Premier League: Best and Worst Teams of the Week

by Fergus Houghton-Connell


Best Team of the Week

After another stormer of a week in the Premier League, which included Chelsea keeping their unbeaten record in the League so far and Liverpool still being unable to win at home, I have here my own top team, which would surely guide any team to Premier League glory:

Goalkeeper – Stoke - Asmir Begovic – He didn’t have to make any outstanding saves, but he was tested quite a few times by the Liverpool attack and to keep yourself concentrated for attack after attack surely deserves a place in any team.

Left Back – Everton - Leighton Baines – The way he stormed past the Wigan defence was, at times, magical. His linking play with Pienaar allowed him to send in cross after cross for the Everton attack. If only they had converted more of their chances.

Leighton Barnes
(source: Daily Telegraph)

Centre Back – Manchester United – Jonny Evans – His goal in the 8^th minute set the tone for his match. Many critics have condemned his performances recently, but he was always there to close off any Newcastle attacks, as well as send the occasional ball up to the strikers.

Centre Back – Arsenal – Per Mertesacker – The score line may have looked comfortable for Arsenal, but West Ham put up a good show against them and, at times, made the game very uncomfortable for them. However, the tall German dealt with them calmly and kept the score line low.

Right Back – Manchester City – Micah Richards – His first match back from injury was impressive, to say the least. Sunderland have a few good attacking players but Richards and the rest of the City defence kept them at bay.

Left Midfield – Everton - Steven Pienaar – I’ve already said that Baines’ linking play was excellent and Pienaar is half of the reason why. His through balls were top class, allowing Baines to pass through the Wigan defence effortlessly.

Centre Midfield – Chelsea - Eden Hazard – He has had a sterling start to Premier League life and his finish against Norwich showed that. Movement, passing, technique --- he has it all.

Centre Midfield – Arsenal – Santi Cazorla – Another super summer signing for Arsenal. He bosses the midfield with ease and has scored a few too. Makes the game look too easy.

Right Midfield – Chelsea – Juan Mata – Since the arrival of Oscar and Hazard, Juan Mata has refused to sit down quietly. Again, he shows his worth, setting up an excellent goal against Norwich and certainly proves that he deserves his place in the team.

Centre Forward – Arsenal – Olivier Giroud – This man has taken so much stick for not scoring, it’s ridiculous. He seemed to ignore it all against West Ham and got the perfect touch to score his first goal of the campaign.

Centre Forward – Wigan – Arouna Kone - The Ivorian striker seemed to appear from nowhere this weekend. He was lucky with his first goal, in that it was offside, but he deserved it and he deserved quite a few more with the way he played.

Worst Team of the Week

Goalkeeper – Norwich – John Ruddy – It doesn’t help to have a more-than-useless defence, but he probably could have done better to keep out the Chelsea attack. He has now let in nine goals in two games. Nine too many, I think.

Left Back – Norwich – Sebastien Bassong – His positioning was very bad, to say the least. The defence tried to play the offside trap, but he kept either playing on the Chelsea strikers or he broke rank, allowing the attack to swoop in behind him.

Centre Back – Everton – John Heitinga – He made a hash of defending against Wigan. Arouna Kone did play very well, but Heitinga made it too easy for him, giving him loads of room and opportunities.

Centre Back – Queens Park Rangers – Anton Ferdinand – He has had many distractions off the pitch this week, with the John Terry fiasco, but, unlike Terry, he showed lack of concentration and dreadful positioning.

Anton Ferdinand
(source: footballfancast.com)

 Right Back – Norwich – Russell Martin – You might as well just read the section for Bassong, because he was similarly rubbish. Not much more to say really.

Defensive Midfield – Everton – Phil Neville – This one is about marking. As a defensive midfield, one of the minimal requirements is to be, well, a bit defensive, which he did get back to do, but his defending was awful, giving Franco di Santo too much room, allowing him to score.

Centre Midfield – Queens Park Rangers – Park Ji-Sung – QPR seemed to have made a few cracking signings this summer, in Julio Cesar and Park Ji-Sung, but neither have really performed at their best. QPR didn’t have a tight grasp of midfield and it cost them again this week.

Centre Midfield – Aston Villa – Fabian Delph – Spurs dominated Aston Villa in a comfortable 2-0 win. Yes, they do have very good midfielders, but Aston Villa hardly put up a good fight. Fabian Delph was one of the midfielders who was pretty useless, in my opinion.

Attacking Midfield – West Ham – Kevin Nolan – The experienced captain doesn’t usually make too many errors in front of goal, but he should’ve scored at least two against Arsenal. If an accomplished striker was in his position, I think West Ham could have nicked some points off Arsenal.

Centre Forward – Norwich – Alexander Tettey – A good striker gets into goal scoring positions and gives the defence a hard time. Tettey did absolutely nothing in the whole game. Norwich probably would have got the same score line if he had laid down in the middle of the pitch and gone for a nap.

Centre Forward – Aston Villa – Brett Holman – Much like Tettey, Holman did very little to challenge the Spurs defence. He wasn’t as bad as Tettey, but he was similarly useless. I just can’t understand why Darren Bent started on the bench.