After COVID-19 continued to devastate the sporting landscape, Premier League teams have completed a round of midweek fixtures of games initially postponed amid the raging pandemic.
Manchester City ensured the gap at the top of the table would remain at three points by crushing Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-1, but Liverpool remained in touching distance by coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 2-1.
Chelsea all but secured their place in the Champions League with a 3-0 success over Leeds United, and Tottenham Hotspur kept the race for fourth very much alive by beating bitter rivals Arsenal by the same scoreline.
Meanwhile, Leicester City put three past already-relegated Norwich City without reply, while a Watford side whose fate has already been sealed dented Everton's survival hopes with a goalless draw.
Here, Sports Mole picks its Premier League Team of the Week for the latest round of fixtures.
DEFENCE
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While Ben Foster deserves an honourable mention for his exploits in between the sticks, Kasper Schmeichel was a gargantuan presence in the Leicester goal with five saves against Norwich, and the Dane also did not misplace a single pass at the King Power in midweek.
Plenty of those in blue produced stellar individual performances this week - not just in Chelsea blue either - but Reece James set up Mason Mount for the playmaker's strike at Elland Road and also ended the contest with five key passes, five out of five successful dribbles and a 95% pass accuracy in a dazzling display.
Liverpool may have been more shaky at the back than we have become accustomed to seeing at Villa Park, but Joel Matip came up with the instant reply to Douglas Luiz's opener and also played his part with five clearances and two interceptions in a crucial Reds win.
With Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva both afforded rests ahead of the FA Cup final, Trevoh Chalobah stepped up to the place admirably against Leeds, coming up with four tackles, two interceptions and a 94% pass accuracy in a strong display, which ended in a well-deserved clean sheet.
City right-back Joao Cancelo will seemingly see out the season on that side given Kyle Walker's injury, but the Portuguese moves over to the left for the purposes of this XI after setting up Raheem Sterling's late strike against Wolves while also winning five of his six ground duels and providing a reliable presence out wide as ever.
MIDFIELD
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Goals aplenty were flying in from the middle of the park this week, and Chelsea starboy Mason Mount arguably got the pick of the bunch with his delightful curling effort against Leeds, while his neat flick set up Christian Pulisic for Chelsea's second and a tackle on Diego Llorente sparked the attack which gifted Romelu Lukaku his late strike.
In contrast, Rodri would not make the net ripple at Molineux, but the Spaniard truly defined the term midfield maestro by only misplacing one out of 103 passes on the night, while also winning all three of his aerial duels to help his side steer clear at the summit.
There was always going to be an added motivation for James Maddison to prolong his former club's misery, and the ex-Norwich man did exactly that with a powerful drive on the half-volley at the King Power Stadium while also playing two key passes to show the Canaries exactly what they are missing.
However, Mount, Rodri and Maddison's contributions were dwarfed by the exhilarating performance of Kevin De Bruyne at Molineux, with the Belgian becoming only the third midfielder to score four goals in a Premier League game after Georginio Wijnaldum and Frank Lampard, and he was unlucky not to have made it a quintet of goals or added to his assists column in one of the best individual showings of the season so far.
ATTACK
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Still proving that he has plenty to offer to the Leicester City attack at the age of 35, Jamie Vardy - whose wife's ongoing legal battles continue to dominate headlines - was fortunate to witness his first effort against Norwich sail in via a deflection, but there was nothing lucky about his strong near-post finish in a clinical centre-forward's performance.
Going three games without a goal against Arsenal was never going to be an option for Tottenham talisman Harry Kane, who took advantage of the Gunners' defensive implosion to score his 12th and 13th North London derby goals and ensure that the Lilywhites would still be in with a shot of pipping their rivals to Champions League qualification.
SPORTS MOLE'S PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week (4-3-1-2): Schmeichel; James, Matip, Chalobah, Cancelo; Mount, Rodri, Maddison; De Bruyne; Vardy, Kane
Ben Knapton
