We all know Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are on another level when it comes to consistently performing at the very top level, but the third best player in the world is a title which is always up for grabs.

Since 2007 (and not including 2010), the Top 3 has always been taken by Ronaldo and Messi – and usually in first and second, but third place has gone to a range of players such as Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Fernando Torres.

Taking the Ronaldo-Messi-axis out of the equation, there are a lot of players who you could say are worthy of being third best player. You have talents such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Frank Ribery, Arjen Robben, Edinson Cavani, Radamel Falcao, Luis Suarez, Neymar, Angel Di Maria, Gareth Bale – a whole host of quality players who are capable of doing something magical on a football pitch.

But what about now?

If you take that list I’ve just mentioned, who from them are performing at the very highest level?

Falcao and Di Maria are doing okay, but aren’t setting the world alight at Old Trafford. Luis Suarez has struggled since his big money move from Liverpool, and Bale, Robben, Ribery and Ibra are performing well but not on the same level as Ronaldo or Messi.

If you see how these top top players are doing this season, then there’s only one real top class performer at this moment in time.

And that man is Alexis Sanchez.

He has come from a new country, had to get used to a new league and on top of that, he was supposed to be suffering from a World Cup hangover. But yet he is by far the best player in the Premier League this season, and has 12 goals and 7 assists in 20 games. In the Champions League, he’s played 7 games, scored 4 goals and picked up an assist. Overall, he has 18 goals and 9 assists in this campaign, which still has 5 months left to go!

And he’s not an out and out striker.

Seriously, if you look at this objectively, is there anyone else who can compare to Alexis Sanchez? Surely he is currently the 3rd best player in the world right now?

The statistics are impressive and at the moment he is averaging a goal or assist in every game. But even more impressive is his phenomenal performances on the pitch – he runs and runs and runs for the team, tracks back and wins the ball, gives 110% every time and is just a player who makes things happen. The level and consistency of his performances for Arsenal this season lead me to suggest that he might even be better than Lionel Messi in this moment in time.

He might not get the recognition he deserves for his performances, possibly because he plays for Arsenal (we all know Thierry Henry was robbed of the FIFA World Player of the Year award on at least 3 occasions) but you cannot deny that currently Alexis Sanchez is performing at world class levels.

We all know Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are on another level when it comes to consistently performing at the very top level, but the third best player in the world is a title which is always up for grabs.

Since 2007 (and not including 2010), the Top 3 has always been taken by Ronaldo and Messi – and usually in first and second, but third place has gone to a range of players such as Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and…

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Lukas Podolski’s move to Inter Milan poses an interesting conundrum. When asked about the supposed friction between the cheerful German and the Arsenal manager, Arsene admitted that with the amount of attacking options at the club, it was difficult to accommodate them all and keep everyone happy.

So then I thought, what is Arsenal’s strongest eleven if everyone was fit (don’t laugh) and available?

Here’s my strongest Arsenal eleven:

In terms of the best eleven players we have at the club, this is what I think our best line-up would be.

Giroud and Alexis are vital to the team, and in Welbeck you have three attacking players who aren’t afraid to really work for the team and defend from the front. Mesut Ozil automatically commands a first team place and with runners such as Alexis and Welbeck, he should be the assist-master we know he all is.

Aaron Ramsey is far more accomplished than Jack Wilshere, and Santi Cazorla has been one of the best players for us this season.

The back four is self-explanatory, with Kieran Gibbs and Mathieu Debuchy more than reliable fullbacks. Per Mertesacker has been inconsistent this season, and Laurent Koscielny has struggled with injuries but they are still our best two centre-backs. Callum Chambers has shown he is a confident, mature young player but still needs experience at the highest level to really compete with the Per-Kos axis.

The team I’ve picked is unbalanced, and that’s why I’ve posted what I think is in Arsene’s eyes, his strongest Arsenal eleven:

The back four is the same, as is the goalkeeper. But to add more balance we need to have a defensive midfielder alongside Ramsey and when there’s a choice between Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini, you have to say Flamini is the better option. Arteta is better positionally but has lost any real pace he had and struggles to cope with the quick counter-attacks we are usually subjected to when playing teams at The Emirates.

I’ve also dropped Danny Welbeck and changed him for Santi Cazorla, simply because Santi can’t be dropped and from the attacking players Wenger always prefers Giroud and Sanchez.

But what do you think is Arsenal’s strongest eleven? Leave your preferred line-up (and reasons) in the comments section below!

3 months ago when it looked like Ched Evans would be returning to football, I wrote that football had no morals and he’d be back playing football in no time. Since then, several teams have looked to sign the convicted rapist, including Sheffield United, Hartlepool United and most recently Oldham Athletic.

