Sports Mole selects its Premier League Team of the Week, including Erling Haaland, Cole Palmer and William Saliba.
With two games gone in the 2024-25 Premier League season, four teams still have their perfect records intact, including last season’s top two Arsenal and Manchester City.
The reigning champions survived a momentary scare against newly-promoted Ipswich Town to thrash the Tractor Boys 4-1, while Arsenal gained revenge over Aston Villa for last season’s losses with a 2-0 triumph in the West Midlands.
Arne Slot is also two for two in the Liverpool chair thanks to a 2-0 victory over Brentford at Anfield, and the same can be said for Fabian Hurzeler, whose Brighton & Hove Albion side left it late to stun Manchester United 2-1.
Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea also made it second time lucky as far as wins were concerned, with the Lilywhites demolishing Everton 4-0 and the Blues running riot against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 6-2 Molineux mauling.
Speaking of successful London sides, West Ham United sunk Crystal Palace 2-0 in an all-capital clash, while Fulham overcame horrible conditions and Leicester City to earn a 2-1 home victory.
Finally, Bournemouth were controversially denied a late winner in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United, and Nottingham Forest left St Mary’s with a 1-0 win to their name against Southampton.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League Team of the Week for the latest round of fixtures.
DEFENCE
© Imago
Even though David Raya made one of the best saves the Premier League has ever seen in Arsenal’s win over Villa, and Brentford’s Mark Flekken earned his keep in the Liverpool loss, the duo are pipped to the goalkeeping post by Southampton’s Alex McCarthy, who made amends for his costly Newcastle error with seven stops versus Forest, even if his efforts were ultimately in vain.
However, one man whose contributions were rewarded with all three points was Arsenal rock William Saliba, who continues to hit new defensive heights and made an outrageous last-man tackle on Villa’s Jacob Ramsey, which was rightly celebrated like a goal. In addition, the Frenchman made four clearances and completed 99% of his passes in another display far beyond his 23 years.
Saliba is one of two North London representatives protecting McCarthy in our Team of the Week, as Tottenham’s Cristian Romero marked his 100th appearance for the Lilywhites with a terrific leap and header for his side’s third versus Everton, while also putting in six tackles and creating one big chance on a stellar afternoon individually and collectively.
Completing a London-based three-man backline, West Ham new boy Max Kilman only just pips Brentford’s Nathan Collins to the final defensive spot, having excelled in an offensive and defensive sense at Selhurst Park. As well as playing a stunning through ball to Jarrod Bowen for the Irons’ second of the game, Kilman won all four of his aerial duels and registered three interceptions to ensure that the derby bragging rights went to the Hammers.
MIDFIELD
© Imago
After becoming public enemy number one in Wolverhampton with a disparaging pre-game social media post, Chelsea winger Noni Madueke may view the city in a more encouraging light now. Given the nod out wide after scoring in the Conference League, the 22-year-old became just the third Englishman to score an away Premier League hat-trick for the Blues after Tammy Abraham and Frank Lampard, sending the biggest selection message possible to Enzo Maresca.
All three of Madueke’s goals at Molineux were set up by the same man, as Cole Palmer complemented his compatriot’s finishing masterclass with a playmaking extravaganza, the fifth time in Premier League history that one player has set up all of his teammate’s hat-trick goals. Before his assisting did the talking, Palmer had restored Chelsea’s lead with a sublime finish into an empty goal from range, with Jose Sa stuck in no man’s land.
From a former Manchester City number 10 to a current Pep Guardiola star, and Kevin De Bruyne orchestrated the Citizens’ fightback against Ipswich after the champions unexpectedly fell behind on Saturday. The Belgian fulcrum firstly capitalised on an Arijanet Muric howler to slot home before a delightful long ball to Erling Haaland, and he could have ended the game with a brace had his crossbar-bound rocket been an inch or two lower.
Fulham’s triumph over Leicester was far less emphatic than Chelsea and City’s successes in gameweek two, but left-back Antonee Robinson still put in an individual display to be incredibly proud of. The American claimed the assist for Iwobi’s winner with an exquisite first-time pass to set the Nigerian away, as well as coming up with four tackles and three interceptions to leave his mark defensively too.
ATTACK
© Imago
Tottenham skipper Son Heung-min probably could not believe his luck when Jordan Pickford took a heavy touch and presented him with a gilt-edged chance to score on Saturday, one that the South Korean gratefully accepted. After being rewarded for his relentless pressing, Son completed his brace with a crisp finish from a tight angle to move onto a remarkable 164 goals in a Spurs shirt.
Liverpool’s Luis Diaz still has some way to go to bring up his century of goals for the Reds, but the Colombia international hogged the spotlight in the Reds’ beating of Brentford. Following a summer of intense transfer speculation, Diaz finished off a Usain Bolt-esque counter-attack with a clinical finish before teeing up Mohamed Salah for the insurance goal in the second period at Anfield.
Ipswich fans may have been fearing a merciless Man City response after Sammie Szmodics‘s opener, and the Tractor Boys had indeed poked the Erling Haaland bear. By the time the final whistle blew at the Etihad, the Scandinavian sensation had registered his seventh hat-trick in Premier League football, including a sublime 20-yard finish to complete his latest top-flight treble.
Sports Mole’s Premier League Team of the Week (3-4-3): McCarthy; Saliba, Romero, Kilman; Madueke, Palmer, De Bruyne, Robinson; Son, Haaland, Diaz
