Everton’s 2:0 defeat of Sunderland yesterday in the English Premier League helped propel South African international Steven Pienaar to the top of the FTBL ranking of African midfielders.

Pienaar, who added some 9 points in the FTBL system in the game, now has an overall score of 115.56 points and has elbowed aside Barcelona’s Malian star Seydou Keita (108.30), of all people. Pienaar’s dramatic rise up the ranking began with Everton’s 2:0 win over Manchester City, in which he scored one of the goals. He picked up 21.30 points in the FTBL system in that game.

Pienaar is now 8th in our ranking of midfielders in the EPL.