Premier League Team of the Week: Gameweek 12

As the season moves into its third international break, we look back at another action-packed weekend in the Premier League. The headlines were once again grabbed by defending champions Chelsea, who suffered their third consecutive Premier League defeat in a 1-0 defeat to Mark Hughes's Stoke City. New Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp suffered his first defeat in his tenure, as his side fell to a late Scott Dann winner, making it a second victory for Crystal Palace at Anfield this calendar year.This weekend also saw the North-London derby, where Arsenal were lucky to get a point out of the game thanks to Mesut Ozil's invidual brilliance after being thoroughly outplayed by Spurs. Other results saw Jesse Lingard score his first Manchester United goal with a lovely finish to help Louis van Gaal's side register a 2-0 victory over a defensively well-drilled West Brom side. Newcastle earned their first away victory of the season at Bournemouth thanks to a goal by Ayoze Perez, Newcastle's only shot on target. However, their north-east rivals Sunderland continued their stuttering start to the season, losing 1-0 at home to a resurgent Southampton.So who are the lucky XI to feature in the Team of the Week this time?Formation: 5-4-1

#1 Goalkeeper

Rob Elliot – Newcastle

Newcastle won their first game of the season away from St. James Park but were dominated by an injury-hit Bournemouth for most of the game. If Steve McClaren had to thank a single player for the 3 points, it had to be their goalkeeper Rob Elliot.

Deputizing in goal for an injured Tim Krul, Elliot helped his side keep a clean sheet with a series of great saves to deny Joshua King twice, Dan Gosling and Matt Ritchie.

#2 Defenders

Scott Dann – Crystal Palace

Centre-back Scott Dann has been in fine form for Palace this season, and his performance at Anfield against a revived Liverpool rubber-stamped his authority at the back for Alan Pardew’s side. His focused performance kept the physically threatening Christian Benteke at bay, making 3 aerial clearances and 7 in total.

His 82nd-minute winner to hand the Eagles all three points made it a day for Liverpool fan Dann to remember at Anfield.

Wes Morgan – Leicester City

Leicester City’s club captain Wes Morgan made an authoritative display at the back for Leicester City, winning all 4 aerial duels he was involved in and making 3 key interceptions to disrupt the partnership between Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney.

The Jamaican’s performance warranted a clean sheet, only to be denied by a Deeney penalty, conceded by goalscorer N’Golo Kante.

Virgil van Dijk – Southampton

Since joining Southampton from Celtic this summer, Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk has been a rock alongside Jose Fonte at the back for Ronald Koeman, and Saturday was no different. His strength and solidity at the back ensured the Sunderland attackers were unable to open up the Saints’ defence on a regular basis.

With 14 aerial duels won, 12 clearances and 3 successful tackles out of 3, Van Dijk kept centre-forwards Fabio Borini and Steven Fletcher goal-shy throughout the game.

Bacary Sagna – Manchester City

The former Arsenal man once again played a magnificent game at right-back, making as many as 8 clearances and 4 pinpoint tackles to keep left-winger and former Manchester City player Scott Sinclair at arms length through the course of the 90 minutes.

With Pablo Zabaleta sitting out with an injury, Sagna seems to making the most of his opportunities to make the first-team right-back position his own.

Jordan Amavi – Aston Villa

With just one point in their last 10 games, the onus was on Aston Villa to respond to their horrible start to the season, and in new manager Remi Garde’s first game in charge, it was left-back Jordan Amavi who impressed the most at Villa Park to deny table-toppers Manchester City a victory.

The pacey full-back used that attribute to his full extent on Sunday, making 4 successful dribbles. He also helped his centre-backs out in defence, making 4 crucial interceptions to ensure Kevin De Bruyne did not get the service he needed up front to convert crosses into goals.

#3 Midfielders

Jesse Lingard – Manchester United

The 22-year-old made his first start for Manchester United against West Bromwich Albion, and what a day it turned out to be for the Englishman. He was heavily involved in his side’s attacks throughout the game, and capped it off with a wonderful curling effort from outside the box to beat Boaz Myhill and score United’s first goal in 3 Premier League games. His presence of mind on the pitch to dispossess the opponent on 4 occasions and technical brilliance in possession of the ball to complete 2 dribbles bodes very well for Man United in future games to come.

Mousa Dembele – Tottenham Hotspur

Dembele’s rapid rise as an attacking midfielder saw another team on the receiving end of it – this time being North London rivals Arsenal. His vision and swift approach towards the opposition goal created all sorts of problems for the Arsenal defence, shielding midfielder Francis Coquelin in particular.

The Belgian got the better of his opponents on 5 occasions as far as one-on-one dribbling was concerned, while also making 7 successful tackles to ensure the Arsenal players were never really able to get the ball out of their half too many times to create enough goal scoring opportunities.

Mesut Ozil – Arsenal

This man never seems to not make it to the Team of the Week, his performances have been that sublime. For all of Tottenham’s domination, the German made the most use of whenever the ball came at his feet, finding spaces in the Spurs defence and eventually delivering the perfect cross for Kieran Gibbs to score the equaliser and give Arsenal an underserved point at the Emirates.

Manuel Lanzini – West Ham United

The West Ham loanee from Al-Jazira continued his impressive start to the season, scoring his fourth goal for West Ham with a lovely composed finish to beat Tim Howard and give the Hammers the lead against Merseyside club Everton. The quality provided by the Argentine while going forward gave Ramiro Funes Mori plenty of problems to deal with at the back.

With a 94% pass success rate, he almost always threatened to open up the Toffees’ defence whenever West Ham initiated an attack up front.

#4 Attack

Harry Kane – Tottenham Hotspur

The 22-year-old striker seems to have laid his early season rustiness to rest. His composure to meet a long Danny Rose pass and beat Petr Cech was indicative of the fact that his confidence as a striker had returned.

He was busy in the Arsenal penalty area, having the luxury of 6 shots on goal, 2 of which were on target. With six goals in his last four games, manager Mauricio Pochettino will be hopeful the Englishman can maintain this form in front of goal and keep Spurs’ unbeaten run in the Premier League going.