SAINTS midfielder Stuart Armstrong has been named just outside the top 10 for most creative players in each Premier League team by a new study.

The Scottish international, who was on the bench for his country’s 2-0 win over Spain in European Championship qualifying on Tuesday, has played less than half of the league minutes this season.

However, Armstrong, 30, has clocked just under 1000 minutes across Ralph Hasenhuttl, Nathan Jones and Ruben Selles’s tenures and qualifies for a new BetVictor study.

The top chance creators this season have been uncovered with a performance rating algorithm placing Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne (9.9) – unsurprisingly – at number one.

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The performance of every player was analysed using two key performance metrics: chances created per 90 and expected assists (xA) per 90.

Daily Echo:

Chances created per 90 provides insight into the frequency at which players are creating chances, whereas expected assists per 90 (xA) provides insight into the quality of the chances.

These metrics were combined into a unique ‘Creator Rating’, which considers both the frequency and quality of chances being made by every player this season.

Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (8.46) ranked second, followed by Tottenham Hotspur’s Dejan Kulusevski, City’s Jack Grealish, Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard, and Brighton star Kaoru Mitoma. 

Saints midfielder Armstrong ranked 11 in all of the Premier League teams, scoring 7.12 on the combined creator rating, and was the only Saints player to make the top 20 list.

Armstrong started and played 70 minutes of the 3-3 draw with Spurs last time out, which leaves Saints bottom of the Premier League but just two points adrift of safety.