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And then there was one. It seems now that the Premier league title is now Manchester United‘s to lose. Consecutive draws by Manchester City means the gap at the top has increased to 9 points with only 13 games left to play. While the Red Devils squeezed out a 0-1 draw away at Craven Cottage, City and Chelsea faltered against Liverpool and Newcastle respectively.
Taking stock of the games at the weekend, here is this week’s team of the week:
QPR may have spent a whole lot of money on rubbish players in the summer, but they also made an astute signing in the form of Julio Cesar. The Brazilian may eventually become the difference between QPR staying up or going down this season. Two clean sheets in two games while the Londoners’ goal getting abilities have seemingly stalled, Cesar’s outstanding performances in goal meant that QPR came out with two points in games against Manchester City and Norwich. A recall to the international scene for the Brazilian is just reward for his performances this season.
Newcastle’s Davide Santon and Southampton’s Luke Shaw take up the full back spots for this week’s team. Two assists from Italian Davide Santon for the first and second goal played a vital role in Newcastle’s come-from-behind victory against Chelsea. On the defensive end Santon snuffed out any threat that Oscar or Mata seemed to possess. His reward was a call up to the Italian squad for the midweek friendlies. On the other hand, young Luke Shaw keeps on improving with every game, showing maturity beyond his years. Keeps making us scratch our heads when we remember that he is only just 17.
James Tomkins makes his first appearance in our team of the week this season. He was highly touted coming into the season, but it seems like Reid acclimatised to the Premier League much better. But at the weekend he played one of his best games at the heart of the defence to keep the ever-dangerous Michu quiet for a majority of the game.
Christopher Samba‘s performance at the weekend earns him a place, as his presence at the heart of the QPR defence helped them keep a clean sheet as the Londoners played out their second consecutive goal-less draw.
A brace and a dominating show of pace, power and confidence in the midfield against Chelsea capped off a dream debut from Newcastle’s Moussa Sissoko. The French matador influenced the game in every way possible, and Newcastle seem to have found a new hero in the black and white.
Jimy Kebe made headlines for footballing reasons this week instead of his exploits on Twitter, as the crafty winger scored a brace to clinch a vital point against Sunderland.
Another brace was scored by Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini. The Everton midfielder seems to have redefined his footballing pedigree this season after being pushed into a more advanced role by David Moyes, and scored his 10th of the season.
Steven Gerrard seems to have found his old self in recent times, as he kept the Liverpool team ticking, and it was vintage SG8 when he unleashed a pile driver of a shot that gave Liverpool the lead in the second half, with Joe Hart only able to pick up the ball from the back of the net.
Gareth Bale was at it again. A solitary goal to win the match for Tottenham, and what a goal it was. The Welshman’s strike left Foster with no chance of stopping the snorter of a shot. His pace caused havoc time and again, as ten man West Brom found it difficult to cope with him.
Only one spot remained, at it goes to Belgian hitman Christian Benteke, which make it three Belgians in this week’s team. Aston Villa required a result desperately, and they turned to their main man upfront to deliver one. Benteke didn’t disappoint as he scored twice to give Villa a two goal cushion in the second half, but their defence couldn’t hold on for a much-needed victory.
So here is how this week’s team looks like:
