Cesc Fabregas has plenty to smile about, with his supreme performance against Tottenham pushing him to the front of the Player of the Year race.

How it works:

We tot up the marks out of 10 awarded in five national newspapers - Sun, Mirror, Mail, Times and Guardian - to reach a total out of 50.

The top player in each position will be rewarded with a spot in the team of the week, while the worst scorers will be named and shamed in our Flops XI.

Team of the Week:

Cesc Fabregas and Kenwyne Jones share player of the week honours after their respective heroics against Tottenham and Reading. Blackburn, Birmingham, Arsenal and Manchester City all boast two players among the week's elite. Right-back was the weakest position - 10 defenders scored higher than Stephen Kelly but all played either in the centre or on the left. Kelly deserves credit after appearing for the Flops last time around.

Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers) - 38

Stephen Kelly (Birmingham City) - 35

Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United) - 39

Ryan Nelsen (Blackburn Rovers) - 37

Leighton Baines (Everton) - 40

Michael Johnson (Manchester City) - 39

Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal) - 43

Elano (Manchester City) - 37

Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham City) - 39

Kenwyne Jones (Sunderland) - 43

Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal) - 40

Flops of the Week:

An horrendous weekend for Middlesbrough sees three of their back four among the dregs of the Premier League. Nicolas Anelka went from hero to zero with a dreadful performance for Bolton, a low 'bettered' only by his team-mate Mikel Alonso, who might want to ask his brother Xabi for some tips on making it in England.

Manuel Almunia (Arsenal) - 26

Luke Young (Middlesbrough) - 25

Andre Bikey (Reading) - 25

David Wheater (Middlesbrough) - 25

Andrew Taylor (Middlesbrough) - 24

John Utaka (Portsmouth) - 24

Mikel Alonso (Bolton Wanderers) - 21

Phil Jagielka (Everton) - 24

David Cotterill (Wigan Athletic) - 24

Craig Bellamy (West Ham) - 25

Nicolas Anelka (Bolton Wanderers) - 22

Player of the Year (min three starts):

With only two Premiership starts, Steven Gerrard drops out of the running, as Fabregas takes over following his massive 43 points this week.

Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal) - 37.0 average

Fernando Torres (Liverpool) - 36.8

Micah Richards (Manchester City) - 36.0

Steve Harper (Newcastle United) - 36.0

Christopher Samba (Blackburn Rovers) - 35.6

Idiot of the Year (min three starts):

Our list of chumps remains unchanged this week, but the next match day could see a real shake-up. Richardson is injured and will become ineligible, while Petrov and Zamora both need a start to stay in the hunt.

Kieran Richardson (Sunderland) - 23.3

Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Villa) - 25.0

Bobby Zamora (West Ham) - 26.3

Steve Howard (Derby County) - 26.4

Gerald Cid (Bolton Wanderers) - 26.4

Alex Chick / Eurosport