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Premier League Team of the Week - Mohamed Salah, Paul Pogba, David de Gea

Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 22, including Mohamed Salah, Paul Pogba, David de Gea and three Chelsea players.

The gap at the top of the Premier League table remains four points after gameweek 22 as Liverpool's 1-0 triumph over Brighton & Hove Albion was followed up by a 3-0 win for Manchester City against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It looks like developing into a two-horse title race once again, though, with Tottenham Hotspur falling to a costly defeat at home to Manchester United as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer extended his 100% start at the helm.

United now sit level on points with Arsenal after the Gunners were beaten by West Ham United on Saturday lunchtime, and both sides sit six points behind Chelsea, who beat Newcastle United this weekend.

Huddersfield Town brought an end to their losing streak, although their goalless draw with Cardiff City was not enough to save David Wagner's job.

Southampton and Burnley did pick up vital wins at that end of the table, though, while in the top half Watford and Everton both also emerged victorious.

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



PL TOTW GW22

The standout individual performance of the gameweek came from David de Gea in the Manchester United goal as he made 11 saves in the second half alone to keep Spurs at bay - more than any goalkeeper has made in a Premier League game all season. Jordan Pickford earns an honourable mention, but there was no competition for the gloves in this week's team.

Kyle Walker has fallen down the pecking order with Man City in recent weeks but impressed during the Monday night win over Wolves en route to a clean sheet, with Danilo playing on the left side. Everton's Lucas Digne gets that position in this team, having registered an assist in the 2-0 win over Bournemouth.

The likes of Kurt Zouma, Jan Bednarek, Michael Keane and Fabinho all deserve mentions for their performances at centre-back this weekend, but the places in this XI go to David Luiz - who picked up an assist in the win over Newcastle - and James Tarkowski, whose phenomenal goalline clearance against Fulham was crucial in Burnley earning all three points.

Paul Pogba's improvement under Solskjaer has been remarkable and continued at Wembley on Sunday when he produced an exquisite pass to release Marcus Rashford for the game's only goal. The Frenchman has now been directly involved in more than half of United's goals since Jose Mourinho's departure, scoring four and assisting four more.

Speaking of goals, Declan Rice notched his first for West Ham at the London Stadium on Saturday to earn his side a derby victory over Arsenal, and the sheer delight on his face was palpable as he celebrated his 20th birthday in style.

Two Chelsea players make it into the trio behind the striker, with Pedro and Willian both getting on the scoresheet with lovely goals in the win over Newcastle. Other contenders for a place in this team mean that Pedro plays in the number 10 role rather than his usual wider position.

One such contender is Mohamed Salah, who was on the scoresheet yet again having won and scored the penalty which saw Liverpool return to winning ways at Brighton. Raheem Sterling, Felipe Anderson and Ademola Lookman deserve mentions for their performances, while in terms of sheer moments of quality we cannot ignore the wonder goals from Andre Schurrle and Tom Cleverley either.

Gabriel Jesus is a man in form at the moment with seven goals in his last three games, and his brace against Wolves earns him a place in this team ahead of Rashford. The Brazilian appears to have overcome a patchy spell of form and is showcasing his ability as an apex penalty-box predator once again.

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Written by
Barney Corkhill
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Paul Pogba reacts while in action for Manchester United on September 22, 2018
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool14112129111835
2Chelsea1594235181731
3Arsenal1585229151429
4Manchester CityMan City158342721627
5Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest157441918125
6Aston Villa157442323025
7Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton156632522324
8Bournemouth157352320324
9Brentford157263128323
10Fulham156542220223
11Tottenham HotspurSpurs1562731191220
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle155551921-220
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd155461918119
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham155372028-818
15Everton143561421-714
16Leicester CityLeicester153572130-914
17Crystal Palace152761420-613
18Ipswich TownIpswich151681427-139
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1523102338-159
20Southampton1512121131-205


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