Premier League Team of the Week: Matchweek 7

Another entertaining weekend of Premier League football draws to a close. Saturday saw a season high 35 goals scored across 8 games, the 9th highest in Premier League history on any single day. One of those 8 games saw Tottenham hand out a 4-1 thrashing to Manchester City against all the odds, with Harry Kane netting for the first time in a Spurs kit this season.Manchester United went to the top of the table for the first time since the opening weekend of the 2013/14 season with a routine 3-0 victory over relegation-threatened Sunderland as Wayne Rooney and Memphis Depay scored their first Premier League goals of the season. Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez also found the back of the net for the first time this season, scoring a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Leicester, who were condemned to their first defeat of this Premier League campaign.Chelsea once again faltered in their quest to defend their Premier League crown when they needed late goals from substitutes Willian and Ramires to come from 2 goals down to salvage a point at Newcastle. Stoke picked up their first win of the season with a 2-1 victory over injury-hit Bournemouth, who lost star striker Callum Wilson to a potentially long-term knee injury in the first half. Despite a perfect away record, West Ham’s woes at Upton Park continued when they had to thank Diafra Sakho for rescuing a draw for the Hammers deep into injury-time against Norwich City.So who makes it to the team of the week this time around? We’ve used a 3-4-1-2 formation this week.

#1 Goalkeeper

Hugo Lloris – Tottenham Hotspur

One may argue that Spurs’ emphatic victory against City was all down to the attacking quartet of Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane linking up brilliantly to open up the City defence. But credit must go to French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

His 7 saves, especially a brilliant one-handed diving block to deny Raheem Sterling kept Spurs in the game and provided them with the belief that they could win the game and claim all three points against the then-league leaders.

It was widely predicted that Lloris’ concentration against a menacing Manchester City attack consisting of Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero would be the difference between winning and losing the game, and Lloris came up trumps, helping Spurs register a convincing victory over a team which had registered 5-1 victories at White Hart Lane in two out of their previous four attempts.

#2 Defence

Brede Hangeland – Crystal Palace

The veteran centre-back displayed a highly disciplined performance at Vicarage Road, keeping Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo at bay to help Palace keep a clean sheet in their narrow victory over Watford on Sunday. The 34-year-old contributed with 20 clearances and a 100% successful tackle rate.

He also ensured the ball was safely negotiated out of Palace’s penalty area with a 90% passing success rate.

Toby Alderweireld – Tottenham Hotspur

The Belgian centre-back may have had one of the games of the season so far. He started Spurs’ charge towards a massive 4-1 victory over Manchester City by rising highest from a free-kick to head in Tottenham’s second goal.

Apart from that, he did his duty in defence, keeping out any dangerous looking crosses flying into the Tottenham box and not allowing Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero to wrap their foot around the ball to get a shot on goal on many instances.

Virgil van Dijk – Southampton

Another tall centre-back who did his job against a dangerous looking attack was 24-year-old Virgil van Dijk. Using his strength, he managed to neutralise the threat of Bafetimbi Gomis to such an extent that the French striker was taken off at half-time for his ineffectiveness against the Dutch defender.

With 6 out of 6 aerial duels won by Van Dijk, Swansea found the going tough at St. Mary’s right from the start. More salt was rubbed into their wounds when Van Dijk used his physical attributes to win a header from a James Ward-Prowse corner to score the Saints opener in an eventual 3-1 victory for Ronald Koeman’s side.

#3 Midfield

Ramires – Chelsea

Until the 73rd minute, Chelsea looked next to clueless against a resilient Newcastle side who were 2-0 up, aiming to grab their first three points of the season against the defending champions. Jose Mourinho turned to experience and sent Ramires on the pitch, and what a difference the 28-year-old made in scripting a comeback for Chelsea.

He scored the first goal and almost won the game in the 89th minute, directing a header straight at Tim Krul with the scores level. His and Willian’s introduction changed the entire dynamic of Chelsea’s approach to the game, helping them create more goal-scoring chances in 17 minutes than they did the entire time before the duo were introduced.

His dazzling performance at St. James Park may well have made Jose Mourinho regret not bringing him on a little earlier.

Georginio Wijnaldum – Newcastle

Wijnaldum was by far the most consistent player for relegation candidates Newcastle in their much-improved display against Chelsea. Playing in a left central midfield position, he completed 3 dribbles during the game.

He also showed his alertness inside the box, losing his marker Cesc Fabregas brilliantly to head in an Ayoze Perez corner to give Newcastle a 2-goal cushion, which they eventually fluffed. The Dutch midfielder will have to maintain this level of performance in the coming weeks to guide Newcastle out of relegation fears.

Erik Lamela – Tottenham Hotspur

One of Spurs’ standout performers in their thrashing of Manchester City was undoubtedly their Argentine winger Erik Lamela. He delivered a pin-point free-kick for Toby Alderweireld to nod in to give Spurs the lead and then capped off a perfect afternoon for Mauricio Pochettino’s side with a calm finish past Willy Caballero to score Tottenham’s fourth and seal three points.

His general game was brilliant, winning possession from Alexandr Kolarov on several occasions and making some impressive touches to set up Son Heung-min and Harry Kane in attack. With 14 successful dribbles out of 17, it was easy to see why he proved to be a decisive influence in his team’s pounding of their fellow title-contenders.

Alexis Sanchez – Arsenal

The Chilean broke his goal duck in sublime fashion, scoring a hat-trick in a highly satisfactory 5-2 victory over Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City. Ritchie de Laet struggled to deal with his pace and skill (8 successful dribbles) all day and Alexis’s work-rate made sure he was a clear winner in one-on-one duels with him.

The 26-year-old’s return to form could not have been timed better for Arsene Wenger’s side, who now face a tricky Champions League home tie against Greek champions Olympiakos before they host table-toppers Manchester United on Sunday.

#4 Forwards

Juan Mata – Manchester United

The Spanish midfielder continues to star at Old Trafford this season up front on the right. His ability to take the pace off the ball and feed the forwards with accurate through balls proved too big a test for the Sunderland defence, which was already under severe criticism for their woeful display against Bournemouth the previous week.

His presence of mind to cut back a lovely Daley Blind lob for Memphis to score United’s first goal deep into first-half injury time. And his deft first touch to set up his goal late in the game ensured that he stamped his authority over a one-sided contest on Saturday.

Anthony Martial – Manchester United

No goals for United’s rising star Anthony Martial against Sunderland, but his magic with the ball at his feet inside the 18-yard box created havoc amongst the Sunderland defenders. His strength to hold off Fabio Borini and quick feet to skip past Younes Kaboul and lay the ball on a plate for Wayne Rooney to score his first Premier League goal bodes very well for the future of Manchester United.

Daniel Sturridge – Liverpool

Daniel Sturridge’s excellent performance against Aston Villa showed why Liverpool dearly missed him through most of last season and the beginning of this one. His two goals set up a hard fought 3-2 win over Tim Sherwood’s Aston Villa, helping relieve some of the pressure off manager Brendan Rodgers.

His volley after a one-two with James Milner and his finish from a Philippe Coutinho pass proved to be enough to bail out his defence which was struggling to deal with the strength of Rudy Gestede, whose two goals gave Villa brief hopes of snatching a point from Anfield.