While Newcastle United were busy celebrating the end of their 70-year trophy drought after a richly-deserved EFL Cup final win over Liverpool, 16 of their Premier League rivals got to analysing their latest top-flight displays.
Arsenal kept their incredibly slim hopes of title glory alive with a forgettable 1-0 win over London rivals Chelsea, while third-placed Nottingham Forest remain in control of their Champions League destiny thanks to a 4-2 beating of Ipswich Town.
However, Manchester City's top-four hopes were dented in a 2-2 home draw with Brighton & Hove Albion - although fifth is likely to suffice for top-level European football next season - whereas neighbours Manchester United strode to a 3-0 win over a leaky Leicester City.
Down on the South Coast, Brentford boosted their European prospects while harming Bournemouth's in a 2-1 success at the Vitality, and Fulham also cannot be discounted in the top-seven race after a 2-0 victory over a timid Tottenham Hotspur.
Even further down the division, Everton's majestic unbeaten run continued in a 1-1 home draw versus West Ham United, but Southampton manager Ivan Juric has now consigned his team to the drop after a 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers at St Mary's.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League Team of the Week for the latest round of matches.
DEFENCE
© Imago
Exceptional goalkeeping displays were few and far between in this reduced gameweek, but Brentford number one Mark Flekken stood tall alongside the rest of his defence when Bournemouth came huffing and puffing; the Dutchman made five saves and could have done little about Vitaly Janelt's unfortunate own goal.
Flekken did concede to Everton's Jake O'Brien a couple of weeks ago, though, and the Everton right-back repeated his trick with a second headed goal in three Premier League matches to nab a point for the Toffees against West Ham, whom he also created three chances against from the right-back position.
Speaking of defenders both scoring and creating, Nottingham Forest's Nikola Milenkovic crashed home a thunderous volley to spark the goal-fest at Portman Road, before claiming an assist as his hopeful punt forward bounced all the way through to Anthony Elanga. So often the bridesmaid to Murillo's bride, it was Milenkovic's turn to hog the spotlight in East Anglia, where he also made a clearance off the line and won all four of his ground duels.
It would be little surprise to see interest in Forest's defenders grow this summer, and another man apparently on the radar of the big boys is Antonee Robinson. The Fulham left-back recently played down links with a switch to Liverpool and followed those comments up with another classy display versus Tottenham, making five tackles, two interceptions and registering four accurate long passes from five attempts.
MIDFIELD
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Days after bravely opening up about his fear of becoming addicted to sleep medication, Brentford's Christian Norgaard put in a true captain's performance at the Vitality Stadium, crashing home the winner against Bournemouth after the hosts failed to deal with a long throw and also losing just one of his eight duels on the ground and in the air combined.
Making the most of Matheus Cunha being out of the Wolves side through suspension, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde played the role of creator-in-chief in the victory over Southampton, providing both assists for Jorgen Strand Larsen while also winning seven of his nine ground duels, making four tackles and winning three free kicks.
Also doing his bit to send one of the newly-promoted sides straight back down, Forest wing wizard Anthony Elanga celebrated his first-ever senior brace at club level during Forest's success over Ipswich, firstly finding the bottom corner with panache before pouncing on a poor piece of Tractor Boys defending to poke home his second.
Sticking with the theme of ex-Manchester United players shining in gameweek 29, Fulham's Andreas Pereira laid on the assist for Rodrigo Muniz's first goal in the win over Tottenham, one of three chances he created on a day where he also got stuck in defensively with four tackles in the middle of the park.
From former Man United midfielders to current Red Devils lynchpins doing the business, Bruno Fernandes's pair of helpers for Ruben Amorim's side at Leicester saw the prolific Portuguese hit 50 Premier League assists, a tally only Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Eric Cantona previously managed for the club. After completing his playmaking work for the evening, Fernandes's crisp first-time finish capped off one of the finest displays of the Amorim era so far.
ATTACK
© Imago
No Cunha? No problem for Wolves or indeed Jorgen Strand Larsen, who as mentioned was the beneficiary of two Bellegarde assists at St Mary's, firstly powering home a header - which Aaron Ramsdale maybe could have done better with - before an accurate low finish into the far side of the net.
Also registering two crucial contributions in gameweek 29, Man City's shiny new toy Omar Marmoush continues to endear himself to the Etihad faithful. After winning a penalty for Erling Haaland to convert, the Egypt international rifled in a fabulous strike for the champions' second, albeit one that was not enough to clip the Seagulls' wings.
SPORTS MOLE'S PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week (3-5-2): Flekken; O'Brien, Milenkovic, Robinson; Bellegarde, Norgaard, B. Fernandes, Pereira, Elanga; Strand Larsen, Marmoush
Ben Knapton
