Sports Mole selects its Premier League Team of the Week for gameweek seven, including Martin Odegaard, Virgil van Dijk and Ollie Watkins.
There were stunners, surprises and VAR controversies aplenty in the most recent round of Premier League fixtures, as champions Manchester City saw their perfect record come to an end in a 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Tottenham Hotspur were among the teams to capitalise, besting Liverpool by the same scoreline thanks in no small part to an incorrect offside decision against the Reds, while North London rivals Arsenal also sit on the podium owing to a 4-0 thrashing of Bournemouth.
Chelsea also made a welcome return to winning ways in the top flight by defeating West London rivals Fulham 2-0, but Manchester United suffered their worst start to a Premier League season with a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace at home.
Brighton & Hove Albion were also subjected to an Aston Villa humiliation, as the Lions won 6-1 on home soil, while Newcastle United eased past newly-promoted Burnley 2-0.
Elsewhere, Luton Town overcame Everton 2-1 for their first-ever Premier League victory, West Ham United strolled past Sheffield United 2-0, while Nottingham Forest and Brentford shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League Team of the Week for the latest round of fixtures.
DEFENCE
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Liverpool’s beleaguered number one Alisson Becker deserves a particularly special mention, but Wolves shot-stopper Jose Sa more than played his part in his side’s famous beating of Man City, coming up with a total of seven saves and marking his recent contract renewal in style.
While Alisson is just beaten to a spot in our gameweek seven selection, his captain Virgil van Dijk led the Liverpool resistance against a Tottenham side with two extra players on Saturday, beating away a barrage of Lilywhites attacks with eight clearances, six blocks and two tackles, as well as heading the ball down for Cody Gakpo to score his team’s equaliser.
A far less controversial success came the way of Spurs’ North London rivals Arsenal, whose fourth and final strike against Bournemouth came via the head of Ben White into the top corner with his back to goal, and the Englishman also contributed four tackles and two interceptions to help the Gunners keep three clean sheets in three successive Premier League away wins for the first time ever.
White’s goal was eye-catching in its own right, but Joachim Andersen silenced the Old Trafford crowd with a sensational finish that any striker would have been proud of, firing home off the crossbar from Eberechi Eze‘s deflected free kick while also coming up with 10 clearances to condemn the Red Devils to another chastening defeat.
MIDFIELD
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Despite delighting fantasy football managers everywhere and making his case to earn a spot in the XI, Matty Cash is pipped to the right wing-back spot by Pedro Porro, whose last-gasp cross was turned into the Liverpool net by Joel Matip to gift Tottenham all three points, and his six tackles and two blocks were also pivotal in helping his side avoid a shock result versus the nine-man Merseysiders.
In Sunday’s solitary fixture, Nottingham Forest new boy Nicolas Dominguez endeared himself to the City Ground faithful with a first goal for the club on just his second appearance, directing a looping header over the outstretched arm of Mark Flekken while also getting stuck in to the midfield dirty work with six tackles to preserve a share of the spoils.
Two South American lynchpins are linking arms in our double pivot this week, as Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes ran the show against Burnley. Despite not directly contributing to a goal, the Brazilian was here, there and everywhere, creating five chances, making five tackles and completing two successful dribbles from three attempts in an all-action display.
Finally, Luton have the same representative in the XI for the second week running, as Alfie Doughty showcased his prowess on the left flank at Goodison Park, sending in an inch-perfect cross for Carlton Morris to steer home and creating a total of six chances on a famous afternoon for the Hatters.
ATTACK
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Proving consistently reliable in front of goal, West Ham wing king Jarrod Bowen made the net ripple for the fifth time in seven Premier League matches this season during the visit of Sheffield United, meeting Vladimir Coufal‘s cutback to give his side the lead and constantly terrorising the Blades backline with a total of six shots on the day.
The only side with more than one representative in this week’s selection, Arsenal were treated to a true captain’s performance from Martin Odegaard in the crushing of Bournemouth, as before sending in a sumptuous free kick for White to head home, the Norwegian calmly converted a first-half penalty before winning his side’s second spot kick, allowing Kai Havertz to belatedly open his Gunners account.
Last but certainly not least, Villa talisman Ollie Watkins will continue to live in the nightmares of Brighton fans for weeks to come, as he prolonged his fabulous scoring streak against the Seagulls in wonderful style. Having already scored in three successive games versus the South Coast outfit, Watkins netted a scintillating hat-trick at Villa Park – becoming the first Lions player since Andy Gray in 1976-77 to score multiple trebles in one season – as well as setting up Jacob Ramsey under the watchful eye of England head coach Gareth Southgate.
Sports Mole’s Premier League Team of the Week (3-4-2-1): Sa; White, Van Dijk, Andersen; Porro, Dominguez, Guimaraes, Doughty; Bowen, Odegaard; Watkins
