Premier League team of the week: Gameweek 2

The shine of the new season begins to fade, Fantasy Football teams are left unchanged and bold title predictions are made with false confidence. The Premier League is back in full swing.

The second week of the 32nd Premier League season brought fewer goals than the first (27 to 28) but five times as many red cards (five to one). Yet, those that did stay on the pitch produced some sparkling displays.

Here are the best performers from gameweek 2 of the new campaign.

GK: Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham)

Across the second weekend of the Premier League, no goalkeeper made more saves than Tottenham Hotspur’s Guglielmo Vicario, working hard to keep a clean sheet against Manchester United.

The Italian nicknamed Venom rebuffed half a dozen efforts, particularly impressing with rapid reflexes to deny both Marcus Rashford and Casemiro from close range. Although, some United fans may snipe that Cristian Romero made the best save of the match.

RB: Serge Aurier (Nottingham Forest)

Serge Aurier was once an infamous liability but reliability is what he now offers Nottingham Forest on the right side of defence – as incredible as that sounds.

The prickly defender had a hand in both of Nottingham Forest’s goals as Steve Cooper’s side recorded what could prove to be a crucial 2-1 victory against newly promoted Sheffield United on Friday night.

CB: Ethan Pinnock (Brentford)

As recently as 2016, Ethan Pinnock was playing non-League football for Dulwich Hamlet. Now the Jamaica international is one of Brentford’s rotating carousel of hulking central defenders mixing it with the Premier League’s elite.

Pinnock promised to “give everything for three points against Fulham” and lived up to his word, making a team-high number of interceptions and blocks to blunt the Cottagers in front of their own fans.

CB: William Saliba (Arsenal)

There was a brief moment of uncertainty as the visiting supporters feared the referee’s whistle, but once it became clear that William Saliba had cleanly – and emphatically – dispossessed Jordan Ayew with a crunching tackle inside Arsenal’s penalty area, the rhythmic chant in honour of the defender bounced around Selhurst Park.

After a desperately nervy conclusion to Arsenal’s narrow 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, Mikel Arteta breathed a sigh of relief and admitted: “I loved it.” It looked like Saliba enjoyed the last-ditch defending as well.

LB: Lucas Digne (Aston Villa)

Any meeting between Aston Villa and Everton carries the weight of history around its neck as the most frequent top-flight fixture of all time. But for Lucas Digne, it serves as an ample opportunity to inflict revenge upon his former employers.

The French left-back recorded his fourth consecutive victory against the Toffees in a resounding 4-0 thrashing at Villa Park on Sunday. The 5-1 humbling dished out on the opening weekend by Newcastle United provided even more motivation as Villa and Digne delivered the perfect response.