Liverpool's 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England for a 19th time finally came to an end this week as the Reds wrapped up their first title of the Premier League era in record time.

A 4-0 hammering of Crystal Palace behind closed doors at Anfield left Manchester City with no margin for error, and their defeat at Chelsea 24 hours later confirmed what we had known for some time - the 2019-20 title is heading to Merseyside.

Amid the celebrations and significance of that result at Stamford Bridge, the importance of the three points for Chelsea almost went under the radar as they underlined their top-four credentials to remain five points clear of the chasing pack, and just one point behind third-placed Leicester City.

Leicester's draw with Brighton & Hove Albion extended their wait for a win and they may just be glancing over their shoulders now with Manchester United easing past fellow European hopefuls Sheffield United and Wolverhampton Wanderers beating Bournemouth.

Tottenham Hotspur's 2-0 win over London rivals West Ham United kept them in the hunt, while there was also an important win for Arsenal as they bounced back from successive defeats.

Aston Villa were the only one of the bottom five to pick up a point, doing so against Newcastle United courtesy of a late equaliser.

Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 31.

Leicester's stalemate with Brighton was a largely forgettable affair, but it would have been much more memorable for the relegation-threatened Seagulls had Kasper Schmeichel not saved a penalty en route to his clean sheet - a performance which led Brendan Rodgers to describe him as "world-class".

Praise for Arsenal defenders this season has been few and far between, but Rob Holding's display against Southampton was assured as Mikel Arteta's side kept a rare clean sheet in a much-needed win.

Holding is the only outfield player not from a North-West club in this week's XI, with the rest of the team made up of players from Liverpool, Manchester United and Everton.

Both Toffee representatives come in defence, and as much for their impact in the opposition half as their own. Michael Keane scored the only goal of the game from Lucas Digne's cross, while both players contributed to the clean sheet too.

Craig Dawson deserves a mention at centre-back, while Luke Shaw and Andrew Robertson were in contention at left-back, but it is the latter's partner in crime Trent Alexander-Arnold who is the first of four Liverpool representatives this week.

The full-back kicked off the rout of Crystal Palace with a pinpoint, unstoppable free kick which drew comparisons with David Beckham, although he had plenty of competition for Liverpool's best player of that game.

Fabinho arguably stood out more than anyone else - not only for his sublime lofted through-ball for the second goal, nor just for his net-busting 30-yard screamer to make it 3-0, but also for the job he is most associated with, breaking up play in the middle of the park.

Fabinho's return of a goal and an assist was matched by Mohamed Salah, who finished off the Brazilian's pass before providing a defence-splitting one of his own to release Sadio Mane, who capped off the scoring.

The Liverpool trio in that front six are joined by three from bitter rivals Manchester United too, who inflicted a second successive 3-0 defeat on the previously-hard-to-beat Sheffield United.

Paul Pogba started a Premier League game for the first time since September and offered glimpses of the talent United have been missing for the vast majority of the campaign, linking up well with those around him including Bruno Fernandes.

Pogba and Marcus Rashford both returned to fitness in lockdown and United could well reap the rewards of that, with the latter supplying two assists to earn his place in this team - albeit as a number 10 due to Mane's inclusion.

The standout individual performance of the gameweek came from Anthony Martial, though, as the Frenchman became the first Manchester United player to score a Premier League hat-trick since Robin van Persie in 2013.

Other players deserve honourable mentions for the front three - most notably Christian Pulisic, Alex Iwobi, Adama Traore, Allan Saint-Maximin and Jay Rodriguez - but it was the Liverpool and United stars who shone brightest this week.