At the end of every Premier League round of fixtures, BBC football pundit Garth Crooks is on hand to give you his Team of the Week.
But who has he picked this time? Take a look and then pick your own team below. As ever, Garth also has his say on the game’s big talking points in the Crooks of the Matter.
Aaron Ramsdale: Last week I suggested that if Ramsdale could keep his nerve between now and the end of the season then there was every chance of Arsenal lifting the title. It’s also very rare that I select a goalkeeper or a defender in my team that has conceded two goals but such was Ramsdale’s second-half performance, in the white-hot atmosphere of Anfield, that I found myself compelled to make the selection.
The Arsenal keeper made three world-class saves, each one varying in its own importance as the game went on. The significance of the point for the Gunners is unquantifiable in the scheme of things but it could, in the final analysis, be the point that wins them the title.
Trent Alexander-Arnold: He nutmegs Zinchenko and then produces the most delightful clip to the far post for Roberto Firmino to head home. When Alexander-Arnold is on this form, his right foot is like a magic wand. In fact, when he’s in this mood I don’t care about his defensive frailties because he possesses the most exquisite quality.
The football was incredible and all credit to Arsenal who helped provide the spectacle. The Gunners are extremely close to producing something very special this season but a word of warning: Granit Xhaxa is a loose cannon on a journey littered with explosives and Arsenal have to do something about him before he destroys their entire season.
Nathan Ake: Last week I said that Ake was unflappable. This week his manager called him undroppable. However you try to describe the Manchester City defender, the quality of his decision making is his greatest asset. He must have run 60 yards in pursuit of Kamaldeen Sulemana (who wasn’t slow) but at no time did Ake dive in, all the time waiting for the Southampton striker to make a decision about Ake’s presence.
In the end, Sulemana became so concerned about Ake that he lost control of the ball and, in doing so, the opportunity to score. When City played Liverpool, I made a big deal about Jack Grealish doing something similar, however what Ake did was far more intuitive and brilliant. Guardiola talks about his defenders having to play an “educated” game. Well Ake certainly knows how to do that.
Kurt Zouma: West Ham were demolished by Newcastle in midweek but Zouma was one of the few defenders that survived the cull that followed. It was a smart move by manager David Moyes to keep Zouma in the side as he was brilliant in defence and matched everything Fulham had to throw at him.
This was also a massive win for the Hammers, particularly as they have gone 11 league matches without a win. This puts the East End club on 30 points – and 36 points should see them to safety. However, the question remains: is Moyes the right man to take West Ham forward next season? I think not. He has done a decent job at London Stadium but I think an amicable parting of the ways would be a dignified and fitting way to end a polite and interesting association.
Jack Grealish: He’s playing with the same style and panache he demonstrated when he was captain of Aston Villa. Now he’s at Manchester City, with better players and more at stake but at last Grealish is producing the form that prompted City to insist he was a top-four player when he was at Villa.
No-one would disagree with that now but there were doubts after his first season at City. Surrounded by the likes of David Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne, it would have been surprising if he hadn’t been slightly intimidated by their presence but not so any more. The boy from Solihull is looking every inch a top-class player and I still think the best is yet to come.
Scott McTominay: Two goals against Cyprus and another two against Spain in the recent European qualifying fixtures suggest McTominay is finally coming of age. His performance against an Everton side still finding its way under Sean Dyche was as good as I’ve seen from the Scotland international. McTominay is good at putting himself about. Anyone can do that but against the Toffees he demonstrated an authority I hadn’t seen before.
He didn’t just stop the opposition from playing – a feature in his game he is rather good at – but he also made Manchester United play, which he normally leaves to the likes of Fernandes. It seemed as though McTominay was no longer prepared to play second fiddle to Fernandes, or anyone else, and took matters into his own hands – and about time.
Matheus Nunes: What a strike! It must have been like a dagger to Frank Lampard’s heart when he saw that one fly past his goalkeeper. Matheus Nunes hit the ball so sweetly that it was past Kepa and in the back of the net while the goalkeeper was still in the air trying to make the save.
