Premier League: Team of the Week XVII feat. Manchester United and Spurs stars

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Right-Midfield: Jesse Lingard (Manchester United)

Former England boss Glenn Hoddle once described this man as a full-back’s worst nightmare. The football world has been waiting for him to live up to that billing for some time, and on this occasion he showed the Premier League a little of what he’s truly capable of at the Hawthorns.

Lingard made two key passes  in his 77 minutes against West Brom, more than any other player, and the homegrown United star made the Red Devils’ opener, with a pinpoint cross to lay on a quite brilliant assist for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

For Lingard now, the key will be consistently, having shown flashes of his potential in fits and starts. It is now time to prove that this was no flash in the pan, and sustain such a level of performance consistently. Do so, and his United and international prospects will be all the rosier.

Centre-Midfield: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)

A goal down at home in a key match against Arsenal early on, Manchester City needed their main man. In the absence of the suspended Sergio Aguero, midfielder Kevin de Bruyne duly stepped up to the plate and catalysed a quite remarkable turnaround.

The Belgian did everything to try to get City back in the game in the first-half, and when the opening 45 failed to yield a breakthrough, he put in a quite superb second-half performance, dictating a tempo and intensity of play in midfield for City which Arsenal simply couldn’t cope with. He was the driving force behind everything good about City, making seven key passes in the game, more than any other player, and laying on a wonderful cross-field ball assist for Raheem Sterling’s winner.

The Belgian has been absolutely brilliant for City, and they have missed his influence and craft sorely when out of action. If Guardiola’s side do manage to haul back the ground on Chelsea and win  remarkable title race this season, much of that will undoubtedly be down to the brilliance of this man.

Centre-Midfield: Adam Forshaw (Middlesbrough)

The former Brentford and Wigan man went a little under the radar having scored no goals in midfield this week. However, after becoming the first Premier League player to successfully complete every single one of his passes in a Premier League game, it would be harsh not to include him.

‘Boro were rampant against fellow strugglers Swansea, and Forshaw was the silent maestro, linking play with his incisive passing and helped create his team’s second goal. It was his driving run into the Swansea box which drew a foul from Jordi Amat, and allowed Alvaro Negredo to sweep home from the penalty spot to put the hosts firmly in control.

Left-Midfield: Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur)

Spurs lacked a little lustre in their win over Burnley, but they got the job done and that was largely thanks to Danny Rose and full-back partner Kyle Walker coming up with the goods to fire Tottenham to another vital win.

Tottenham relentlessly pressured the Clarets down the flanks, and it was the driving forward of Rose down the left that helped prove the difference, alongside the understanding between him and his opposite full-back to hang back whilst the other roamed forward to join the attack, in order to retain a balanced defence in the event of a break. The free licence they had to get forward in Mauricio Pochettino’s 3-4-3 set-up, proved the key to victory, hence why Rose features in an advanced position in our team here. Spurs themselves it seems are big fans of converted full-backs also. Anybody remember that Gareth Bale character?

Walker got forward to provide the assist for Alli’s equaliser, but Rose, who put in more crosses than any other player on the pitch against Burnley, found himself on the end of Moussa Sissoko’s pass, and with the freedom of the White Hart Lane pitch gratefully smashed home the winner to cap off an excellent individual performance.