Premier League

Premier League Team of the Week - Trent Alexander-Arnold, Anthony Martial, Adama Traore

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 28 December 2019

Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 19, including Trent Alexander-Arnold, Anthony Martial and Adama Traore.

The Premier League reached its halfway stage for most teams just after Christmas as Liverpool's lead at the top of the table became even more commanding.

The runaway leaders hammered Leicester City 4-0 at the King Power Stadium to storm into a 13-point lead, which Manchester City failed to close as their 10 men fell to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Indeed, Liverpool were the only side in the top four to win, with Chelsea losing 2-0 at home to Southampton, allowing Tottenham Hotspur to close the gap on the Champions League places back to four points.

Manchester United came from behind to beat Newcastle United at Old Trafford, while there were mixed fortunes for new managers as Mikel Arteta saw his Arsenal side held by Bournemouth and Carlo Ancelotti's Everton beat Burnley.

Aston Villa picked up a crucial victory over relegation rivals Norwich City, which sent the Canaries to the bottom of the table when coupled with Watford's draw at Sheffield United.

Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 19.

There were a number of outstanding goalkeeping performances this weekend, with Tom Heaton and Alex McCarthy among them, but for the second gameweek in a row it is Ben Foster who gets the gloves. The Watford keeper made a couple of superb saves to earn his side a point, including one which is a real contender for save of the season.

Arguably the standout performance of the gameweek came from Trent Alexander-Arnold, though, as the Liverpool full-back ran riot against Leicester. The 21-year-old registered two assists, delivered the cross which forced a penalty and then capped off his display with the final goal as the Foxes were brushed aside.

In any other week Matt Doherty's match-winning performance against Man City would have earned him a spot, while Djibril Sidibe also deserves a mention, but it is a Liverpool duo at full-back with Andrew Robertson joining Alexander-Arnold in the back four.

Brighton were ultimately beaten by Spurs, but that was no fault of Adam Webster, who opened the scoring for the Seagulls and did a decent job of keeping Harry Kane quiet for the most part.

Kortney Hause joins Webster in the heart of the defence having kept a clean sheet in Villa's win over Norwich, winning eight aerial duels and five tackles to help keep the Canaries at bay.

While Alexander-Arnold stole the show for Liverpool, Naby Keita was also a driving force throughout the match in midfield and in front of him Roberto Firmino helped himself to a well-taken brace to continue his recent purple patch in front of goal.

Lucas Torreira was in contention for a spot in midfield, but Southampton's win at Stamford Bridge needed to be recognised and James Ward-Prowse was integral to that, running the show at times as the Saints picked up a crucial victory.

Wolves also deserve a player in the team for their own giant-killing over Man City, when Adama Traore was once again nigh-on unstoppable. Having scored twice in the reverse fixture, the speedster netted another and registered an assist at Molineux as Wolves completed the double over the champions.

At times it looks like Traore has all the tools to be one of the world's best players and, speaking of that, Jordan Ayew channelled his inner Lionel Messi for his stunning late winner against West Ham, dancing through defenders to add a magnificent goal to the assist he had already provided.

Jack Grealish, Mason Greenwood, Harry Kane, Raul Jimenez and Michail Antonio all deserve mentions in the forward areas, but Anthony Martial had to be included courtesy of his brace against Newcastle, particularly as only the inside of the post denied him his first senior hat-trick.