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Premier League Team Of The Week: Round 29
Every week Goal.com's Alan Dawson picks out his best performers in the Premier League.
18-Mar-2009 1:30:56 AM
BEST XI
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Goalkeeper
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)
Put in a sterling performance between the sticks for the Cottagers. Recovered from an early fumble to thwart a number of strikes that could have swung the game back in Bolton Wanderer's favour.
Defence
Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal)
Yes, he's been deployed further up-field of late, but he can still be a force at right-back. He was only on the pitch for about eight minutes but in that time he gave the Gunners a new lease of life with his effervescent forward drives, a willingness to penetrate, and his poaching efforts were rewarded when he toed in an Andrey Arshavin rebound, followed by a penalty conversion. If football films were renamed, they'd be called "When Saturday Comes, I'm Going Disco." I've long maintained that the oft-maligned versatile Ivorian will eventually emerge into a glorious cult hero, and the Duke of banter is half way there.
Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur)
How many top quality athletes - in any sport - can get away without training, just turning up to do your bizz on a matchday after a short warm-up perhaps the day prior, and then go on to stifle one of the few teams in the country who can threaten the top four's monopoly of the Champions League places? If there's another you know of, tell Harry, because he's happy as larry with Ledley.
Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur)
Partnered King to tremendous effect. When the pair are on form they transmit confidence throughout the zones in front of them, and this could be key if the Spurs' ambitions of a top seven finish - after such an atrocious start - are to be realised, then a rigid rearguard will be key.
Fabio Aurelio (Liverpool)
Like Eboue, Aurelio's versatility is an asset to his side and the Brazilian has emerged as man of the match in a number of games from starting in midfield. Playing again in defence, he plugged holes in the back-line, and doubled the club's lead with a free-kick that left Edwin van der Sar rooted to the spot.
Midfield
Marouane Fellaini (Everton)
He's going to be a beast.
Michael Essien (Chelsea)
Chelsea's midfield has been lambasted this season for being too 'one-paced'. Enter Essien. The man is a midfield machine, charging up and down the pitch, and directly influencing the outcome of the fixture with his match-winning first-half goal that kept the Blues' title hopes alive.
Attack
Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur)
With a set of World Cup qualifiers just around the corner, Aaron Lennon's recent performances will have surely done the shortest player on the books out of any Premier League club no harm in the eyes of Italian tactician Fabio Capello.
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
His performances against both Real Madrid and Manchester United - two historical heavyweights of European football - prompted legendary attack-minded midfielder Zinedine Zidane to label Gerrard as the world's best. No longer can comparisons be made between the scouse, and Chelsea player Frank Lampard... not because of any gulf in talent, they are both awesome in their own right, but because the former is now being deployed as a second striker, while the latter remains a midfielder.
Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal)
Foreign imports are granted a six month settling-in period, but after a fistful of games, together with a quartet of assists and a goal to boot, Arshavin has already arrived. The Ooijer own-goal was due to the Russian playmaker's dangerous run, and the part-time fashion designer - who is used to overseeing fine crochet work - ended up getting Paul Robinson up in knots over finishing from a seemingly impossibly acute angle for the team's second.
Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
Regular visitors of this column will be familiar with the accolade train that Nemanja Vidic had been riding. Push-ups for instance, had been banned from the Serb's training regime, as staff at United's Carrington training ground were worried that Vidic would have pushed the Earth out of it's orbit, such is his strength on, and off the ball. He has been a reliable, and consistent performer, yet was made to look second-best time and time again when up against Spanish hitman Fernando Torres.
Honourable Mentions
Clint Dempsey (Fulham)
Joleon Lescott (Everton)
Geovanni (Hull)
Charles N'Zogbia (Wigan)
Chris Kirkland (Wigan)
Glen Johnson (Portsmouth)
Sami Hyypia (Liverpool)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
Alan Dawson, Goal.com
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Goalkeeper
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)
Put in a sterling performance between the sticks for the Cottagers. Recovered from an early fumble to thwart a number of strikes that could have swung the game back in Bolton Wanderer's favour.
