GK: Wayne Hennessey (Wolves) Hennessey did a brilliant job against Arsenal the other day as he thwarted Robin van Persie on a number of occasions. Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Wolves and the credit goes to Hennessey, who was brilliant. Arsenal managed 27 shots on goal and 12 were from van Persie alone. That just goes on to show the enormity of the performance.
RB: Craig Gardner (Sunderland) After the arrival of Martin O’Neill, Sunderland have managed 10 points from 5 games. A huge figure considering that they managed a mere 11 points from 14 games before the arrival of the former Aston Villa manager.
Craig Gardner is not a natural right back at all, but his performance on the full back spot showed the amount of self belief and confidence that the manager has managed to instill in the squad.
CB: Christopher Samba (Blackburn)
This man is clearly one of the best defenders in the Barclays Premier League at the present time and he has been so consistently for the past couple of years. How he remains at Blackburn Rovers is beyond most of us who follow the league. Manchester United and Liverpool know the value of this man following stellar displays from the defender.
CB: Richard Dunne (Aston Villa) While he was at fault for the penalty incident against Chelsea, the former Manchester City skipper was a rock at the back of the Aston Villa defense. He also brought out the best in James Collins. The pair were a hit both against Stoke as well as Chelsea.
LB: Leighton Baines (Everton) The manner in which he has been performing this season could easily see him displace Ashley Cole from the England first eleven. He was absolutely phenomenal for Everton in the last week of 2011.
CM: Anderson (Manchester United) Man United were 2-0 down at halftime against Blackburn and Anderson came on after the break to change the match in favor of United with an energetic display. It is another thing that he could not save United from the defeat on New Year’s Day. It was a delight to see him strutting his stuff and one can only imagine how he will perform following the return of partner Tom Cleverley.
RM: Stephen Ireland (Aston Villa) Following his move from Manchester City, Villa fans kept waiting to see him in sparkling form and their prayers were answered this week as Stephen Ireland tore Chelsea apart at the Bridge. He scored one and set up another goal to pile on the misery for Chelsea.
LM: Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) Although he had a quite night by his lofty standards at Swansea, he returned to drill in a couple of goals against Norwich on Tuesday night to reclaim his place on this list. The second goal was an absolute treat to watch.
RF: Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United) The past six days has seen him score a hattrick followed by a brace. Both the goals against Blackburn were quite outstanding and his hattrick against Wigan was no less so. Berba scored United’s 1500th goal in the Premier League era on Sir Alex Ferguson’s 70th birthday.
LF: Craig Bellamy (Liverpool) Kenny Daglish’s best signing for Liverpool undoubtedly. This man showed one more time that he loves to play against the Magpies as he scored a brace to take his tally to 5 in 4 games against Newcastle. A fantastic outing by any standards for the Welshman.
ST: Yakubu (Blackburn) Scored a neat penalty before putting Blackburn 2-0 up at Old Trafford with a neat strike before the break. This man has quality and he showed that when he had the ball at his feet. Was a constant threat for the United defence on the afternoon.