Barnes leads the way at Spurs as defenders go joint top for Christmas
Ashley Barnes returned to the Burnley team at Tottenham last Sunday and became the first Burnley player to score a Premier League goal in open play away from home since Danny Ings netted the only goal at Aston Villa in May 2015.
He gave us the lead early in a game we lost 2-1 and that was the least he deserved from an impressive performance in what was only his third start since suffering his cruciate ligament injury in that Villa win two seasons ago.
His performance has won him both the man of the match vote and the player ratings, the fourth time he’s been a winner in the Premier League having come out on top in the same game two seasons ago and the away games at Manchester City and Chelsea that season.
Barnes won 26% of the man of the match vote, just ahead of central defender Ben Mee who picked up 24%. Third place was Jeff Hendrick’s with 16% and Michael Keane claimed 11% of the vote to win fourth place.
The same four players were in the top four of the ratings albeit in a different order. Barnes was again the winner with a rating of 7.86, just ahead of Hendrick, who probably had his best game in Burnley colours, who scored 7.81. Keane was third with 7.71 while 7.48 out of 10 won Mee fourth place.
Barnes has won the maximum ten points towards the Up the Clarets Player of the Year which moves him into eighth place. Five points for Hendrick have lifted him to fifth place but it could not be tighter at the top. Me won four points and Keane three points which means the pair go into Christmas neck and neck at the top, both with 67 points.
The next vote will start on Boxing Day for the Middlesbrough game. Keep an eye open for that.
The Spurs result and the current player of the year table are below.
MAN OF THE MATCH
26% – Ashley Barnes
24% – Ben Mee
16% – Jeff Hendrick
11% – Michael Keane
9% – Scott Arfield
4% – Stephen Ward
3% – George Boyd
2% – Tom Heaton & Dean Marney
2% – Andre Gray
0% – Matt Lowton
PLAYER RATINGS
7.86 – Ashley Barnes
7.81 – Jeff Hendrick
7.71 – Michael Keane
7.48 – Ben Mee
7.14 – Stephen Ward
6.95 – Tom Heaton
6.86 – Scott Arfield
6.67 – Matt Lowton
6.52 – Dean Marney
6.48 – George Boyd
6.24 – Andre Gray
UP THE CLARETS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
67: Michael Keane & Ben Mee
46: Tom Heaton
32: Dean Marney
29: Jeff Hendrick
28: Steven Defour
25: Johann Berg Gudmundsson
20: Ashley Barnes
13: Stephen Ward
9: Andre Gray
8: Scott Arfield & Sam Vokes
7: Matt Lowton, Aiden O’Neill & Paul Robinson
6: George Boyd
4: James Tarkowski
1: Jon Flanagan & Michael Kightly
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