Team of the Week

Formation: 3-4-3

John Ruddy

Although the first half was a quiet one for Ruddy he never put a foot wrong all game and pulled off one of the saves of the season to deny Ashley Young. He looked very dominant from crosses as well.

Michael Turner

I could have easily picked all 4 of Norwich’s defence and their keeper, but that would have been boring so I limited it to 3. Turner has just poked his nose through ahead of Bassong as he was absolutely dominant in the air and dealt with the deadly partnership of Van Persie and Chicharito extremely well.

Javier Garrido

I was extremely impressed with this man at the weekend. To stop Antonio Valencia is no mean feat but the full back was confident enough to then get forward and support Norwich attacks. There was no more perfect example of Garrido’s positive play than his perfectly flighted cross onto the head of Anthony Pilkington for the only goal of the game.

Jose Enrique

A solid performance from Liverpool in a match I think everyone would have expected them to win at home. Enrique looked a little shaky in the first half, but never put a foot wrong in the second half, capping his performance off with the final goal of the game.

Anthony Pilkington

Got off to a very bright start and always looked dangerous. He scored a very nice header from a Javier Garrido cross.

David Silva

The little magician did it again. He is a player I never tire of watching, with his flawless touch and perfectly weighted passing. This helped contribute to Manchester City’s thrashing of an extremely poor Aston Villa side, a game in which he got two assists and a goal.

Santi Corzola

Corzola continued his fine start to the season running Tottenham ragged. After Adebayor was dismissed for his reckless challenge, it was Corzola in my opinion, who took the bull by the horns and really capitalised on Arsenal’s man advantage. The third goal really showed Corzola’s class. He attempted to wriggle his way through the Tottenham defence being fouled during the process. Another player (Luis Suarez for example) would have made a meal of the foul and gladly accepted a free kick. This was not the case for Corzola who continued on heroically, he managed to climb to his feet and continue his run, before crossing the ball to Olivier Giroud who finished the move off nicely.

Special mention has to go to Howard Webb; he had an excellent match, which was epitomised by his excellent advantage he gave to Corzola. 

Corzola capped his fine performance off with a goal in the second half.

Adam Johnson

Johnson has made an extremely disappointing start to the season, but showed good promise on Sunday by always looking a menace against Fulham’s defence. He got an overdue assist in a match that Sunderland fans will hope can kick start their season.

Luis Suarez

Like every match at the moment we see two sides to Luis Suarez. The genius who can turn a game on its head and score from just about anywhere and the prick everyone loves to hate. His stamp on Dave Jones saw him escape action, which looked to me as if it was intentional.

Having seen Fabricio Coliccini sent off and banned for three games, I can’t help but sense a lot of inconsistency within the FA after they refused to take action.

Back to the point Suarez’ footballing performance, after a quiet first half, Suarez came out all guns blazing to show us that he is more than just a little shit by bagging himself a brace.

Shane Long

Fernando Torres should maybe have had his note pad out for this one. Long has been up there as one of the players of the season so far this year. Had a fantastic game in West Brom’s hard fought victory over Chelsea, where he bagged a goal and an assist.

Adam Le Fondre

Reading have looked extremely weak so far this season and seem to be lacking up front. Le Fondre will be hoping to carry his form on Saturday into next weekend as he scored two.

~ Sam Lavery