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Premier League Team of the Week - Phil Foden, William Saliba, Pape Sarr

Sports Mole picks its Premier League Team of the Week, including Phil Foden, William Saliba and Pape Sarr.

There was not a single stalemate to be had in gameweek two of the 2023-24 Premier League season, as 18 teams shared 27 goals between them while Luton Town and Burnley's proposed encounter was postponed.

Manchester City maintained their perfect start to their title defence by overcoming Newcastle United 1-0, but Brighton & Hove Albion currently lead the pack thanks to a second successive 4-1 drubbing, this time over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The only other team with two wins from two are Arsenal, who occupy the final spot on the podium courtesy of their nervy 1-0 beating of Crystal Palace, while there were celebrations on the other side of North London as Tottenham Hotspur saw off Manchester United 2-0.

Liverpool came from behind to put Bournemouth to the sword 3-1 at Anfield, but Chelsea remain without a win this term, as West Ham United bested their London rivals 3-1.

In another capital derby, Brentford strolled past a shot-shy Fulham 3-0, while Everton's problems persisted in a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of a rejuvenated Aston Villa team.

Here, Sports Mole picks its Premier League Team of the Week for the latest round of fixtures.



DEFENCE

Brighton & Hove Albion's Pervis Estupinan celebrates scoring their third goal on May 14, 2023© Reuters

Stepping into Hugo Lloris's boots is a tough act to follow, but Tottenham's new number one Guglielmo Vicario endeared himself to the Lilywhites faithful against Man United, making six stops and even succeeding with 92% of his passes in a memorable home debut.

From a current Spurs player to a former one, Serge Aurier rolled back the years with a brilliant playmaking display during Forest's success over Sheffield United, providing two pinpoint crosses for Taiwo Awoniyi and Chris Wood to help the Tricky Trees see off the Blades.

Sticking with the North London theme, Arsenal had to quell a wave of Palace attacks after Takehiro Tomiyasu's contentious red card at Selhurst Park, and the Gunners were indebted to the efforts of William Saliba. The Frenchman's regular defensive partner Gabriel Magalhaes may be out in the cold at the moment, but Saliba stepped up against Palace with eight clearances, two interceptions and two out of two aerial duels won, akin to his stellar display on his Premier League debut at Selhurst Park last year.

Elsewhere in the capital, Brentford's attackers unsurprisingly took most of the plaudits against Fulham, but Ethan Pinnock's defensive contributions did not go unnoticed, as the Bees centre-back won five of his six aerial battles, made six clearances and even created two chances in an outstanding display.

Finally, Brighton left-back Pervis Estupinan made a lot of fantasy football managers happy with his scintillating showing in the Seagulls' thumping of Wolves, finding the back of the net with a composed first-time strike after registering an assist by playing the ball out to Kaoru Mitoma for his astonishing solo goal.



MIDFIELD

Manchester City's Phil Foden pictured in August 2023© Reuters

Pape Sarr's time under Antonio Conte at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a forgettable period for the young Senegalese midfielder, but he has been given a new lease of life under Ange Postecoglou and deservedly netted his first Lilywhites goal in their beating of Man United, meeting Dejan Kulusevski's cross to the back post and crashing home before earning high praise from his manager.

Both Man United and Chelsea succumbed to midfield masterclasses at the weekend, and the Blues felt the full force of West Ham new boy James Ward-Prowse. Taking just seven minutes to show off his set-piece superiority, the ex-Southampton skipper registered his first assist with a delightful corner for Nayef Aguerd, before flicking the ball over the top for Michail Antonio to bag the Irons' second in a wonderful London Stadium inauguration.

No Kevin De Bruyne? No problem for Manchester City or Phil Foden, who produced one of his finest individual displays in recent memory to help propel the champions to victory over Newcastle. Enjoying the freedom of the final third, the England international's cutback found Julian Alvarez to fire home the winner - one of seven chances he created on the day - while all three of his dribble attempts also came off during a man-of-the-match display.



ATTACK

Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo celebrates scoring their second goal on August 19, 2023© Reuters

Revealing that he has been set a target of 15 goals for the Premier League season, Brighton's unexpected success story Solly March - who opened his account against Luton Town last weekend - is already a fifth of the way there thanks to his brace at Molineux, firstly sending a thunderous close-range strike into the roof of the net before once again latching onto a Julio Enciso delivery to bag his second off the post.

Roberto De Zerbi's prolific attacking forces should strike fear into the hearts of most Premier League teams nowadays, and on the opposite side to March, Kaoru Mitoma will be giving Wolves defenders and fans nightmares for weeks to come. The Japanese wing king utilised every inch of his dribbling mastery to score a magnificent individual goal - running over 40 yards before making the net bulge - before returning the favour to Estupinan by cutting back for the Ecuadorian to score one himself.

Brentford also had an in-form attacking duo to thank for their three-goal win at Fulham, where Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa continued to deputise expertly in the absence of Ivan Toney. While both men could have easily earned a spot in our Team of the Week, we have sided for Mbeumo, who calmly stroked home a penalty off the post before tapping home from a couple of yards out to complete a derby drubbing.



SPORTS MOLE'S PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM OF THE WEEK

PL TOTW GW2

Sports Mole's Premier League Team of the Week (4-3-3): Vicario; Aurier, Saliba, Pinnock, Estupinan; Sarr, Ward-Prowse, Foden; March, Mbeumo, Mitoma

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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


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