Defence
Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal)
Yes, he's been deployed further up-field of late, but he can still be a force at right-back. He was only on the pitch for about eight minutes but in that time he gave the Gunners a new lease of life with his effervescent forward drives, a willingness to penetrate, and his poaching efforts were rewarded when he toed in an Andrey Arshavin rebound, followed by a penalty conversion. If football films were renamed, they'd be called "When Saturday Comes, I'm Going Disco." I've long maintained that the oft-maligned versatile Ivorian will eventually emerge into a glorious cult hero, and the Duke of banter is half way there.
Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur)
How many top quality athletes - in any sport - can get away without training, just turning up to do your bizz on a matchday after a short warm-up perhaps the day prior, and then go on to stifle one of the few teams in the country who can threaten the top four's monopoly of the Champions League places? If there's another you know of, tell Harry, because he's happy as larry with Ledley.
Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur)
Partnered King to tremendous effect. When the pair are on form they transmit confidence throughout the zones in front of them, and this could be key if the Spurs' ambitions of a top seven finish - after such an atrocious start - are to be realised, then a rigid rearguard will be key.
Fabio Aurelio (Liverpool)
Like Eboue, Aurelio's versatility is an asset to his side and the Brazilian has emerged as man of the match in a number of games from starting in midfield. Playing again in defence, he plugged holes in the back-line, and doubled the club's lead with a free-kick that left Edwin van der Sar rooted to the spot.
Midfield
Marouane Fellaini (Everton)
He's going to be a beast.
Michael Essien (Chelsea)
Chelsea's midfield has been lambasted this season for being too 'one-paced'. Enter Essien. The man is a midfield machine, charging up and down the pitch, and directly influencing the outcome of the fixture with his match-winning first-half goal that kept the Blues' title hopes alive.
Attack
Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur)
With a set of World Cup qualifiers just around the corner, Aaron Lennon's recent performances will have surely done the shortest player on the books out of any Premier League club no harm in the eyes of Italian tactician Fabio Capello.
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
His performances against both Real Madrid and Manchester United - two historical heavyweights of European football - prompted legendary attack-minded midfielder Zinedine Zidane to label Gerrard as the world's best. No longer can comparisons be made between the scouse, and Chelsea player Frank Lampard... not because of any gulf in talent, they are both awesome in their own right, but because the former is now being deployed as a second striker, while the latter remains a midfielder.
Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal)
Foreign imports are granted a six month settling-in period, but after a fistful of games, together with a quartet of assists and a goal to boot, Arshavin has already arrived. The Ooijer own-goal was due to the Russian playmaker's dangerous run, and the part-time fashion designer - who is used to overseeing fine crochet work - ended up getting Paul Robinson up in knots over finishing from a seemingly impossibly acute angle for the team's second.
Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
Regular visitors of this column will be familiar with the accolade train that Nemanja Vidic had been riding. Push-ups for instance, had been banned from the Serb's training regime, as staff at United's Carrington training ground were worried that Vidic would have pushed the Earth out of it's orbit, such is his strength on, and off the ball. He has been a reliable, and consistent performer, yet was made to look second-best time and time again when up against Spanish hitman Fernando Torres.
Schwarzer
Eboue - King - Woodgate - Aurelio
Essien - Fellaini
Lennon - Gerrard - Arshavin
Torres
Eboue - King - Woodgate - Aurelio
Essien - Fellaini
Lennon - Gerrard - Arshavin
Torres
Honourable Mentions
Clint Dempsey (Fulham)
Joleon Lescott (Everton)
Geovanni (Hull)
Charles N'Zogbia (Wigan)
Chris Kirkland (Wigan)
Glen Johnson (Portsmouth)
Sami Hyypia (Liverpool)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
Alan Dawson, Goal.com
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