as the premier league season enters its final straight, a few unexpected names have risen to the fore as teams fight to either stave off relegation or strive for a top four finish tim sherwood attacking instincts have managed to get aston villa firing again with three of his players making the top 10 in the player performance index ppi chart created by ea sports meanwhile, marouane fellaini's improving form, which included a fine goal against tottenham, has been silencing his early critics at old trafford 10 charles n'zogbia, aston villa (ppi score: 344) the first of three aston villa stars to have been reinvigorated by the arrival of new manager tim sherwood the former wigan winger has been released from the shackles of paul lambert's previous reign and was back dribbling down the touchline this weekend while providing an assist in villa's 4 0 hammering of sunderland no 10: aston villa winger charles n'zogbia is back doing what he does best under tim sherwood  the ea sports ppi is the official player rating index of the  premier league it measures a player's contribution to the success of his team the intention is to remove any opinion bias and only work with proven statistical measurements which become more accurate as the season progresses so, what are the six indices? 1 winning performance  2 player's performance per match  3 appearances  4 goals scored  5 assists  6 clean sheets  9 joel ward, crystal palace (359) not only did the eagles defender win four tackles and make seven clearances during his side's 3 1 defeat of struggling qpr, but he also managed to score the sight of of a full back celebrating in the style of cristiano ronaldo will still be etched in the minds of worried rangers fans 8 wilfried zaha, crystal palace (388) on his current form, wilfried zaha could earn himself a move to manchester united wait a minute! the speedy winger is one of several players to have risen from the flames of criticism this weekend with 16 passes completed in the opposition half to compliment his brave goal against qpr no 9: crystal palace defender joe ledley (right) celebrates his goal against qpr  a la cristiano ronaldo  no 8: wilfried zaha suffered a nasty collision with the goal post for his troubles of scoring against rangers  7 brown ideye, west brom (395) the baggies' record £10million signing was almost offloaded for a cut price fee in january but has come good with five league goals since the close of the transfer window his latest, which claimed the match winner in saturday's 1 0 victory over stoke, ended a spell of four games without a goal no 7:brown ideye scores the winer against stoke, his fifth league goal since almost being sold in january  6 michael carrick, manchester united (383) louis van gaal's manchester united are simply better when michael carrick is in the side as the cultured midfielder showed in arguably their best performance of the season against his former club tottenham on sunday carrick netted a rare headed goal but making 42 of 50 attempted passes for a completion rate of 84 per cent was equally impressive from the former england international no 6: cheikhou kouyate has been compared with patrick vieira and was impressive this weekend  5 aaron ramsey, arsenal (414) the welsh midfielder prepared for arsenal's do or die champions league showdown with monaco on tuesday with an all action performance in the 3 0 defeat of west ham aaron ramsey scored the gunners second goal, provided an assist for mathieu flamini's third without ignoring his defensive responsibilities with  four wining tackles and three interceptions to leave arsenal fans believing miracles can happen at the stade louis ii no 10: aaron ramsey skids on his knees after scoring in an all action display against west ham  4 marouane fellaini, manchester united (457) at one time, it seemed as if marouane fellaini's only admirer at old trafford was the manager who signed him, david moyes but, despite being largely ignored by van gaal, the belgium international has forced his way back into the side and received no less than a standing ovation after scoring a goal and keeping his passing tidy with a 786 per cent pass completion rate no 4: marouane fellaini slots in a left footed shot during manchester united's best performance of the season  3 romelu lukaku, everton (476) everton's record £28million summer recruit has come under criticism as premier league clubs have come to terms with roberto martinez's tactics this season nonetheless, the former chelsea battering ram has starred in europe and taken his league goal tally into double figures with a strike supplemented by an assist in the toffees' 3 0 defeat of newcastle no 3: romelu lukaku made an assist and scored his 10th league goal of the season against newcastle  2 christian benteke, aston villa (547) aston villa were the biggest winners of the premier league this weekend, which a 4 0 first half scoreline at sunderland leading to gus poyet's eventual departure from the stadium  of light whereas a shortage of goals was their problem under the previous regime, sherwood has them firing on all cylinders with christian benteke once more looking like the striker that terrorised defences in his first season no 2: nacer chadli finally shone for tottenham against qpr on sunday  1gabriel agbonlahor, aston villa (496) the fleet footed forward tops this week's ppi performance index after his electrifying performance against sunderland that gives aston villa breathing space in the congested battle against relegation he scored a goal but completing 25 of 28 passes, including 24 made in the opposition half, for a completion rate of almost 90 per cent is testament to the attacking verve that has returned to villa park no 1: gabriel agbonlahor (right) not only scored but managed a pass completion rate of almost 90 per cent 
aaron ramsey marouane fellaini aston villa's arsenal manchester united michael carrick euro ea sports player performance index christian benteke gabby agbonlahor
aston villa's resurgence has seen gabby agbonlahor and christian benteke top ea sports player performance index (ppi) marouane fellaini and michael carrick starred for manchester united  aaron ramsey put in an all action display ahead of arsenal's euro crunch 