Despite scoring just 1 goal as Valencia were held to a draw at home by No 6 Mallorca (1:1), Spain international and prolific striker David Villa still captured the lead in the FTBL Top 23, our list of the world’s top 23 players, with an overall score of 215.96 points, just as we predicted.

Villa could have risen even higher had Valencia not let victory slip away! He picked up a yellow card in addition but still managed to push his tally higher than any other player in the world at the moment.

Chelsea’s Frank Lampard was the player with the highest score until yesterday, at 209.35 points. He will have to try hard this afternoon when the Blues take on No 4 Arsenal in the Premier League if he wants to avoid further dropping in the ranking: his plank to beat will amount to 25 rating points.