Premier League Team of the Week: Robin van Persie & Gareth Bale shine as Arsenal & Tottenham dominate
Getty Images
After weeks of domination for the Manchester clubs in the Premier League this season, north London’s finest turned on the style over the weekend to send out a message to their fellow top-four contenders.
In one of the most entertaining matches we are likely to see this season, Arsenal stunned Chelsea by running out 5-3 winners at Stamford Bridge, while Tottenham extended its unbeaten run to 11 games with a 3-1 victory over QPR.
Spurs’ attacking quintet were in full flow at White Hart Lane, forcing a number of saves out of QPR goalkeeper Paddy Kenny. Commiserations to Mark Schwarzer and David de Gea, but the former Republic of Ireland international gets the nod to make his first TOTW appearance of the season.
Nemanja Vidic is at center-back for us this week after helping Manchester United keep a clean sheet against Everton on his return to the starting XI, and Ryan Taylor takes his place at left-back for his display in Newcastle United’s impressive win over Stoke City.
Elsewhere in defense, Micah Richards and Laurent Koscielny retain their places after making their first appearances in our XI last weekend. Richards once again staked his claim for a regular place in the England set-up with an excellent display for Manchester City against Wolves, while Koscielny was the best defender on show in the eight-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge.
We could quite easily have gone with Tottenham’s midfield five after its masterclass on Sunday, but only three - Scott Parker, Rafael van der Vaart and two-goal hero Gareth Bale - make the cut. Theo Walcott joins the Spurs trio in our XI after starring for Arsenal on Saturday, while Demba Ba makes his second appearance in the TOTW this season after his hat-trick against Stoke City.
For what must be the first time this season, David Silva did not come close to making our team. But one man closing in on the Spaniard’s tally of five TOTW appearances this season is Robin van Persie, who features for the third successive week and for the fourth time this campaign after his stunning hat-trick against Chelsea.
| KENNY |
 |
| QPR |
| vs Tottenham (A) |
| Player Rating: 8.5 |
| TOTW Apps: 1 |
| RICHARDS | KOSCIELNY | VIDIC | TAYLOR |
 |  |  |  |
| MAN CITY | ARSENAL | MAN UNITED | NEWCASTLE |
| vs Wolves (H) | vs Chelsea (A) | vs Everton (A) | vs Stoke (A) |
| Player Rating: 8 | Player Rating: 8 | Player Rating: 7.5 | Player Rating: 7.5 |
| TOTW Apps: 2 | TOTW Apps: 2 | TOTW Apps: 1 | TOTW Apps: 1 |
| WALCOTT | PARKER | VAN DER VAART | BALE |
 |  |  |  |
| ARSENAL | TOTTENHAM | TOTTENHAM | TOTTENHAM |
| vs Chelsea (A) | vs QPR (H) | vs QPR (H) | vs QPR (H) |
| Player Rating: 8.5 | Player Rating: 9 | Player Rating: 8.5 | Player Rating: 9 |
| TOTW Apps: 1 | TOTW Apps: 2 | TOTW Apps: 1 | TOTW Apps: 2 |
| BA | VAN PERSIE | ||
 |  | ||
| | NEWCASTLE | ARSENAL | |
| | vs Stoke (A) | vs Chelsea (A) | |
| | Player Rating: 9 | Player Rating: 9 | |
| TOTW Apps: 2 | TOTW Apps: 4 |
No comments:
Post a Comment