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December 26, 2012

Players from Chelsea and Liverpool feature heavily in our Premier League Team of the Week. Find out who else made the grade.

Chelsea were in the festive mood and they had their fans signing from start to finish with an 8-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Liverpool also inflicted heavy defeat on their opponents – on this occasion it was Fulham who felt the full force of the Reds. Steven Gerrard and Stewart Downing impressed for Liverpool in Saturday’s 4-0 win.
There were also wins for Manchester City and Everton while Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Swansea.
We’ve gone with a 4-4-2 formation.

GK: Adam Federici (Reading)
I almost put Aston Villa’s Brad Guzan in the Team of the Week because he was virtually playing the entire Chelsea XI by himself. But as a matter of a principle I just couldn’t select a goalkeeper that conceded eight goals so I went with Reading’s Adam Federici instead.
The Reading goalie frustrated the Premier League champions Manchester City for 90 minutes and was unlucky to concede a slightly contentious stoppage time goal in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat.

RB: Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City)
Manchester City have yet to hit top gear but they still remain very much in the hunt to retain their Premier League title. It is fair to say that not everyone at City is pulling their weight at the moment but you can’t throw that accusation at Pablo Zabaleta.
The full-back has been in terrific form and if it wasn’t for his persistence – and cross for Gareth Barry’s winning goal – City would not have eked out Saturday’s 1-0 win over Reading.

LB: Patrice Evra (Manchester United)
Its been a funny old season for Manchester United at the back. The current side is suffering from defenders who can’t defend yet look the part at the offensive end. Patrice Evra is a perfect example of this during Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Swansea. The Frenchman did superbly well to score with a header from a United corner but then was caught out of position for the Swans’ equaliser.
However, you can’t level the blame of Sunday’s dropped points at Evra’s feet. United certainly created enough chances to win the match – Evra was key here.

CB: Martin Skrtel (Liverpool)
To be honest, Saturday’s Premier League action felt dull until the late kick-off between Liverpool and Fulham. The goal which brought the weekend to life was a peach from Reds defender Martin Skrtel. A nice touch to control the ball before unleashing an unstoppable volley to open the floodgates for Liverpool on their way to a 4-0 win over Fulham.

CB: Robert Huth (Stoke)
Stoke are getting a lot of stick for the way their defenders grapple opponents during set-pieces. I don’t really buy into the whole idea of singling out Tony Pulis’s side because that would be saying other teams are not guilty of this. The difference is Stoke do it from the first minute while other teams probably only adopt this style when the game is tight and they are desperate to hang on to a result.
Therefore, I have no issue in naming Stoke’s Robert Huth into my Team of the Week for the great defensive job he did on Tottenham in Saturday’s goalless draw.

RM: Stewart Downing (Liverpool)
Stewart Downing finally “played” a game for Liverpool. The England midfielder has done so little in a Liverpool shirt since joining the Anfield club in the summer of 2011. As a result, Saturday’s starring role in the 4-0 win over Fulham was a game of firsts for Downing – his first league goal and assist. Not bad considering he was played on the right.

LM: Steven Pienaar (Everton)
Everton proved they can win without banned midfielder Marouane Fellaini by securing a 2-1 win at West Ham United on Saturday. The Belgian has been instrumental in Everton’s rise to the UEFA Champions League places and so manager David Moyes will have been a relieved man to see Steven Pienaar step up in Fellaini’s absence to take responsibility for the team. The South African’s winning goal keeps the Toffees within touching distance of third-placed Chelsea.

CM: David Luiz (Chelsea)
Chelsea may have put eight goals past Aston Villa on Sunday but in my opinion none were better than David Luiz’s free-kick effort. It was reminiscent of how Didier Drogba used to hit them for the Blues and that guy knew a thing or two about the art of scoring.
It was not just Luiz’s goal which earns him a place in the Team of the Week, though, as you may have already noticed I’ve listed him in central midfield. Played just in front of the back-four, Luiz looked right at home in the Obi Mikel role and the African must be a worried man this Monday morning.

CM: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Competition in midfield is tough this week given Chelsea’s hammering of Aston Villa but there was no way I was going to leave out Steven Gerrard. The Liverpool skipper has been in patchy form this season as he adjusts to having a new midfield partner in Joe Allen. However, we saw the Gerrard of old in Liverpool’s 4-0 destruction of Fulham as he scored a goal and laid on two assists in the victory.

ST: Michu (Swansea)
You can’t guard at him at the moment. Manchester United had both Jonny Evans and Nemanja Vidic paying close attention to Michu during Sunday’s 1-1 draw but it didn’t matter. The Swansea striker was still able to react quickest to score his side’s equaliser from a rebound. Admittedly, it wasn’t his most commanding performance this season but it was significant in proving a point to any doubters of his ability.

ST: Fernando Torres (Chelsea)
Fernando Torres was in the mood against Aston Villa right from the start. His beautifully taken header after just three minutes set the Blues on their way to an emphatic 8-0 win on Sunday.

Courtesy: ESPN STAR

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