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Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week

Sports Mole picks out the 11 best players from the 13th round of 2015-16 Premier League encounters.

Manchester City started the 13th round of Premier League matches top of the pile, but following a 4-1 hammering at home to Liverpool, Manuel Pellegrini's men have dropped down to third.

Leicester City were the main beneficiaries, with their 3-0 win away at Newcastle United sending them to the summit when at the same stage last term they found themselves bottom.

Manchester United are on their coattails following their 2-1 triumph at Watford, while there were home victories for Chelsea, Everton, West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur.

Stoke City and Sunderland were victorious on the road, but there was nothing to separate Swansea City and Bournemouth at the Liberty Stadium.

Here, Sports Mole looks back over each of the 10 contests and picks out 11 of the most impressive players.


John Ruddy (Norwich City)
A mistake from Ruddy cost Norwich a share of the spoils away at Man City before the international break, but the goalkeeper was back to his best form at Stamford Bridge. The fact that the travelling Canaries only lost 1-0 to Chelsea was largely down to Ruddy, who made good saves to thwart the likes of Diego Costa and Willian.

Erik Pieters (Stoke City)
The Dutchman has only 18 months left to run on his contract at the Britannia Stadium and with more performances of the quality that he produced away at Southampton, Stoke may want to tie him down to fresh terms quickly. Pieters defended well down on the South Coast and also sent over the cross that Bojan converted to secure all three points.
Martin Skrtel (Liverpool)
Not only was the Slovakian solid defensively, his finish for Liverpool's fourth goal was devastating. The ball dropped for him around 16 yards from goal and such was the power that he was able to generate on the strike, City goalkeeper Joe Hart only reacted after the ball had flown beyond him.
Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur)
While Spurs have always had the reputation of being a team that played easy-on-the-eye football, it has often come at a cost defensively. They seem to have the balance right this season, though, and the addition of Alderweireld has been a major reason behind that. The Belgian did well up against the physical Andy Carroll and also weighed in with a goal up the other end.
Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool)
Faced with the prospect of marking ex-Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling, the pressure would have been on Clyne. Thankfully for him he barely afforded the England international a kick, much to the delight of the travelling faithful. The 24-year-old was also not shy to get forward and offer support to his more attack-minded teammates when the opportunity arose.

Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
In keeping with the majority of his Chelsea teammates, Hazard has been out of form for much of this season. However, against Norwich, the tricky Belgian hinted that he was close to being back to his best with an impressive display. He ran the show against Norwich with a string of positive runs into opposition territory.
Danny Drinkwater (Leicester City)
Understandably Jamie Vardy's record-equalling exploits dominated the headlines from a Leicester point of view, but the influence that Drinkwater had on the team at Newcastle should not be overlooked. Playing in the heart of midfield, the former Man United trainee won numerous challenges and also started a handful of attacks.
Ross Barkley (Everton)
The youngster will probably be the first to admit that he was not at his best last season, but this time around he has started to make the most of his undoubted potential. Playing in an advanced midfield role, Barkley is free to express himself, as Villa found out to their cost at Goodison Park. He scored twice and was involved in a number of positive attacks.
Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool)
The pint-sized Brazilian loves playing against Man City, who were taunted by the playmaker from the first whistle at the Etihad Stadium. He scored once - his fourth against the Citizens in five outings - and also registered an assist. He is also starting to form a very dangerous understanding with compatriot Roberto Firmino - someone that can count himself very unlucky to have not made this team.

Romelu Lukaku (Everton)
Everton fans must love watching their side at the moment, particularly with Barkley and Lukaku in such great form. The Belgian striker's brace saw him join an illustrious group of five players that includes Michael Owen and Cristiano Ronaldo to have scored 50 Premier League goals before the age of 23.
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Those that doubted Kane when he was going through a drought will be feeling rather silly right now. When he's in the mood, there are few better finishers in the Premier League than the England international. He found the net either side of the break against rivals West Ham, taking his tally to 12 goals in 14 London derbies.


Numpty of the week

Manuel Pellegrini: Granted a calf injury rendered captain Vincent Kompany unavailable, but Pellegrini's decision to leave Nicolas Otamendi on the bench looked to be a strange one even before City had kicked off against Liverpool.

His preferred pairing of Martin Demichelis and Eliaquim Mangala (scorer of a calamitous own goal) were painfully rusty and it came as little surprise to see them torn apart by Liverpool's livewires. They were also not helped by an unexplained change in formation that left Yaya Toure required to put in a defensive shift - something that the Ivorian gave up doing a long time ago. All in all it was a night to forget for the Chilean boss, who got his tactics and personnel completely wrong.

Goal of the week

Memphis Depay - Watford vs. (Manchester United) He may have only been around eight to 10 yards out when he made contact with the ball, yet that should take nothing away from the quality that Depay had to produce to break the deadlock at Vicarage Road.

Ander Herrera's cross from the right flank was a good one, but it still required finishing. Many players would have wildly volleyed over the crossbar, but United's young winger made the most of his recall to the team as he calmly powered his side-footed effort into the top corner of Heurelho Gomes's net.

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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool15113131131836
2Chelsea16104237191834
3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City168352823527
6Aston Villa167452425-125
7Bournemouth157352320324
8Fulham166642422224
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton166642625124
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1672736191723
11Brentford167273230223
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd166462119222
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham155372028-818
15Crystal Palace163761721-416
16Everton153661421-715
17Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1612131136-255


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