The Premier League’s Most Consistent Performers

We here at Gradient Sports are in the middle of collecting data for our fifth Premier League season. That’s five seasons’ worth of player grades, pressure data and advanced metrics. In that time, England have played in two European Championship finals, Erling Haaland has racked up almost 100 Premier League goals across three and a bit seasons and there have been 42 managerial changes. In fact, only Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola have been in the same jobs since we began.

A lot can change in football over the nine months of a season, let alone over multiple years. This got me wondering: who are the most reliable and consistent performers in that time in the Premier League? And with five years of Gradient Sports’ granular data, including grades for every on-pitch event every player has been involved in, we have an easy way to find out. I’m only taking data from this season and the three previous ones to have a balance of historically consistent performers and players who are still producing in the Premier League this year.

All grades are the player’s average grade since 2022–2023 unless specified.

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Most Consistent Shot Taker: Erling Haaland (89.2)

22–23: 93.6 | 23–24: 86.6 | 24–25: 90.7 | 25–26: 85.9

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Death, taxes and Erling Haaland topping any of our shooting grades or metrics. The Norwegian is already one of the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League, averaging close to a goal a game for his 94 Premier League goals so far. Given that rate, his age, and the nine-and-a-half-year contract he signed in January, he’s on pace to eclipse Newcastle legend Alan Shearer’s Premier League goals record in about five seasons.

It’s simple enough to point out that his goals make him the best shot taker in the Premier League over the last few years, but at Gradient we grade the execution of the shot, not the outcome. A tap-in from two yards out would receive a grade of 0, given we expect a professional footballer to be able to do that. A goal where the player goes to head the ball and it comes off his shoulder and goes in would receive a negative grade, and so on.

What makes Haaland so good is his execution, the quality of his shots and his shot selection. To quote the recent Michael Owen interview that summed up the concept quite succinctly: “it’s easier to spoil… than to create.” Shooting is inherently hard. You’re aiming for a small target with defenders rushing towards you, whose one job is to stop you from shooting. The majority of shots a player takes will be negative. 52.2% of the shots Haaland has taken in the Premier League have been negatively graded. However, that’s good enough for the fourth-best percentage of negative shots.

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Negatively graded shots usually come from failing to score when you’re in a good position or missing the target. Limiting those, hitting the target and consistently testing the goalkeeper means that in the long run, you’ll see more success even when your “luck” is out.

What sets Haaland apart, along with Bowen who has our third-best shooting grade over the last four seasons, is that 22.58% of his shots have been graded positively, compared to under 10% for Tavernier and Pereira.

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One reason Haaland executes shots so well is that he tends to take them from good shooting positions. At Gradient, we record whether the player had a better option instead of shooting – for example, taking a shot from a low xG position when they could have passed to a teammate in a better area. These are based solely on decision-making and don’t take into account shot quality. You could score a screamer from 45 yards out and receive our highest grade for execution, but it would still have a “better option” marked against it since 99 times out of 100 it’s a poor decision.

In the last four years, only 6% of Haaland’s shots have had a better option, while the league average in 2024–2025 was 34%.

While a better option isn’t related to shot quality, taking shots in areas where shooting is the best choice gives you better odds of executing successfully. If you’re shooting from 30 yards with three defenders in the way, your margin for error is smaller and you’re more likely to miss compared to shooting inside the box with a clear sight of goal.

A lot of Haaland’s success comes from excellent shot selection, which allows him to limit the number of negative shots he takes while giving him the best chance to execute positive ones. That is the recipe for an extremely clinical striker.

2nd: Alexander Isak – 87.8

3rd: Jarrod Bowen – 87.1

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Most Consistent Passer: Bruno Fernandes (91.0)

22–23: 88.5 | 23–24: 86.7 | 24–25: 92.5 | 25–26: 96.1

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Throughout all of Manchester United’s struggles over the last four years, there’s really only been one player who has shone consistently: their captain, Bruno Fernandes. At the end of every disappointing season, when pundits name their predicted United XIs for the next campaign and call for half the squad to be replaced, Fernandes’ name is always written in.

He’s been in the top five players for clear chances created from passes in each of the last three seasons, and has ranked 1st, 2nd, 2nd and 1st in the years from 2022–2023 to now for passes played into dangerous positions. He averages five such passes per 90 minutes, contributing 26 assists in that period.

He’s also made 108 defensive line-breaking passes over the last four seasons. His only rival in that time is Martin Ødegaard – our highest-graded through-ball passer over the same period – with 155. His 96.1 grade from the first seven games this season might level out, but Newcastle’s Bruno Guimarães achieved a 97.3 grade last year, so it’s not out of the question that Fernandes maintains this form, especially given his track record for consistency.

2nd: Cole Palmer – 90.2

3rd: Rodri – 88.4

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Most Consistent Crosser: James Ward-Prowse (89.0)

22–23: 89.6 | 23–24: 95.9 | 24–25: 83.1 | 25–26: 87.4

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If you had to guess, without any data, who the most consistently good crosser in the Premier League was, James Ward-Prowse would be a safe bet. The dead-ball specialist has produced quality deliveries for Southampton, West Ham, a short spell at Nottingham Forest and again since returning to West Ham. Consistency is hard. Consistency across various teams and levels of quality is even harder.

41% of his crosses over those years have been played into a dangerous position, comfortably the highest in the league. Players like Heung-Min Son and Dwight McNeil have matched that percentage in single seasons, but nobody has done it as consistently as Ward-Prowse.

Given the margin for error in crossing, limiting poor deliveries that waste possession in the final third is almost as important as producing great ones. Only Lucas Digne and Pedro Neto have a lower percentage of negative crosses. Ward-Prowse is also our highest-graded set-piece crosser over this time, with an average grade of 88.3, creating 62 clear chances or half-chances from set-piece crosses alone.

2nd: Declan Rice – 86.9

3rd: Dwight McNeil – 85.1

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Most Consistent in Aerial Duels: Virgil van Dijk (94.3)

21–22: 96.9 | 22–23: 95.5 | 23–24: 93.6 | 24–25: 93.6 | 25–26: 91.8

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Liverpool’s captain is a giant, and his aerial dominance might be his most defining attribute. He’s been our highest-graded player in aerial duels in all five seasons we’ve analysed, apart from 2022–2023 when he finished second. He’s achieved an elite 90+ grade for five consecutive seasons, something no other player has managed in any category. His aerial duel win rate in that time is 70%, and he’s led that category most seasons as well.

An honourable mention goes to Van Dijk’s cross-city rival James Tarkowski. In every year we’ve graded, the two have battled it out at the top of our aerial duel rankings, with Tarkowski averaging 91.8 and season grades of 97.0, 91.1, 91.1 and 88.0, finishing above Van Dijk only in that 2022–2023 season.

2nd: James Tarkowski – 91.8

3rd: Max Kilman – 89.0

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Other consistent performers

Shot-Stopping: Emiliano Martínez – 80.7

Dribbling: Jérémy Doku – 83.8

Defending Dribbles: Antonee Robinson – 87.2

Tackling: Tyrick Mitchell – 87.7

Passing Under Pressure: Martin Ødegaard – 88.0

Through-Ball Passing: Martin Ødegaard – 85.5

Set-Piece Crossing: James Ward-Prowse – 88.3

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Across five seasons of Gradient Sports data, these are the names that have delivered time and time again. In a league where players, managers and tactics change constantly, these are the performers who have set the standard for reliability and quality.

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