Wyscout Premiership XI of the season - 4 Celtic, 3 Rangers, 1 Hearts, Hibs, Kilmarnock and Livingston stars

The Premiership has taken a break for a weekend after 25 rounds – four clubs have played 24 matches – for the fifth round of the Scottish Cup, starting with Hamilton hosting Hearts on Friday night. It is, therefore, a good time to assess the state of play in the top tier and to look at the top performing players.

Throughout the campaign there have been a number of excellent individual displays, Celtic midfielder Aaron Mooy with perhaps the best from the past weekend of top-flight action. In some cases it is not difficult to discover who the key figures are at each of the 12 sides, the players who have been so vital to the team’s success or the players who will be relied upon come the business end of the season, whether it is fighting for the title or Europe, top six or relegation.

The Scotsman has looked at Wyscout, the platform for football analysis used by clubs across the world, and its rankings of the best XI from the Premiership. There's a set of parameters that are taken in consideration for every position to determine the final ranking with an XI selected in a 4-4-2.

The best performing goalkeeper has been Livingston’s Shamal George. Only goalkeepers from the top three have conceded fewer goals per 90 minutes and no goalkeeper has prevented more goals than the Livi star. In front of him are Celtic duo Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt, no surprise considering it has been the league's best partnership across the past two seasons. On the flanks are Rangers duo Borna Barisic and James Tavernier which is more of a surprise. Neither have been at their very best but both have had valuable contributions in attack which the rankings appear to be weighted favourably towards. No defender has made more assists than Barisic in the Premiership.

There is a real mix of clubs in midfield. Celtic’s Jota, third in the league for combined goals and assists, is an expected inclusion. On the other side is the excellent Kilmarnock Daniel Armstrong, arguably the most important player this campaign for any one team. They flank a midfield partnership of Rangers on loan ace Malik Tillman and Josh Campbell of Hibs. Eyes will be raised at the omission of any of the Celtic midfield, including Reo Hatate, Callum McGregor and the league’s leading assist maker Matt O’Riley. Wyscout has three midfielder sections within their index. O’Riley and Hatate are one and two in the central midfielder index with Tillman and Campbell one and two in the attacking midfielder index, against suggesting attacking stats provide greater weight with both the Rangers and Hibs stars having scored more regularly than their Celtic counterparts.

In attack, there is little controversy. The Premiership’s top scorer Kyogo Furuhashi is partnered by the second top scorer Lawrence Shankland.

Wyscout's Scottish Premiership XI: George (Livingston); Tavernier (Rangers), Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Starfelt (Celtic), Barisic (Rangers); Armstrong (Kilmarnock), Campbell (Hibs), Tillman (Rangers), Jota (Celtic); Furuhashi (Celtic), Shankland (Hearts)

Every stat is assigned a weight, either positive or negative. Based on this, the algorithm calculates the distribution inside a season and assigns values linearly according to minimum and maximum values in the league.