Another weekend of Premier League football is done and dusted, and the next time that the 20 clubs take to the field on English turf, Christmas Day will have been and gone and the destiny of the World Cup will have been decided.
Heading into the mid-season break, Arsenal beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 to extend their lead at the top of the table to five points after Manchester City went down 2-1 at home to Brentford.
Newcastle United continue to maintain their grip on a podium place after beating Chelsea 1-0, while Tottenham Hotspur are clinging onto fourth after edging past Leeds United 4-3.
Manchester United are knocking on the top-four door after leaving it late to beat Fulham 2-1, while Liverpool entered the break on a high by beating Southampton 3-1.
Unai Emery made it two Premier League wins from two with Aston Villa, who overcame Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1, while Leicester City's revival continued with a 2-0 win over West Ham United.
Finally, Bournemouth beat Everton for the second time in the space of the week - this one ending 3-0 - while Nottingham Forest boosted their survival prospects with a 1-0 success over Crystal Palace.
For the final time before the World Cup, Sports Mole picks its Premier League Team of the Week for the latest round of fixtures.
DEFENCE
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Leicester City number one Danny Ward may have struggled to display his qualities as a Premier League-level goalkeeper in the early portions of the season, but the Welshman has certainly grown into his role and was a key factor in the Foxes' win over West Ham, making six big saves to preserve his clean sheet.
Ward is not the only member of the Foxes backline to force his way into our XI, as Daniel Amartey very nearly found the back of the net after a Joel Matip-like run from the back. Lukasz Fabianski kept that one out, but Amartey shone in the backline too, recording two tackles, two interceptions and a 91% pass accuracy on the day.
Keeping Man City and Erling Braut Haaland largely at bay certainly justifies the selection of at least one Brentford defender, and Zanka was, to put it simply, a rock. With 10 clearances, six blocks and three interceptions, the towering Dane was an immovable force at the back.
Finally, the red half of Merseyside equalled the blue half at the weekend, as Andy Robertson set up two of Liverpool's goals against Southampton to make it 53 Premier League assists - the joint-most for a defender alongside ex-Everton left-back Leighton Baines, and one can imagine that the Scotsman will soon surpass that tally.
MIDFIELD
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For the second weekend in a row, the contributions came flying in for Bournemouth's Marcus Tavernier, who was on hand to slot home for Bournemouth after Jordan Pickford's error before heading the ball back across goal for Kieffer Moore to add to the Cherries' tally in another thumping win over Frank Lampard's men.
There was no shortage of standout midfield performances this weekend, with Rodrigo Bentancur once again proving why he is an indispensable member of the Tottenham XI, chesting the ball down and slotting home a deflected effort against Leeds before settling the seven-goal thriller with a tap-in to claim a priceless three points for his side.
Prior to strutting his stuff for Denmark at the World Cup, Christian Eriksen was not quite the hero of the hour for Man United against Fulham - that title went to Alejandro Garnacho - but Eriksen provided the slide-rule pass for the 18-year-old's last-minute winner, having already broken the deadlock at Craven Cottage as he proves his importance to the Red Devils.
With Gabriel Jesus unable to put the ball into the back of the net, the goals are being shared around the Arsenal team at the moment, and Martin Odegaard got both of them against Wolves - tapping home following a neat move before powering home after a mini-pinball episode in the box in a true captain's performance to send the Gunners five points clear.
While Leeds can count themselves very unlucky not to have come away from North London with at least a point, Rodrigo left the turf with his head held high, having fired a volley past Hugo Lloris - which the Frenchman should arguably have done better with - before doubling his tally from a tight angle in a superb individual display.
ATTACK
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Uruguay head coach Diego Alonso will be licking his lips after watching Darwin Nunez slowly come good at Liverpool, and the striker was central to the Reds' success over Southampton, scoring a well-taken side-footed volley before finishing off a quickly-taken free kick, and his strong all-round play was also a feature of his eye-catching performance at Anfield.
How should one react to missing out on making their country's squad for the biggest football tournament on the globe? By scoring a 98th-minute winner against the Premier League champions. Only two days on from learning he would not be going to the World Cup with England, Ivan Toney lifted a header over Ederson before darting past Ilkay Gundogan to complete a sensational win for Brentford at the Etihad, and the 26-year-old has certainly proven a point or two to Gareth Southgate.
SPORTS MOLE'S PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK
Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week (3-4-1-2): Ward; Zanka, Amartey, Robertson; Tavernier, Bentancur, Eriksen, Rodrigo; Odegaard; Toney, Nunez
Ben Knapton
