After a busy start to the festive season there was action at both ends of the table as Manchester United stretched their lead at the top to seven points and Wigan Athletic slipped into the bottom three.

United initially lost ground after being held by Swansea City on Saturday, but their thrilling 4-3 win over Newcastle United on Boxing Day put them seven clear after Manchester City lost at Sunderland.

Chelsea put an eye-watering eight goals past Aston Villa on Saturday, with the Villans then going on to concede another four at home to Tottenham Hotspur.

At the bottom Queens Park Rangers are still with only the one win this season with a loss at home to West Bromwich Albion followed by a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle.

After considering all the action, Sports Mole selects the best 11 players of the week.

Simon Mignolet (Sunderland)
Sunderland notched a couple of much-needed clean sheets and Mignolet was at the heart of both of them, in particular against Manchester City where he produced a string of fine saves.

Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
The Serbian has been in fine form all season and showed his experience twice in the week with two complete shut-outs of his opposing winger and managed to get on the scoresheet against Aston Villa.

Patrice Evra (Manchester United)
The French left-back scored a goal in each of United's two games this week and had a huge say in their four points. His second was a fine strike low from distance.

Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City)
Although he gave away the penalty for Liverpool's goal in Stoke's 3-1 win he captained his side to four huge points against Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.

David Luiz (Chelsea)
Luiz did his best Franz Beckenbauer impression against Villa, bossing the game from deep and scored a superb free kick at the other end.

Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
The Belgian winger was a constant threat during his side's 8-0 win and finished with a goal and two assists.

Gareth Bale (Tottenham)
The Welshman did not get a lot of joy against Stoke, but at times he was the only player on the pitch against Aston Villa as he stormed his way to a hat-trick.

Chris Brunt (West Brom)
He notched a fine goal against Queens Park Rangers and his deliveries in the previous fixture against Norwich caused no end of trouble.

Leon Osman (Everton)
Osman kept the ball superbly in both of Everton's fixtures, with his turn of pace helping them to two 2-1 wins. He also opened the scoring against Wigan on Boxing Day.

Robin van Persie (Manchester United)
Van Persie completely outshone his strike partner Wayne Rooney against Swansea and set up Evra's header with a fine cross. He was also unlucky to hit the bar with a superb flicked volley. His deliveries again caused chaos against Newcastle and scored a vital equaliser to help United to the 4-3 win.

Jonathan Walters (Stoke City)
Walters was a constant thorn to the Liverpool defence and notched two goals on Boxing Day, the second an absolutely sublime chest and volley.