Premier League - Team of the Week: Fulham solid

Eurosport - Mon, 20 Apr 14:46:00 2009

With none of the top four clubs in Premier League action over the weekend, our select XI has a rather refreshing look to it this week, with Fulham leading the way.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Fulham Mark Schwarzer - 0

HOW IT WORKS

We tot up the marks out of 10 awarded in five national newspapers - The Sun, The Mirror, The Mail, The Times and The Guardian - to create 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

Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer (pictured) is our undisputed player of the week after returning to haunt his former club Middlesbrough with a clean sheet at the Riverside.

The Australian pulled off a wonder save to deny Tuncay Sanli and keep the score goalless but his defence were equally impressive and no less than three of them - John Paintsil, Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes - also get the nod.

Sunderland's Danny Collins fills the left-back slot after holding off Hull City's forward line.

Liam Lawrence of Stoke features after his match-winning performance at the Britannia Stadium, while Chris Brunt's brace for West Brom sees him selected. Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar did enough before being stretchered off to warrant his inclusion while Tom Huddlestone of Tottenham completes the midfield quartet.

Tuncay may not have found the back of the net, but the Turk's all-round performance was excellent so he supports Robinho up front, the Brazilian having finally broken his 2009 scoring duck in Manchester City's 4-2 win over West Brom.

Team of the week (4-4-1-1):

GK: Mark Schwarzer (Fulham) - 43

RB: John Paintsil (Fulham) - 34

CB: Brede Hangeland (Fulham) - 37

CB: Aaron Hughes (Fulham) - 37

LB: Danny Collins (Sunderland) - 33

RM: Liam Lawrence (Stoke) - 39

CM: Chris Brunt (West Brom) - 38

CM: Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham) - 37

LM: Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth) - 35

AM: Tuncay Sanli (Middlesbrough) - 40

FW: Robinho (Manchester City) - 35

FLOPS OF THE WEEK

Blackburn's poor display in the defeat to Stoke is reflected by the inclusion of four of their players in our flops XI.

Paul Robinson takes up position in between the sticks, while Gael Givet, Morten Gamst Pedersen and the frankly awful Benni McCarthy all feature further up the field.

Lancashire neighbours Bolton were equally uninspiring in their defeat to Portsmouth; Ricardo Gardner represents the Trotters in a midfield which also features Newcastle's Kevin Nolan and Dean Marney of Hull City.

West Brom shipped four against Manchester City, and with a defence as porous as that it comes as no surprise to see both Jonas Olsson and Abdoulaye Meite filling the centre-back slots. Andy Wilkinson of Stoke completes the backline for a distinctly below-par performance despite victory in the Potteries.

And finally, the hapless Afonso Alves gets the nod up front after having again failed to find the back of the net.

Flops of the week (4-4-2):

GK: Paul Robinson (Blackburn) - 28

RB: Andy Wilkinson (Stoke) - 26

CB: Jonas Olsson (West Brom) - 24

CB: Abdoulaye Meite (West Brom) - 24

LB: Gael Givet (Blackburn) - 27

RM: Ricardo Gardner (Bolton) - 25

CM: Kevin Nolan (Newcastle) - 24

CM: Dean Marney (Hull) - 25

LM: Morten Gamst Pedersen (Blackburn) - 26

FW: Benni McCarthy (Blackburn) - 23

FW: Afonso Alves (Middlesbrough) - 23

TEAM OF THE SEASON (minimum 17 starts)

The towering Hangeland gets the recognition he deserves after ousting Michael Turner in the heart of defence while Glen Johnson storms into the right-back slot at the expense of the inactive Jose Bosingwa. (And yes, we know he has been playing in midfield of late...) Steven Gerrard remains top dog despite not having played.

GK: Shay Given (Manchester City) - 33.84 average

RB: Glen Johnson (Portsmouth) - 32.48

CB: Brede Hangeland (Fulham) - 33.55

CB: Martin Laursen (Aston Villa) - 33.84

LB: Patrice Evra (Manchester United) - 31.73

RM: Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City) - 33.42

CM: Frank Lampard (Chelsea) - 34.91

CM: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) - 35.46

LM: Ashley Young (Aston Villa) - 33.05

FW: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - 34.35

FW: Robin van Persie (Arsenal) - 33.00

FLOPS OF THE SEASON (minimum 17 starts)

Alves takes his rightful place in the flops of the season, but Brunt can consider himself unlucky still to be included after his team of the week performance at Eastlands.

