.

The debate rages on with regard to Bukayo Saka. Is he an elite world-class player? We'll let you make up your minds on that one.

However, there is an element of truth to that first statement. In fact, the English top flight as a whole lacks some of the world's finest talent right now.

Last week's Ballon d'Or rankings said it all. There was only one Premier League player, Erling Haaland, among the top ten. It contained three players from LaLiga, two from the Bundesliga, three from Ligue 1 and one from MLS.

Despite those rankings, however, that man Haaland is swiftly being overtaken as the finest player in England.

Why Erling Haaland is no longer the best player in the Premier League

Since Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane left the country, Haaland has taken up the baton as the division's top marksman.

He has won three of the last four Golden Boot awards and fired home 38 goals in 52 matches in all competitions last term. In the Premier League, the great Norwegian scored 27 times in 35 fixtures.

When it comes to goals, he is in a league of his own. Alas, there is something missing from his game. Sure, he's a ruthless centre-forward, but his overall play leaves something to be desired.

No player in the whole league has had fewer touches per 90 minutes than Haaland this season with 23.99. When you're scoring so regularly, that doesn't matter much. Yet, in a different system, a system like Arsenal's, he may not thrive as much.

That's not to say he's a bad player. He's one of the best in the world. When he retires, he will go down as one of the greatest goalscorers we have ever seen.

Yet, in recent years, onlookers are looking for more than goals. That's why Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes won the PFA Player of the Year award last season. The Portuguese midfielder was sensational, breaking Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne's record of 20 assists in a single campaign. Fernandes ended 2025/26 on 21 in the league.

A few players back at the Emirates Stadium, however, were likely aggrieved by that decision after winning the top-flight for the first time in 22 years.

Arsenal star has officially surpassed Erling Haaland and Bruno Fernandes

Despite that infamous 3-0 defeat to Brighton prior to the last international break and the penalty shootout loss to Fleetwood Town, Arsenal have been exceptional this season. They have only lost two of their 15 matches all season and are well on track for yet more success.

They have performed that well despite adversity. Over the summer, they failed to adequately strengthen their forward line and have missed both Christos Tzolis and the aforementioned Saka at stages this term.

They have maintained a ludicrously good defensive record too without arguably the best centre-back in the world, William Saliba. Ezri Konsa has come into the club and is playing as though he's been an Arsenal player for a decade.

The same can be said about Declan Rice, a player who, after his performances this season, can safely call himself the best player in the Premier League.

The discourse around the midfielder is strange. Over the summer, Graeme Souness notably said that Rice "is limited". Souness further said: "You hear people talk about Rice as a world-class footballer. I think he might be a centre-half."

Well, he's certainly proven Souness and any other doubters wrong this term. He has bounced back from a World Cup where he looked jaded and out of sorts with aplomb.

Rice has been the centrepiece of this Arsenal team and it would appear as though he is only getting better. He scored a vital goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League two weeks ago and popped up with another important contribution in a big game against Liverpool by supplying Kai Havertz's winner in the first half.

That was the 27-year-old's fifth Premier League assist of the campaign. For that stat, he leads the way in the top flight; no player has more assists in 2026/27.

A beautiful set-piece taker, all of those assists have actually come from open play, further supporting the fact that Rice is improving big time.

After that Man of the Match performance at Anfield on Sunday, Jamie Carragher hit back at the likes of Souness, saying: "He's the best midfield player in the Premier League by a long way. It's not even a debate. Rice is the best midfield player in this country. He's a world-class midfield player. There's absolutely no doubt about it. One of the best midfield players Arsenal have ever had."

Well, forget about just being the best midfielder in England, he looks like the best player in the country, period. He's simply so inspirational, so huge to this Arsenal team.

The Gunners have the best depth in the league and there is likely only one player they would struggle without; Rice. He is that good.

As the outspoken Piers Morgan put it, he is the club's "signing of the Millenium". He is the project and era-defining signing that has taken Arsenal to silverware.