Premier League Team of the Week IV feat. Liverpool and Manchester City stars

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Goalkeeper & Defence

Goalkeeper: Steve Mandanda (Crystal Palace)

The Crystal Palace goalkeeper has enjoyed a decent start to his stint at Selhurst Park, and he was pivotal between the sticks in Palace’s 2-1 victory away at Middlesbrough. He did superbly to deny Negredo twice and preserve the points for Palace, and continued his fine form with a save for the cameras from Ben Gibson, tipping his shot over the crossbar.

The recruitment of the shotstopper who serves as the understudy to Hugo Lloris in the French National Team is an example of some shrewd business in the transfer market by manager Alan Pardew, and if the man who made over 300 appearances for Marseille can continue in such form, he may just be a vital part of Palace’s bid to retain their top-flight status for yet another season.

Centre-Back: John Stones (Manchester City)

Several eyebrows were raised when Pep Guardiola splashed out a reported £47.5million to sign Yorkshireman Stones from Everton, particularly after displaying some very much hit and miss form last campaign at Goodison Park. He has however made a sterling start to life at the Etihad, and he proved just how invaluable he is to the Citizens with a composed and steady performance during the 2-1 Manchester Derby triumph even in the wake of the jittery antics of debutant goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

It was a close pick between Stones and centre-half partner Nicolas Otamendi for a centre-half berth here, but Stones pips it, having made a match-high total of 12 clearances from inside his own penalty area to pull Chilean shotstopper Bravo out of trouble. He was also critical as a cool head in the City rearguard as they were forced to dig in during the second half in the face of United’s aerial bombardment. It looks as if Stones is beginning to get back to his best under Guardiola at Manchester City, and it can only be good news from an England perspective as the young defender continues to prove himself as one of the country’s hottest young prospects in defence.

Centre-Back: Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)

Besides scoring a perfectly executed overhead kick more fitting to the name of a player in the bracket of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, the Frenchman showed his vast quality defensively and his huge importance for the Gunners in their late win over Southampton.

When the hosts were toiling in attack, Koscielny’s moment of magic following Santi Cazorla’s corner hauled the hosts back into the contest against a well-drilled Saints side, a perfect way to celebrate his birthday. He also became the fifth Arsenal player to achieve the feat, joining the list of Paul Merson, Robert Pires, Yossi Benayoun and teammate Santi Cazorla, who bagged the winner from the penalty spot. A fitting belated birthday gift to include him in our pick of the week.

Centre-Back: Jose Holebas (Watford)

Former Olympiakos man Holebas was a key component in Watford’s sensational comeback at West Ham United. His impressive afternoon arguably began following a perfectly timed yet crunching challenge on the returning Dimitri Payet, who had earlier pulled a ridiculous rabona cross out of his locker to provide Michail Antonio with the simplest of headed finishes for the Hammers’ second of the afternoon.

Following Holebas’ heavy challenge, the Frenchman’s influence on the game waned, and Holebas took charge in defence winning all four of his aerial duels against West Ham’s forward line, before putting the gloss on Watford’s recovery with a finish from outside the area which managed to elude goalkeeper Adrian and condemn the hosts to a sorry defeat.