GK: Scott Carson (West Brom) average 29.72

RB: Andre Ooijer (Blackburn) - 28.59

CB: Carlos Cuellar (Aston Villa) - 28.45

CB: Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle) - 27.87

LB: Jose Enrique (Newcastle) - 26.65

RM: Keith Andrews (Blackburn) - 28.25

CM: Borja Valero (West Brom) - 28.63

CM: Amdy Faye (Stoke City) - 27.47

LM: Chris Brunt (West Brom) - 28.68

FW: Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham) - 27.54

FW: Afonso Alves (Middlesbrough) - 28.00

Eurosport

Comment 13 - 32 of 32

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  1. fuuuuuuuuullllllllllhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmm­ m

    From sarah, on Tue 28 Apr 3:16PM
  2. rawest1,, MANU WILL RULE THIS TIME AS WELL..WATCH OUT­ LOSER

    From Johnny, on Tue 28 Apr 10:24AM
  3. arsnal barca final liverpool the prem united can keep­ the micky mouse cups

    From rawest1, on Mon 27 Apr 5:04PM
  4. CRonaldo will go to Realmadrid, so he cant have this

    From Dave, on Mon 27 Apr 1:45PM
  5. Cristiano Ronaldo should of got player of the season­ award he is mint

    From thomas_price, on Mon 27 Apr 11:30AM
  6. how come howard webb is not mentioned, he should­ receive his prem medal from saf personally along with­ his brown envelope

    From M, on Mon 27 Apr 9:57AM
  7. i think it is bang out of order that RYAN GIGGS got the­ PFA award he only started few times stevie g should of­ got it !!!!!!!!!

    From wesjosh, on Mon 27 Apr 9:53AM
  8. What an amazing week of football and turnarounds that­ make premier league the best. A tight semifinal between­ Everton and Man U, interesting that Man U complained­ about a penalty call (ref had perfect view) but what­ did they do when they did get to penalties!?-so why­ would they of scored in the game?, (brilliant support­ by Everton fans throughout the game). One of the best­ games ever in the premership -Liverpool v Arsenal­ (again atmosphere amazing), albeit Liverpool should of­ been out of sight by halftime, what a performance by­ Arshaven- surely the purchase of the season- how does­ Arsen do it? and then Man U v Tottenham, again Spurs­ should of been out of sight by half time but what a­ come back -albeit with some good fortune (ref 25M away­ but gives poor penalty), total relief by Ronaldo with a­ dreadful penalty almost a carbon copy of Bebatov's­ on Sunday but against a lesser keeper(sorry Gomez) but­ you couldn't take it away from Man U when they­ realised they had a chance.
    This week Champions League­ Semi's, can't see anyone stopping Chelsea,­ throwing it away last season will drive them on, their­ victory over Liverpool was the real final.
    roll on,­ roll on.

    From Peter L, on Sun 26 Apr 10:39PM
  9. think you should have a team for the most under-rated­ players! i can think of a few names e.g. xabi alonso,­ steven ireland, fabio aurelio, carrick.

    everyone­ agree? honestly! im a liverpool fan btw and this choice­ wasn't biasst!!
    anyone else think of anymore?

    From mark, on Sat 25 Apr 2:13PM
  10. stevie g rocks he should win pfa

    From sachin, on Fri 24 Apr 6:52PM
  11. WHY DOESN'T THAT SCUMBAG O'BRIAN LEAVE FRANK­ LAMPARD ALONE.
    HE DOESN'T KNOW THE PLAYER LIKE­ LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE BUT SEEMS TO BE ABLE TO COMMENT­ AND COME OUT WITH RUBBISH WITHOUT GETTING THE FACTS.­ JUST LET FRANK GET ON AND PLAY HIS FOOTBALL.

    From Tony, on Fri 24 Apr 6:15PM
  12. wtf, i don`t agree with any of this teams

    From Vladislav, on Fri 24 Apr 1:11PM
  13. how bout this? DIVERS OF THE SEASON! certainly CR7 will­ occupy the no 1 spot, with 99.99 score perhaps?hahaha

    From faris, on Thu 23 Apr 6:43PM
  14. Am i was dreaming??? No CR7 name in the list. I think­ he not worth for both criteria. Or maybe we should add­ new criteria.... a clown of the season.....ahahahaaaa

    From Marcus O, on Thu 23 Apr 2:17PM
  15. Fulham are pure class !!! Fulham forever. I hope they­ crush Chelsea a week from Saturday. Schwarzer and­ Hangeland deserve it and Dempsey is a legend.

    From AndrewJ, on Tue 21 Apr 11:17PM
  16. Come on Steven Gerrard! You`re number 1! We love you­ Steve!

    From ineto_93, on Tue 21 Apr 2:35PM
  17. RICARDO GARDNER are you having a laugh, poor bloke was­ smashed to bits in 10 mins and taken off. When he palys­ 90 mins and scores the winning goal he nver gets in the­ team of the week, yet more journo's jumping on the­ lets hate all the other clubs bar the toip four­ bandwagon. Rubbish!!!

    From Colly, on Mon 20 Apr 8:06PM
  18. Pi$$ off salawhite01

    From david b, on Mon 20 Apr 3:39PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    im a untied fan also and i agree completely with­ 11.

    United for champions and premier league glory­ again!!!

    From someasiankid, on Mon 20 Apr 3:20PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    *** MillLounge C OM ***

    Totally FREE social site to­ help you find the other half.

    From er_lucy19, on Mon 20 Apr 2:31PM
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