Premier League-Team of the Week, Week 2

With all the players having played again for their clubs, it's time for us to look at our "Team of the Week" for week 2. Week two was, like the opening week, a surprising week in some ways but some performances really stood out:

Goalkeeper-Ali Al Habsi (Wigan)
The Omani Goalkeeper often seems to be one of the most of the most over-looked players in the Premier League but he was certainly responsible for Wigan taking home 3 points last weekend. The excellent stopper made a number of notable saves including an excellent one early on to deny Adam Lallana from breaking the deadlock. Fantastic performance.

Defence-Rafael (Manchester United)
The Manchester United wing back has often been criticised for his defensive skill though showed excellent ability both at the back and attacking as United defeated Fulham. Not only did Rafael show great attacking promise bagging a goal but he was also a key part of United's defense.

Defence-Gary Cahill (Chelsea)
Chelsea's centre defense may have revolved around John Terry for years but it now seems like Gary Cahill is becoming the new rock at the back for the Blues. Cahill was solid at the back helping Chelsea to completely neutralise Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse and really proved just why Chelsea opened the cheque book to sign him.

Defence-Glen Johnson (Liverpool)
I'll admit I'm not a big Glen Johnson fan, especially at national level but his performance against Manchester City showed just how good Johnson on his day can be. He neutralised many of the Manchester City threats and linked up amazingly well with Raheem Sterling (see below) as Liverpool showed a huge improvement on their opening day fixture.

Defence-Angel Rangel (Swansea)
Swansea appear to be the surprise team of Premier League so far. Having already scored 8 goals it'd be easy to forget how good they've been at the back but they're yet to concede a goal thanks to the likes of Rangel who helped put the Swans up against West Ham at the weekend.

Midfielder-Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
The young Belgian already looks like the signing of the summer and the Chelsea new boy was again one of the keys to Chelsea's continued success. Not only did he create numerous opportunities against Newcastle (including Fernando Torres' goal) but he also opened his own account for Chelsea thanks to a penalty. Expect there to be much, much more to com from Hazard.

Midfielder-Marouane Fellaini (Everton)
Everton have gotten off to an excellent start to the season and much of that has been down to the continued threat of the Midfielder pairing of Steven Pienaar and Marouane Fellaini. Whilst Pienaar ran much of the game it was the worry about Fellaini that helped give the South African so much time and space to work his magic.

Midfielder-Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United)
Attacking midfielder Shinji Kagawa not only opened his Premier League account but again pulled the strings for Manchester United. Many had claimed that Kagawa was only at United to sell shirts, but it's quickly become apparent that he's there to score and create chances which he did excellently here.

Midfielder-Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)
Wow. It was hard to describe the performance of Liverpool's youngster any other way than "wow" or "amazing". The youngster had a game to remember against Manchester City and really looked sensational down the wing pushing the Blues back. Whilst he had a man of the match performance  I wouldn't rush him as he could end up taking a knock, but using him sparingly will bring Liverpool a lot of success.

Attack-Fernando Torres (Chelsea)
Well it suddenly appears that the sleeping giant has awoken. After receiving an unfortunate yellow card against Newcastle we suddenly saw the Torres of old as the Spaniard ripped the defenders to pieces before scoring a wonderful goal after linking with Eden Hazard. Torres looks to finally be enjoying his football once again and looks like a real threat once more. The Premier League has been warned.

Attack-Nikica Jelavic (Everton)
Everton's team really did look exceptional (not only with Pienaar and Fellaini in the middle but also Leighton Baines and Phil Neville at the back) and up front Nikica Jelavic once again proved that he's deadly on the ball. It was Jelavic's goal before half time against Aston Villa that secured the 3 points but his attacking run in the second half had the Villa defense on edge and saw Ciaran Clarke getting sent off, further secure Everton's place. near the top of the League table.

Manager of the Week-Brendon RodgersWhat a difference a week makes in the world of professional football. A week ago Liverpool were humiliated by a rampant West Brom side and yet this past weekend Liverpool were hugely unfortunate not to have taken 3 points against Manchester City, in fact barring a stupid mistake by Martin Skrtel Liverpool should have taken all 3 points. Rodger's men looked a completely different team, their passing was generally excellent and the work rate they showed was fantastic.

Premier League-Team of the Week, Week 1

So we've now had the first round of matches and we've had a chance to see all the teams in action, however who were the best players from the week we've just had?

Goalkeeper-David De Gea (Manchester United)
The Spaniard may not have kept a clean sheet against Everton but Manchester United's young keeper managed to keep the Toffee's down to just a single goal in an outstanding performance that saw him making 3 or 4 fantastic saves.

Defence-Sylvian Distin (Everton)
Everton's Sylvain Distin may not have gotten the plaudits due to the performance of team mate Marouane Fellaini (also selected for the tam of the week) but he was a rock and thwarted United time and time again.

Defence-Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
Serbian Branislav Ivanovic was one Chelsea's stand out players in their 2-0 victory at Wigan. His threat going forward, which resulted in the opening goal was tremendous and his work at the back in helping Chelsea keep a clean sheet was vital, a real stand out performance.

Defence-James Collins (West Ham)
West Ham's resigning of James Collins looks like a a steal having cost less than £3 million and his performance against former team Aston Villa was almost flawless as the West Ham defense completely neutralised the Villa attack.

Defence-John Arne Riise (Fulham)
The veteran defender was a star at the back for Fulham playing not only brilliantly to defend his teams goal (something that was rarely required) but playing some of the most delightful diagonal balls we saw over the opening weekend.

Midfield-Marouane Fellaini (Everton)
The Belgian Midfielder gave Manchester United a headache linking play between attack and defence amazingly well and capped off an excellent performance with a stunning header to secure Everton the win.

Midfield-Samir Nasri (Manchester City)
The talented Frenchman did everything a manager could ask of an attack minded midfielder as he ran Southampton ragged before scoring the winning goal in the game of the weekend. Nasri could have assisted in any number of goals had the strikers been able to finish off the chances he created.

Midfield-Nathan Dyer (Swansea)
The Swans had an incredible match and whilst Michu stole the headlines Dyer was a close second, bagging two himself as the two men really abused the QPR midfield and defense. If Dyer can perform like this week in and week out he should be expecting an England call up before the year is out.

Midfield-Michu (Swansea City)
Swansea's City's signing of Michu appears to have been as master-stroke as the Spaniard made an immediate impression on the Premier League bagging 2 goals creating another in Swansea's demolition job over QPR.

Attack-Santi Cazorla (Arsenal)
Arsenal's Spanish debutant Santi Cazorla made an excellent start to his Premier League Career doing everything but scoring as he ran Sunderland ragged in a truly wonderful performance. Cazorla looks very special on this performance.

Attack-Mladen Petric (Fulham)
Like Michu (see above) Mladen Petric got off to the dream start to his Premier League career bagging 2 goals in his debut as Fulham routed Norwich 5-0. To add to his goals Petric also played a major part in the goal by Alexander Kacaniklic.

Manager of the Week-Michael Laudrup
Whilst Martin Jol may feel he deserved the plaudits due to the performance of his team, it's hard not to feel that the Michael Laudrup just out did him. Laudrup took over a Swansea City who had lost their manager (Brendon Rodgers) and star player (Joe Allen) over summer but yet put on a performance that seemed to suggest that they are now Laudrup's team.