Everyone got their breath back after that weekend of Premier League football?
38 goals – including some absolute screamers, most of which came at Anfield – some calamitous self-destruction and not a great deal of defending going on. What a godsend it is there isn’t another international break until March.
Before we dive into the team of the week, we must extend our sincere apologies to Kieran Trippier, Ben ‘The Tree’ Mee and Son Heung-min, who would ordinarily have made it into such an XI but have been denied entry on this occasion. There’s always next week, lads.
GK: James Trafford
It’s not every day that Burnley keep a clean sheet. Actually, Saturday was their first in the Premier League all season.
James Trafford squeezes into our team of the week by virtue of the fact he made more saves than any other goalkeeper who shut out the opposition this weekend. So what if it was only against 10-man Sheffield United, eh?
RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold
There was a lot of discourse over the November international break that Trent Alexander-Arnold was inferior to Reece James.
Clearly, he took that personally. While James was serving a suspension, Alexander-Arnold fired in an 88th-minute winner at home to Fulham.
CB: Fabian Schar
For much of his early years at Newcastle, Fabian Schar was just another Premier League defender. Under Eddie Howe’s guidance, he’s carving out a reputation as one of the division’s most reliable centre-backs.
The Switzerland international had real joy in their win against Man Utd. The only criticism you’d have is he played as if he was going to be in trouble with some mobsters if he didn’t score, leading to a series of pot-shots from distance.
CB: Benoit Badiashile
Why does Big Ben Badiashile get into the team of the week despite conceding two goals?
Because he was an absolute monster for 100 minutes against Brighton. That’s why.
LB: Tino Livramento
Many questioned Newcastle’s strategy to stock up on right-backs this summer as opposed to bringing in a senior deputy or replacement to Dan Burn.
Tino Livramento is proving ample cover on both sides of defence, and it’s looking unlikely that BDB will win back his place at this rate.
CM: Enzo Fernandez
A congratulations is in order to Chelsea, who saw their £105m midfielder – only the second-most expensive player in their starting pivot – score his first two Premier League goals at the weekend.
Pop those champagne corks. The good times are here to stay.
CM: Martin Odegaard
After Arsenal fans popularised their cracking chant for Martin Odegaard (go look it up), his form sort of fell by the wayside.
Their club captain has looked back to his best since the November international break, putting on a show against Wolves on Saturday.
RM: Bukayo Saka
Can you name five Premier League players who are definitely better than Bukayo Saka?
Give it a try. His greatness goes unnoticed sometimes.
AM: Dejan Kulusevski
It was fitting that Dejan Kulusevski celebrated scoring the footballing version of a slam dunk by mimicking one of the greatest basketball players to ever live.
The Swede has now scored twice the amount of goals this season (four) compared to last in 22 fewer games.
LM: Anthony Gordon
After initially struggling to make an impact on Tyneside, Anthony Gordon is now the sweetheart of Newcastle fans.
His most recent exploits saw him bag the winner against Man Utd.
CF: Zeki Amdouni
We started with Burnley, we’ll finish with Burnley.
For the very, very few people who own Zeki Amdouni on FPL, it was quite a milestone week – the Switzerland international chalked up a goal and assist.
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