Business as usual in the Premier League this weekend. Costa-less Chelsea beat the champions. Merseyside trumped Manchester on a score of 5-1. Spurs won. Sun rise. Sun set. Once again, Balls.ie have looked across all of the Premier League fixtures and put together a team of the week.
After going for an unorthodox formation a couple of weeks ago, we've reverted to a classic diamond this week.
Presenting the Balls.ie Premier League Team of the Week
GK – Victor Valdes (Boro)
Watford and Middlesbrough was a surprisingly entertaining 0-0 with chances aplenty. It was a battle of the goalkeepers in the end and Victor Valdes came out on top. He made five saves, two of them crucial and stopped Troy Deeney from breaking the deadlock in a one on one. Plus, it was his birthday!
Huge save from Valdes
— Riverside Boro (@riversideboro) January 14, 2017
RB – Seamus Coleman (Everton)
Coming up against Man City’s attacking trio is always a difficult task. You wouldn’t have known that by watching them as Everton thrashed them 4-0. Neither David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne nor Raheem Sterling could get free of the Everton back 4. We’re choosing Coleman not out of bias, but to his part in two of the Toffee’s four goals.
LB - Marcos Alonso (Chelsea)
Two goals, an 80% pass rate, 4 aerial duels won and three tackles represents a good day’s work for Marcos Alonso. The left wing back has been one of Chelsea’s under rated stars. Only Nemanja Matic saw more of the ball than the Spanaird.
3 - Marcos Alonso is only the third Chelsea defender to score a brace in the Premier League (also John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic). Adventure
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 14, 2017
CB – Ben Mee (Burnley)
Joey Barton took the headlines at Turf Moor, but Ben Mee was a rock at the heart of the Burnley defence as they managed to keep out Southampton. Tasked with dealing with Shane Long, Mee won 4 of his clashes in the air with the Irishman and was even a threat going forward, bringing a save out of Fraser Forster.
CB - Dejan Lovren (Liverpool)
As we've seen recently, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is quite a good footballer. He likes to score goals. And he's an absolute powerhouse. So having to keep him quiet is an unenviable task. Lovren did it brilliantly, and he took care of Paul Pogba at corners as well.
CM – Tom Davies (Everton)
We were torn on this position between Davies, Moussa Dembele and Victor Wanyama. But after seeing Davies help to kill off City with a superb effort. Defensively he had a clearance off the line with his head. He may or may not be in here because Lukaku stole that goal on the line. We’ll let the dubious goals committee figure that one
LM – Marko Arnautovic (Stoke)
Poor Donald Love. He was harried and hassled all afternoon by Marko Arnautovic
Two glorious finishes from the Austrian took down David Moyes’ Sunderland. The first a well taken finish after his initial shot was parried, the second a rocket after brilliant build up play.
RM – Michail Antonio (West Ham)
Okay. Andy Carroll did score an insane bicycle kick. But who put the cross in for that goal? Antonio. In fact, who grabbed three assists as the Hammers finally played well at the London Stadium? Antonio. And he did it all while suffering from a poor tummy. Bless
Michail Antonio was in bed with flu yesterday, got out of bed pulled on his shirt & played magnificently today - that's dedication for you
— Lady Karren Brady (@karren_brady) January 14, 2017
CAM – Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
Once again, Alexis Sanchez was the main reason for an irresistible Arsenal performance. A 65% pass success rate, more shots on target than any other player, five tackles and 59 touches. That’s before we add in his goal as well.
ST – Harry Kane (Spurs)
New dad fever struck again at White Hart Lane. Harry Kane notched another hat trick as Spurs demolished West Brom, making him a shoe-in for this team.
ST- Peter Crouch (Stoke)
Yes, most other teams are beating Sunderland. But no one did it quite as well as Stoke did yesterday. Arnautovic ran the show from midfield, but Peter Crouch had a stormer. A goal, an assist, his usual stat of 18 headers won. The Black Cats afforded him the space for 12 touches in their box and that was never going to end well.
Enjoyed that today ! 50 for @stokecity and 3 points lovely jubbly
— Peter Crouch (@petercrouch) January 14, 2017