Three consecutive league games have gone by and Chelsea haven’t scored a single goal. They could have played against Wolves all night and still they wouldn’t have scored. None of the situation Chelsea find themselves in is Lampard’s or the recently deposed Graham Potter’s fault. The problem at Chelsea is much deeper and sadly they have an owner who doesn’t know the first thing about football. But then again he won’t be the first. Read about why I think Lampard cannot do this job in the Crooks of the Matter below.
Michael Olise: I couldn’t possibly have selected a team this week without acknowledging Crystal Palace’s 5-1 victory away at Elland Road. The standout player in this impressive display was Michael Olise.
Leeds had no answer to the player’s ability, balance and composure on the ball. However, what I find difficult about this result is that the man responsible for building this young exciting team was sacked just when Palace were about to play all the teams currently below them in the league. Admittedly they had struggled against the teams above them but Palace were always capable of going to Elland Road and producing a victory, even if it wasn’t as impressive as this one.
Gabriel Jesus: I’m not entirely sure what happened to Liverpool in the first half. I, and half of north London, was banking on them beating Arsenal at Anfield but the fact of the matter is Arsenal are now thinking about lifting the title and taking Liverpool on in the way they did at Anfield proves it. This current Arsenal team, on this performance, look like they are soon to be crowned champions.
I saw Virgil van Dijk actually panic in the first half at the sight of Jesus gathering the ball at his feet, about to run the Liverpool centre-back down the line. When a top-class striker knows he’s got you on the run, it’s only a matter of time before that defender is exposed and that is precisely what happened to Van Dijk. Jesus’ header and Arsenal’s second goal proved exactly that point.
Erling Haaland: His bicycle kick was my favourite goal, not because it looks spectacular, but because it is technically very difficult to execute it well. Haaland did it brilliantly of course but that’s because he is a goalscoring phenomenon.
After City demolished Liverpool without Haaland, I said that they might be a better all-round football team with Haaland out of the side. City’s performance against Southampton has done nothing to change my point of view. However, none of that can deter me from acknowledging that the Norwegian superstar takes some stopping when he has his sights on goal.
Son Heung-min: This hasn’t been one of his best seasons but his goal against an in-form Brighton was one of his best. Son has struggled this season partly because he spent too much time desperately trying to make it to the World Cup when injured and then, having played in the tournament, returned mentally drained. Well, that’s my theory.
However, Spurs won this fixture due to the referee’s ineffectiveness. Almost every major decision Stuart Atwell made was wrong. Almost every major decision Stuart Attwell made was wrong. Such was the incompetence, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited has had to apologise to Brighton for Attwell missing the foul on Kaoru Mitoma by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg but what about the shirt pull by Clement Lenglet on Lewis Dunk? Of course, the PGMOL will blame it on VAR but the technology is there only to assist the referee, not to take charge of the fixture.
The Crooks of the Matter
How did it come to this? It wasn’t that long ago Chelsea beat Manchester City in the Champions League final. They have now sacked the manager that won it and replaced him with a manager that was trying to win it, only to return to the manager they sacked before the manager that won them the Champions League trophy in the first place. If that sounds like an almighty mess, that’s because it is an almighty mess.
Frank Lampard’s return to Stamford Bridge might appear to be a calming influence but only because he’s a familiar face amidst a bunch of strangers. The vast majority of players at Chelsea at the moment have hardly completed a full season there. Some have only been there a matter of weeks and are so unfamiliar with south-west London they would struggle to find their way from the Chelsea hotel to the dressing room and that includes new owner Todd Boehly. Is it any wonder Boehly has turned to Lampard to try to bring some calm to the chaos?
Lampard is clearly backing himself to do something quite spectacular in the Champions League. If Chelsea were to beat Real Madrid, find themselves in the semi-final and show some semblance of normality in their domestic performances, who knows? However, any thoughts of appointing Lampard permanently would, in my view, be a mistake. Lampard has huge potential but needs to spend more time working with managers who know how to handle a dressing room full of international stars. Playing with stars is a world away from successfully managing a dressing room full of them. That takes time and he’s not there yet.
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