The circus surrounding the Oldham Athletic situation was particularly toxic, and the lack of direction from the FA and the Football League is quite telling – without specific guidelines or rules on what to do with convicted sex offenders, the whole Ched Evans saga has descended into chaos and we find ourselves where we are now.

Oldham Athletic were naive at best as they publicly came out and said a deal to sign Ched Evans was 80% complete. What followed was a vicious backlash as the public clearly did not want him to be playing football again. Sponsors for Oldham threatened to pull out, and the final straw was when the club directors daughter was directly threatened with rape if Ched Evans signed for them.

Their statement afterwards was also extremely naive, as they stated that they didn’t anticipate the reaction to their decision could not have been anticipated. Are Oldham Athletic living in a deep hole 500 meters in the ground? Every man and their dog could see that attempting to sign Ched Evans would be met with an unsavoury reception.

The bottom line in all this is the men who are supposed to be governing football have no idea what they are doing. The FA have been deafly silent, the PFA have been misguided in their support and the Football League have essentially said it’s up to the football clubs to decide. And when you consider how mental some of the owners of football teams are, then it’s no surprise several teams are trying to sign Ched Evans.

But in this circus, the fact is Ched Evans almost signed for a professional football club. And what stopped it? Was it the police? No. Was it the FA? No. Was it the Football League? No. Was it a petition or supporters group? No.

What stopped the move was a direct threat made to the directors daughter, and the so called “trial by social media”.

If this was 20 years ago, Ched Evans would already be playing football again. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, but it’s a fact. These days, whenever big happens it’s reported on social media instantaneously, specifically on Twitter. Social media is a gift and a curse, and in a way it’s a liberating way to freely express your opinions and share information. The law in this country struggles to police social media, and if you want to know some information on a public case which the mainstream media cannot report, you simply go to Twitter. The police have clamped down on those who reveal this type of confidential data (such as the teenager who killed the teacher in Leeds, or the victim of the Ched Evans rape) but people still use it to spread information.

Social media is a way of gauging the publics opinion but it also allows those win an extreme opinion to come to the fore – and this snowball effect of outrage for Ched Evans’ return to the game is the main reason Oldham had a massive u-turn. The sponsors of Oldham Athletic aren’t stupid, and they will have checked Twitter to see the general feeling of people in regards to the convicted rapist. After seeing the vast majority of people express disgust at a possible return, it is an easy ploy to threaten to pull out of sponsorship deals. And I’m sure the threats made by people on Oldham staff by those on Twitter also didn’t get unnoticed.

20 years ago, social media didn’t even exist. As I’ve already stated, football lives in a bubble of its own with its own moral compass which based on previous examples, is pretty non-existent. And because of this, without the internet Ched Evans would be (rightly or wrongly) playing football again.

Lukas Podolski was no doubt a popular player at Arsenal, with his social media exploits going some way to helping his cause. However, it seems that the shit has hit the fan, with Podolski “apparently” hitting out at Arsene Wenger, saying the Arsenal manager showed him a “lack of respect”.

According to The Telegraph however (which is in my opinion more reliable than The Sun), Arsene Wenger completely refuted the claims, stating:

“I had many conversations with him, he had my agreement to go on loan. I deny that completely but I knew he did not get enough opportunities.

“We have many players, when a player of his quality doesn’t get enough games you can understand he is frustrated.

“At some stage too many players is detrimental to the confidence. You need the right numbers. It had nothing to do with his quality. It is just a loan without an option to buy – that means he is back at the end of the season.”

And to be honest, when I read the claims from The Sun, I was already pretty dubious about the statements. Surely for a loan move to even happen, Arsene Wenger must sit down and discuss the opportunity with the player himself – and in true Arsene Wenger style he would have given the player his blessing. Also, it’s clear that Podolski will be back at the end of the season so it’s not as if the German would never see Arsene again – so why would there need to be any long, emotional goodbyes?

Hopefully Arsenal fans realise that the media have an agenda when it comes to Arsenal and Arsene Wenger and they just love to stir things and give the fans an excuse to attack Arsene Wenger.

The fact is, Arsene Wenger is one of the best man managers in the game and how many players who have left the club have nothing but praise for the Frenchman? Every player who has departed has sung Arsene’s praises and I can’t see how he would suddenly give Podolski the cold shoulder.

Lukas Podolski will be back at the end of the season and the whole situation will be evaluated then. Whether he moves on is still up in the air – but do you think Lukas Podolski has a future at Arsenal?