In a year when Chelsea won the FA Cup and Carling Cup, broke the bank on international stars, and saw Didier Drogba excel all season long to win the Golden Boot, there was one member of the XI that was measurably better than the rest. At least, that’s what a recent study using a multi-variate Poisson log normal model found.

The London Times ran an article that detailed the findings in that study. The study involved rating every player in the Premiership, from 1 to 403. To borrow the explanation from the Times:

Dr Ian Graham and Dr Henry Stott used the model to allow us to identify the relationship between goals scored and every kick of the ball made by every player for every club. Once this was done, they simulated the league season over and over again, removing players one by one and replacing them with an average player in his position. This allowed them to see whether a player added or subtracted points from his team compared to an average replacement. The best player this season would be the one who added the most points.

Predictably, the best player in the EPL was found to be Cristiano Ronaldo (apparently flopping was factored). It was the man who stood behind him at second that was something of a surprise to some of the pundits who had mercilessly ridden him this season. Frank Lampard, the gunning midfielder of Chelsea Football Club, was found to add 16.24 points to the value of his team. This ranking put Lamps 2 points ahead of Petr Cech (#2 CFC, #4 overall) and makes him nearly twice the value of Ricard Carvalho (#3 CFC, #15 overall).

What is of note is that this study does not, and surely cannot, purport to analyze skill or talent. What the study does do flawlessly is analyze the contribution a player made to his club this year. Goals, assists, indeed, every touch of the ball are analyzed by computer before being tallied to determine how much the player would help, or hinder, the average squad.

This lends itself to a great deal of argument. Think Steven Gerrard is a better player than Frank Lampard? (Gerrard #80, 3.12, Lampard #2, 16.24). You can make the argument that Gerrard is possessed of the greater skill and ability but you cannot make the argument that did more for his team this year. This system will help analyze the manner in which players are used as well. Perhaps the mismanagement of the talent of Gerrard by Rafa Benitez is what so crippled the Scousers in the Premiership this year. With numbers it can certainly be argued that Gerrard prowling the right wing is not an idea worth indulging.

Beyond the 16.24 point boost in the standings he would contribute to the average team, the most notable number next to Lampard’s name is the one denoting the fact that he spent 97.31% of Chelsea’s match-minutes on the pitch, nearly 15% again as much as were contributed by the only man who beat him out in the rankings. In fact, discounting keepers, none of the 25 most valuable players in the EPL played as many minutes as did Lampard. One must travel all the way to 34th on the list to find an outfield player who logged more pitch time, and only seven players in the entire Premeirship can make such a claim.

None of these seven players, however, logged those minutes with the same effectiveness as Lamps did. Taken as an aggregrate, those players would contribute a mere four-tenths of a point to the cause of an average squad. Even with the three negative tallies removed (thanks for your time, Olof Mellberg, Lee Carsley, and Liam Rosenior), the four positive numbers sum up to 13.21 points, still more than three points behind Lampard’s solo contribution.

More than just the greatness of Lampard, the study spoke to the ability of Jose Mourinho to craft a team from a variety of disparate pieces. Only Wayne Bridge (188, -0.27), Lassana Diarra (195, -0.45), Paulo Ferreira (205, -0.62), Hilario (276, -2.06), and Geremi (290, -2.47) failed to make a positive impact on the Premiership this year. Only one other team, the eventual champions, could boast fewer players who made a negative contribution.

And so, as the transfer window approaches, remember that the one player that can most help Chelsea already wears the Blue.

This post was contributed by Blue Winner