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Premier League Team of the Week - Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard

Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 22, including Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.

Manchester United got their Premier League title hopes back on track in the most emphatic style possible in gameweek 22, equalling the competition's biggest-ever win with a 9-0 humiliation of nine-man Southampton at Old Trafford.

That result was made even better when champions Liverpool slumped to a second successive home defeat, this time at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion, one day later.

Manchester City continue to set the pace, though, beating Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor to maintain a three-point lead at the top, while Leicester City returned to winning ways at Fulham.

Chelsea earned bragging rights in their London derby against out-of-form Tottenham Hotspur in the final match of the gameweek, completing a miserable few days for North London after Arsenal had been reduced to nine men en route to defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Sheffield United picked up a crucial win over fellow strugglers West Bromwich Albion at the bottom of the table, but in general it was a week for away teams, with the final seven matches of the gameweek ending in away victories, including wins for Crystal Palace, Everton and West Ham United.

Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 22.



PL TOTW GW22

There was not too much competition for the gloves in this week's team, with Everton's Robin Olsen - in for the injured Jordan Pickford - getting the nod courtesy of his six saves to keep Leeds United at bay in a 2-1 win for the Toffees.

Goalkeeper is just about the only position where there was not much choice this week, and unsurprisingly it is Manchester United who dominate the team following their 9-0 hammering of Southampton.

The Red Devils provide both full-backs, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka opening the scoring from Luke Shaw's cross, and the latter then adding another assist before being taken off at half time with the three points already in the bag.

The fact that Shaw makes this team despite only playing 45 minutes is a sign of just how impressive he was in that first half as left-back was one of the most fiercely-contested positions in this week's team, with James Justin, Dan Burn and Marcos Alonso all worthy of mentions too.

West Ham's Vladimir Coufal also deserves recognition at right-back, while the likes of Chris Basham, Gary Cahill and Ben White are unfortunate to miss the cut at the heart of the defence.

White's fellow Brighton defenders do both make it, though, with Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster both integral to the Seagulls' shock win at Anfield - a match in which Liverpool's attack barely laid a glove on the Brighton goal, thanks largely to that defensive effort from the centre-back pairing in this XI.

We were spoilt for choice even more in midfield, with Yves Bissouma, Fred, Steven Alzate, Ilkay Gundogan and Ruben Neves among the players who were in contention to be included.

Scott McTominay does make the cut having shaken off an early horror challenge to help Man United to their record-equalling rout, netting number six along the way with a crisp first-time strike.

McTominay is joined in the midfield by Team of the Week regular Bruno Fernandes, who ended a mini-drought in style with a goal and two assists in that hammering.

There is also another Man United player in this midfield, although he is currently on loan at West Ham, with Jesse Lingard announcing himself to the Hammers with a brace on his debut for the club.

Lingard is joined in this XI by his new clubmate Tomas Soucek, who continued his remarkable scoring form by netting in the win at Aston Villa to make it eight goals for the season now - more than any other Premier League midfielder if you exclude penalties.

Leicester's James Maddison is another player in fine form and he continued that with a pair of assists against Fulham, laying on both goals as the Foxes got back to winning ways and climbed back up to third.

There were also plenty of players pushing for the forward roles in this team, with Mason Greenwood particularly unfortunate to miss out and the likes of Edinson Cavani, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Michail Antonio, Billy Sharp, Leandro Trossard, Nicolas Pepe, Raheem Sterling, Eberechi Eze and Said Benrahma all worthy of mentions.

Like with Shaw, though, the nod goes to someone who only played 45 minutes, with Anthony Martial the only person to get on the scoresheet more than once in Man United's rout, helping himself to a confidence-boosting brace.

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Arsenal's Bukayo Saka pictured on January 2, 2021
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal34245582265677
2Liverpool33228375324374
3Manchester CityMan City32227376324473
4Aston Villa34206871502166
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs32186865491660
6Newcastle UnitedNewcastle321551269521750
7Manchester UnitedMan Utd32155124748-150
8West Ham UnitedWest Ham34139125463-948
9Chelsea32138116157447
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton321111105250244
11Wolverhampton WanderersWolves33127144653-743
12Fulham34126165054-442
13Bournemouth33119134860-1242
14Crystal Palace3399154256-1436
15Brentford3498175259-735
16Everton33108153448-1430
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3479184260-1826
18Luton TownLuton3467214775-2825
19Burnley3458213769-3223
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd3337233188-5716


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