To say EA Sports caused a stir with their FIFA 21 ratings would be the mother of all understatements.

Inexplicable decisions such as downgrading Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Timo Werner, while failing to upgrade Romelu Lukaku and giving Serge Gnabry just 82 pace had gamers up in arms.

That's not to mention Manchester United fans feeling rightfully annoyed that Jordan Henderson, despite his incredible 2019/20 season, controversially earned the same rating as Paul Pogba.

Controversial FIFA 21 ratings

However, now that the dust has settled on that divisive list of the game's top 100 players, it seems to have gone under the radar that EA Sports have now revealed the 1,000 highest-rated stars.

With the best-of-the-best having already been unveiled, that might not seem like a dramatic development, but it's an update that allows us to hone in on the Premier League specifically.

That's because we can now see who EA Sports consider to be the top 100 players in England's top flight, which rating each of them have earned and how they compare to each other.

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Premier League top 100 revealed

The only caveat is that recent transfers such as Gareth Bale, who is rated at 83 for the record and would place around 50th, back to Tottenham haven't been included in the rankings yet.

Regardless, though, if this hasn't piqued your interest and laid the groundwork for debate then we don't know what will, so be sure to check out the full results down below:

100. Matthew Ryan (Brighton & Hove Albion) - 80

99. Serge Aurier (Tottenham Hotspur) - 80

98. Danny Ings (Southampton) - 80 

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97. Nemanja Matic (Manchester United) - 80

96. Vicente Guaita (Crystal Palace) - 80

95. David Luiz (Arsenal) - 80

94. Sergio Romero (Manchester United) - 80

93. Erik Lamela (Tottenham Hotspur) - 80 

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92. Jonny Evans (Leicester City) - 80

91. James Milner (Liverpool) - 80

100-91 summary

Ings in 98th place!? Absolutely get out of town. There's no simply no way that somebody who challenged for the Golden Boot at a mid-table club should barely be crawling into the top 100.

That anger-inducing decision aside, I similarly can't get my head around Dean Henderson not making the top 100 whereas his surely-outgoing understudy Sergio Romero comfortably makes it.

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90. Ferran Torres (Manchester City) - 81

89. Tomas Soucek (West Ham United) - 81

88. Richarlison (Everton) - 81

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87. Ben Chilwell (Chelsea) - 81

86. Christian Pulisic (Chelsea) - 81

85. Lucas Torreira (Arsenal) - 81

84. Naby Keita (Liverpool) - 81

83. Davinson Sanchez (Tottenham Hotspur) - 81

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82. James Maddison (Leicester City) - 81

81. Youri Tielemans (Leicester City) - 81

90-81 summary

Look, I've been as nonplussed by Ketia's performances at Liverpool as much as the next fan, but something doesn't sit right about seeing him rubbing shoulders with Torreira and Soucek.

Similarly, I think Maddison can consider himself hard done by being ranked below Tielemans and clearly EA weren't watching the back end of last season when they placed Pulisic in 86th.

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80. Jonny (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 81

79. Fred (Manchester United) - 81

78. Luke Shaw (Manchester United) - 81

77. Sebastien Haller (West Ham United) - 81

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76. Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea) - 81

75. Jordan Pickford (Everton) - 81

74. Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City) - 81

73. Felipe Anderson (West Ham United) - 81

72. Matt Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur) - 81

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71. Xherdan Shaqiri (Liverpool) - 81

80-71 summary

Hmmm. On pure quality alone, Anderson and Haller ranking this highly isn't too outrageous, but it's hard to justify them placing above Pulisic, Richarlison and Ings based on their current form.

Aside from that, I'm inclined to think that Mendy, for all his injury problems, has been underrated here, while Shaqiri placing above the United duo of Shaw and Fred is wide of the mark for me.

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70. Marcos Alonso (Chelsea) - 81

69. Lukasz Fabianski (West Ham United) - 81

68. Giovani Lo Celso (Tottenham Hotspur) - 82

67. Nicolas Pepe (Arsenal) - 82

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66. Ruben Neves (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 82

65. Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea) - 82

64. Nick Pope (Burnley) - 82

63. Harry Maguire (Manchester United) - 82

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62. Willian (Arsenal) - 82

61. Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) - 82

70-61 summary

Of all the 10-player cross-sections in the top 100, this has to be one of the most agreeable and credit to EA for not being afraid to give Ozil and Maguire pretty low ratings all things considered.

I'm not even that perturbed by Kepa finding himself in the top 60 because, as much as he's been woeful over the last 18 months, there's undoubtedly a top goalkeeper deep within him. Honestly.

