West Ham star rising while Messi stretches huge lead atop player form rankings

After a midweek round of fixtures in the Bundesliga we delayed this week’s form rankings but the top 20 players in Europe’s top five leagues over their last six appearances can now be revealed.

There is no change at the very top heading into the weekend, with Lionel Messi stretching out a huge lead following a perfect ten rating last time out. The Argentine scored a hat-trick and registered assists for both of Barcelona’s other strikes in a 5-0 win at Levante and, now back fully fit, will take some catching.

His closest rival right now remains Nimes midfield general Teji Savanier, who couldn’t prevent a 3-2 defeat to high-flying Lille but did register his fourth assist in six league matches. Meanwhile, there is a new man on the podium in third, with Robert Snodgrass occupying the bronze position following an impressive run of form at West Ham.

The Scot struggled to win over the fans following a move from Hull in January of last year before being shipped out on loan to Aston Villa but has certainly impressed new manager Manuel Pellegrini. Having opened his Hammers account in the win over Crystal Palace the week previous, Snodgrass scored a beauty at Fulham and has now had a direct hand in five goals in a spell that has seen the Londoners win four successive matches.

The biggest climber into the top 20, however, is Joshua Kimmich (fourth), who helped Bayern to back-to-back wins and clean sheets over the past week. The right-back scored his first league goal of the season at Hannover and added an impressive sixth assist - half of which have come in his last six league outings.

Betis midfielder Giovani Lo Celso completes the top five having now scored in four of his last five league appearances, netting in a 3-1 win at Espanyol, while elsewhere in Spain Antoine Griezmann (sixth) is another high riser. The Frenchman had endured a difficult start to the season but was certainly back to his best in a match winning display at Real Valladolid, scoring twice and registering an assist in a 3-2 victory to take both tallier to six for the season.

Nice youngster Youcef Atal is another new face on the leaderboard following a man of the match display against Saint-Etienne to stretch Patrick Vieira’s side’s unbeaten run to six. Meanwhile Serge Gnabry (13th), Gerard Pique (14th), Kerem Demirbag (15th) and Lucas Digne (20th) all make the grade for the first time this season.