EPL: Predicting the top 15 Prem players in FIFA 17

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 20: David De Gea of Manchester United and Sergio Aguero of Manchester City in discussion during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Etihad Stadium on March 20, 2016 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 20: David De Gea of Manchester United and Sergio Aguero of Manchester City in discussion during the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Etihad Stadium on March 20, 2016 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
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With a new Premier League season comes a new edition of FIFA. Predicting the top 15 players in FIFA 17.

FIFA 17 will lead to countless moments of joy and an even more innumerable amount of frustration, while it’ll spark debates about why one player should be juuuuuuust a little bit better or worse than they’re rated in the game.

All in good fun. That what it’s meant to be, escapism from real world when life hands you some down time. It’s fun for fans of Liverpool like myself to virtually watch the club lift a Premier League trophy because I haven’t been afforded that luxury in real life throughout my real life, but it’s happened many-a-time throughout the FIFA series in my control.

It’s fun to project to the future for young players. It’s fun to argue why this player would be fantastic with this team, or why this team should play this tactic with the players they have.

Plus it’s fun to sit on the couch and virtually enjoy the skills that Eden Hazard and Philippe Coutinho roll out of bed with. Furthermore, its brilliant banter to subjugate your friends and strangers online to your FIFA dominance.

Competition is all in good fun until someone throws a controller through the television. That’s not a virtual $300 bill that can be reset and erased.

Predicting what ratings EA Sports will dole out is specious, frivolous but nonetheless makes for good conversation. There’s a hierarchy in the Premier League and FIFA gives a medium for that to be carried out, attribute by attribute.

As for the bottom of the rankings, they’re occupied by players who will likely be given 85’s. There will be some 85’s who don’t make the cut. Some of them not highlighted in this ranking are the usual suspects, Yaya Toure, Thibault Courtois, Wayne Rooney and others. Been there, done that.

There were 15 chosen, then the tiebreakers to whoever made the top 15 will go to whoever had the higher rating in last year’s edition, as there will be many. There’s always a decider, it’s like goal difference.

Next: 15. Riyad Mahrez