Champions Manchester City saw their Premier League title hopes take what is surely a fatal blow in a derby clash with Manchester United on Saturday, with their 2-1 home defeat leaving them a whopping 14 points off leaders Liverpool.
The Reds have been relentless this season and marched on with a straightforward 3-0 win over injury-ravaged Bournemouth, although Leicester City are proving more difficult to shake off than Man City.
Brendan Rodgers's side made it a club-record eight straight league wins by cruising past Aston Villa on Sunday, keeping them eight points behind Liverpool and still ahead of the pace they set in their own title-winning campaign.
Tottenham Hotspur were also big winners with a 5-0 drubbing of Burnley, while Arsenal came from behind to pick up their first win of Freddie Ljungberg's interim reign against West Ham United on Monday night.
There was delight for another caretaker boss in the first match of the gameweek too, with Duncan Ferguson leading struggling Everton to a 3-1 victory over Chelsea at Goodison Park.
Newcastle United and Sheffield United also both chalked up wins, while there were draws between Brighton & Hove Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers and Watford and Crystal Palace.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 16.
Vicente Guaita and Martin Dubravka both deserve honourable mentions for crucial goalkeeping displays in their own games, but David de Gea's late saves earned United their memorable derby day triumph just as much as the goals at the other end. The Spaniard was perhaps not as busy as he might have expected with only four stops to make, but he was there when his side needed him in the closing stages.
One of the reasons why De Gea had relatively little to do was Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who made more tackles than anyone else on the pitch to help limit the threat of Raheem Sterling. The other selections in this week's team force him into a back three as Djibril Sidibe and Ricardo Pereira miss out, and Saturday's display suggests that the England international would take that positional change in his stride.
Wan-Bissaka is joined in the defensive trio by a former United man in Jonny Evans, who scored for Leicester in addition to nullifying Wesley at the other end. Gary Cahill, Mason Holgate, Victor Lindelof and Federico Fernandez all deserve mentions too, but Evans has been a crucial part of such an impressive Leicester team this season and deserves to have his performances recognised.
Jan Vertonghen completes the back three having shone at left-back in Tottenham's big win over Burnley, producing an assist in addition to five tackles. Admittedly, the assist did come from inside his own box as Son Heung-min did the rest, but that will not stop him from claiming it.
Son's goal was one of the greatest solo strikes the Premier League has ever seen, lighting up a five-star display by running from the edge of his own box to score and kill the game off with a little more than half an hour played. With such quality from a deep position, his slightly more defensive left wing-back role in this team should not be a problem.
On the opposite side, George Baldock was also instrumental in the attacking third during Sheffield United's win over Norwich City, providing the assist for the equaliser before popping up with a high-quality winner of his own, spinning away from his marker and drilling his finish into the bottom corner.
There was plenty of competition for midfield roles in this week's team, with Mateo Kovacic, Moussa Sissoko, Emiliano Buendia, Fred, Dele Alli and Jonjo Shelvey all considered, but it is a Liverpool pair who make the cut following their dominant performance at Bournemouth.
Naby Keita seized his starting chance with a goal and an assist to once again highlight the strength in depth at Jurgen Klopp's disposal, while Jordan Henderson ran the show from the middle of the park. The skipper's sublime assist for the opening goal was the highlight of a performance which also saw him have more touches than any other player in addition to a career-best 150 passes in the match, including 79 in the opposition half.
James Maddison was similarly influential for Leicester against Villa, creating five chances including an assist as well as hitting the woodwork himself. The playmaker slots in behind a fiercely-contested front two in this week's team, with clubmate Jamie Vardy one of a number of players very unfortunate to miss out.
Marcus Rashford terrorised Man City at times, Mohamed Salah scored one and created another at Bournemouth, Diogo Jota scored twice for Wolves and Kelechi Iheanacho produced another fine performance on his first league start for exactly a year. Even beyond them, the likes of Lucas Moura, Adama Traore, Nicolas Pepe, Anthony Martial, Neal Maupay and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang deserve mentions.
However, Harry Kane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin get the nod this week having both netted twice apiece. Calvert-Lewin epitomised the Ferguson approach with a battling performance up front against Chelsea, being rewarded with his first two-goal haul since he was playing in League Two more than four years ago.
Kane is no such stranger to a brace, of course, and his latest was a particularly good one, especially his first from long range. Kane also helped himself to an assist in a man-of-the-match display against Burnley which threatened to steal the spotlight away from Son's wondergoal.
Barney Corkhill