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60. Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) - 83

59. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Manchester United) - 83

58. Steven Bergwijn (Tottenham Hotspur) - 83

57. Joe Gomez (Liverpool) - 83

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56. Martin Dubravka (Newcastle United) - 83

55. Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur) - 83

54. Joao Cancelo (Manchester City) - 83

53. Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea) - 83

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52. Jorginho (Chelsea) - 83

51. Lucas Moura (Tottenham Hotspur) - 83

60-51 summary

Jesus has been done dirty here. Lest we forget that the City striker has surpassed 20 goals over the last two seasons, but has somehow been ranked lower than Bergwijn, Moura and Alli?

And as much as I rate Dubravka as one of the Premier League's most underrated goalkeepers, placing him above the likes of Pope and Fabianski and on the heels of Patricio is too far for me.

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50. Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) - 83

49. Joel Matip (Liverpool) - 83

48. Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) - 83

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47. Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City) - 83

46. Joao Moutinho (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 83

45. Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City) - 84

44. Anthony Martial (Manchester United) - 84

43. Raul Jimenez (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 84

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42. Lucas Digne (Everton) - 84

41. Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea) - 84

50-41 summary

Again, look, Ndidi is a quality player for Leicester that deserves far more credit than he receives, but EA have taken things a rating too far by elevating him above Gundogan and Moutinho.

And although Martial being rated 84 seems about right for me, I can't get on board with him being placed 10 places below Rashford on the back of a season of outscoring him with far less penalties.

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40. Rui Patricio (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - 84

39. Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City) - 84

38. Kyle Walker (Manchester City) - 85

37. Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur) - 85

36. Rodri (Manchester City) - 85

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35. Bernd Leno (Arsenal) - 85

34. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) - 85

33. Ricardo Pereira (Leicester City) - 85

32. Thiago Silva (Chelsea) - 85

31. Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool) - 85

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40-31 summary

It's great to see Pereira getting the respect he deserves as arguably Leicester's star man and 85 seems spot on considering he was statistically the Premier League's second best performer in 2019/20.

The likes of Silva and Walker can consider themselves lucky to finish quite this high, though it's good to see the goalkeeping trio of Leno, Patricio and Schmeichel getting some well-earned props.

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30. Timo Werner (Chelsea) - 85

29. Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea) - 85

28. Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City) - 85

27. Kai Havertz (Chelsea) - 85

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26. Thiago Alcantara (Liverpool) - 85

25. David de Gea (Manchester United) - 86

24. Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) - 86

23. Paul Pogba (Manchester United) - 86

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22. Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) - 86

21. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur) - 87

30-21 summary

It's scandalous enough that Werner was slapped with a downgrade for FIFA 21, but it's even worse still that EA have ranked him below his fellow Chelsea arrivals Havertz and Ziyech.

And as much as I'm relieved that Pogba has sneaked his way in front of Henderson, there's not a chance in hell that either player should be ranked an entire rating above Alcantara. 

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20. Fabinho (Liverpool) - 87

19. Andrew Robertson (Liverpool) - 87 

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18. Bernardo Silva (Manchester City) - 87

17. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) - 87

15. Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City) - 87

14. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) - 87

13. Heung-min Son (Tottenham Hotspur) - 87

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12. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) - 87

11. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) - 87

20-11 summary

Eleventh place actually seems about fair for Aubameyang, it's just the fact he was downgraded that gets on my nerves, because there's no way that Firmino should have the same rating.

I'm acutely aware that he's a world-class player who is much more than an out-and-out goalscorer - deserving of the top 20, I hastened to add - but only nine league goals last season is undoubtedly subpar.

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10. N'Golo Kante (Chelsea) - 88

9. Ederson (Manchester City) - 88

8. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) - 88

7. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) - 88

6. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) - 89

5. Alisson Becker (Liverpool) - 90 

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4. Sadio Mane (Liverpool) - 90

3. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - 90

2. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) - 90

1. Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) - 91

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Top ten summary

I think it's pretty hard to disagree with the top five, isn't it? Liverpool and City have been streets above the rest over the last two seasons, so it only makes sense that they dominate the top 10.

And to be honest, my only real qualm is that Kane should be rated the same as Aguero. Controversial, I know, but lest we forget that the Spurs man has outscored him over the last four seasons.

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Controversial rankings

News flash: Ranking the top 100 players in the Premier League completely objectively with a specific ranking compiled of 29 in-game attributes has proven controversial. Who'd have thought?

I think we can all agree that the FIFA 21 ratings will go down as one of the most divisive in the history of this long-respected gaming series - and it's easy to see why all throughout the list.

But if we can credit EA for nothing else, it's making the correct decision to name De Bruyne the best player in the league and Pogba better than Henderson, even if it's by a single place.

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