SM
Southampton vs. Liverpool: 3 hrs 47 mins
Upcoming predictions and previews
Collect News Data

Premier League Team of the Week - Martin Odegaard, Virgil van Dijk, Ollie Watkins

:Headline: Premier League Team of the Week - Martin Odegaard, Virgil van Dijk, Ollie Watkins:
Sports Mole selects its Premier League Team of the Week for gameweek seven, including Martin Odegaard, Virgil van Dijk and Ollie Watkins.
Sports Mole

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

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

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

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

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 body check tags ::

amp_article__525545 : Collect and Make Data not in DataBase  : 
last updated article - 2023-10-03 16:31:37:
html db last update - 2023-10-03 16:31:37 :

ex - 7200 : read : write cache and make html
Share this article now:
MC
Read Next:
Premier League: Transfer ins and outs - Summer 2023
>


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!
Read more about Alisson Becker Jose Sa Cody Gakpo Virgil van Dijk Ben White Eberechi Eze Joachim Andersen Matty Cash Joel Matip Pedro Porro Nicolas Dominguez Mark Flekken Vladimir Coufal Bruno Guimaraes Alfie Doughty Carlton Morris Martin Odegaard Kai Havertz Jarrod Bowen Ollie Watkins Jacob Ramsey Andy Gray Gareth Southgate Football
Follow @SportsMole for the latest breaking news stories, and follow @sm_headlines to get every headline from Sports Mole
Recommended Next on SM
Premier League: Transfer ins and outs - Summer 2023
Man United 'strongly interested' in reuniting Ruben Amorim with PSG star
Diallo, Isak and who else? Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week
Manchester City planning Josko Gvardiol move?

Page options

Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool15113131131836
2Chelsea16104237191834
3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City168352823527
6Bournemouth167452421325
7Aston Villa167452425-125
8Fulham166642422224
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton166642625124
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1672736191723
11Brentford167273230223
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd166462119222
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham165472129-819
15Crystal Palace163761721-416
16Everton153661421-715
17Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1612131136-255
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

history www

"Panic buy": Arteta has 'no trust' in Arsenal's Sterling despite public regret

1

&B

Rodri, Akanji latest: Man City injury, suspension list for Villa contest

2

RA

Man United 'strongly interested' in reuniting Ruben Amorim with PSG star

NEW

3

MU

Yamal blow but duo could return: Barcelona injury, suspension news vs. Atletico

4

YB

January arrival? Man United 'on verge' of securing wonderkid deal

5

JA

Help for Hojlund: Rashford, Zirkzee exits 'could open door' for Man United to land striker

6

HF

Preview: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors - prediction, team news, form guide

7

PM

'Top of the list' - Why Arteta must prioritise ending Arsenal's EFL Cup "curse"

8

'O

How to watch the NBA 2024-25 season in the UK: What channel is it on?

9

HT

Will Diogo Jota make the XI? Arne Slot "surprises" expected against Southampton

10

WD


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .