MX23RW : Wednesday, December 25 14:08:01| >> :120:21038:21038:

Premier League Team of the Week - Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane, Alexandre Lacazette

Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 36, including Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane and Alexandre Lacazette.

Just two gameweeks remain in the 2019-20 Premier League season, and the top-four race in particular continues to provide plenty of drama and intrigue.

Chelsea, Leicester City and Manchester United all returned to winning ways during gameweek 36, having slipped up last weekend, to leave only one point separating the three sides from third to fifth.

The race for Europa League football is still up in the air too with Tottenham Hotspur taking full advantage of Sheffield United's defeat, and Arsenal beating champions Liverpool to keep themselves in the mix too.

At the bottom, West Ham United picked up a priceless victory over fellow strugglers Watford to all but secure their survival, but Bournemouth lost again and Aston Villa were denied a crucial win at Everton by a late equaliser.

Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 36.



PL TOTW GW36

For the second gameweek in a row, we have been forced into a rather unorthodox formation given the disproportionate number of impressive attacking performances, but that is not to say that there was no competition at the back either.

Goalkeeper is a good example of that, where Manchester United's David de Gea gets the nod courtesy of some fine saves to keep a clean sheet against Crystal Palace, just about pipping Arsenal's Emiliano Martinez to the gloves.

Cesar Azpilicueta's ability to play anywhere in defence comes in handy for this team as we switch him from right-back to the right side of a back three, with the Spaniard helping Chelsea to a much-needed clean sheet against Norwich.

We have also made the most of Declan Rice's versatility to drop him back into defence after the England international put in a man-of-the-match showing against Watford, scoring a fine third goal for his side while also making more passes, interceptions and winning the ball back more often than any other West Ham player.

Brighton & Hove Albion's Lewis Dunk completes the back three having made more clearances, blocks and interceptions than anyone else on the park during his side's draw with Southampton.

Both Wilfred Ndidi and Tomas Soucek could sit in deeper roles in this XI, but we have gone for Ndidi slightly behind the rest of the midfield to make up for the more attacking wide players and give them more license to get forward.

Ndidi won a whopping 10 tackles in Leicester's win over Sheffield United - more than twice as many as anyone else - while Soucek continued his recent purple patch in front of goal, his impressive header being one of 15 aerial duels he won in that game - also more than double the amount anyone else managed.

The defensive solidity those two provide would give David Silva free rein to pull the strings as he did once again against Bournemouth, lighting up an otherwise unspectacular Man City performance with a stunning free kick and the assist for what proved to be the winner.

Across Manchester, United are building an attack with numerous potent weapons and it was Marcus Rashford who shone brightest against Palace on Thursday, matching Silva's haul with a goal and an assist to hold off competition from Allan Saint-Maximin for a place in this week's team.

On the opposite flank, Michail Antonio made it five goals in two games this week with his crucial early opener against Watford, but as with the last XI he is shunted out to the right to make room for our front two, having beaten Adama Traore and Junior Stanislas to a place in the team.

There was plenty of competition for those two striking roles, with Jamie Vardy and Olivier Giroud worthy of particular mentions, but we have gone for the North London duo of Alexandre Lacazette and Harry Kane.

There is no doubt that Liverpool gifted Arsenal the game at the Emirates, but it still needed Lacazette in clinical form to take advantage of rare defensive errors as the Frenchman once again made the most of the suspended Eddie Nketiah's absence with a goal and an assist.

Kane, meanwhile, was the only player to score more than once in the Premier League this gameweek, with his match-winning brace against Newcastle United not only keeping Spurs in the battle for European football but also taking him past 200 career goals at club level.

ID:407031: cacheID:407031:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:7868:
Written by
Barney Corkhill
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Manchester United striker Mason Greenwood celebrates scoring against Bournemouth on July 4, 2020
Read Next:
PL Team of the Week - Fernandes, Greenwood, Rashford
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool16123137162139
2Chelsea17105237191835
3Arsenal1796234161833
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest179442319431
5Bournemouth178452721628
6Aston Villa178452626028
7Manchester CityMan City178362925427
8Newcastle UnitedNewcastle177552721626
9Fulham176742422225
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton176742726125
11Tottenham HotspurSpurs1772839251423
12Brentford177283232023
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd176472122-122
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham175572230-820
15Everton163761421-716
16Crystal Palace173771826-816
17Leicester CityLeicester173592137-1614
18Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1733112740-1312
19Ipswich TownIpswich172691632-1612
20Southampton1713131136-256


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!