William Wigg
GK: Matz Sels ( vs Chelsea A)
Yet another resolute defensive display from Nottingham Forest, that has become typical of them under Nuno Espirito Santo, aided further by a top performance by the Belgian international. Sels made 7 saves with the pick of the bunch being a spectacular double save to ensure Forest left with a hard fought point.
LB: Emerson Palmieri ( vs Ipswich H )
In the absence of an obvious standout left back this week I think it’s fair to give credit to a super defensive display by Emerson, winning 7 ground duels and completing 7 tackles whilst also looking comfortable in possession. Emerson played his part in a West Ham defensive setup that limited ipswich to just 0.65 xG.
CB : Virgil Van Dijk ( vs Crystal Palace A )
The imposing Dutch centre back looks back to his mercurial best this season displaying the form that led to him finishing 2nd in the 2019 Ballon d’Or. Van Dijk won 8 out of 9 aerial duels, completed over 100 passes, including 9 long balls, and left Selhurst Park with his 5th clean sheet of the season.
CB : Jonny Evans ( vs Aston Villa A)
Jonny Evans came in this week rather surprisingly but his performance justifies the decision ten times over. Using his experience and positional awareness he ensured both Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran left empty handed this weekend, something only the imperious Arsenal duo Gabriel and William Saliba have managed this season.
RB : Trent Alexander-Arnold ( vs Crystal Palace A )
The Liverpool right back’s future might be up in the air right now but his present form is easy to nail down: sensational. Question marks around his defending seem well reserved for the past as he looked solid once more against Eze and co, and despite being a little more wayward with his long range passing than usual, to judge him on this would simply make him a victim of his own standards.
LM : Cody Gakpo ( vs Crystal Palace A)
A third Liverpool player indicates exactly the type of form they’re in, and again without an obvious left sided player starring this week, Gakpo has done enough to make my team of the week. Usually deputising for Luis Diaz, Gakpo shone in a rare but deserved start creating the game’s only goal with a well-weighted cross for Diogo Jota as well as performing very well in his duel’s to cap a industrious left wing performance.
CM: Cole Palmer ( vs Nottingham Forest H )
Another very strong creative performance by Palmer was almost perfected with a goal when in the 87th minute Palmer performed a Bergkampesque touch round a flailing defender only to be denied twice by Forest’s Matz Sels. Regardless, to make 6 key passes and keep a very respectable pass accuracy of 85% places Cole Palmer firmly in my team of the week.
CM: Mateo Kovacic ( vs Fulham H )
In the absence of Rodri, Manchester City needed another midfielder to step up in an uncharacteristically shaky performance against the Cottagers. Mateo Kovacic seemingly inherited Rodri’s “clutch” gene scoring two goals, one of which was a fortuitous shot which deflected twice before landing in the back of the net, and the other was a superbly struck strike using the inside of his foot into the far corner past a scrambling Bernd Leno.
CM: Mikel Damsgaard ( vs Wolves H )
Mikel Damsgaard was given the responsibility to take a more free role in an often very structured Brentford set up, overlapping and underlapping in wide areas to create an overload and get crosses into the box which is where the first of his two assists came from this weekend. Damsgaard will be hoping to build on his performance this weekend and avoid the injuries that plagued his 23/24 season to become a mainstay in a combative Brentford side.
RM: Bukayo Saka ( vs Southampton H )
The return of Ramsdale to the Emirates might have been the headline pre-game however Saka made sure his own story was written setting up two goals and scoring one himself as well. He continued his electric start to the season adding a 6th and 7th assist to his tally needing now only 14 assists in the remaining 31 Premier League games to break the season-long record, certainly one to keep an eye on.
ST: Raul Jimenez ( vs Manchester City A )
Raul Jimenez’ performance at the weekend felt like the clocks had gone back to 2019, he was back to his best leading the line for Fulham providing a very good outlet as the 9 as well as offering intricate link up play which can be seen best in the 26th minute when Jimenez pulled off an assist likely to go down in premier league history, he received the ball inside the box and executed a sumptuous back heel half volley to give the also impressive Andreas Pereira an open net.
Manager Of The Week : Julen Lopetegui
Lopetegui will be relieved to get 3 points this week as the pressure cooker that is Premier League management starts to creep up in temperature for him. Lopetegui’s nerves were eased almost instantaneously when his West Ham side took the lead after one minute and what followed can be characterised as by far the best performance in a West Ham season that has started pretty underwhelmingly.
William Wigg
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In article image 1 courtesy of [@officialnffc] via [Instagram]. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of [@liverpoolfc] via [Instagram]. No changes were made to this image.
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