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There were several great strike performances in the Premier League this weekend, but it's Wayne Rooney who heads the Team of the Week.

HOW IT WORKS

We take marks out of 10 awarded to Premier League players from a selection of six national newspapers - The Sun, Daily Star, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, The Times and the Guardian - then create an average and round to the nearest half. 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

Team of the Week has been spoilt for choice with strikers this week, but it's Wayne Rooney and Kenwyne Jones who get the nod.

The Manchester United legend-in-the-making (or is he a legend already?) scored two goals in the Red Devils' second-half rampage at Wigan, while the Sunderland striker found the net twice to give his side a comeback win over Blackburn.

Their selection ahead of Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor shows TOTW for the tough school it is: the African strikers were judged to have been very nearly as impressive for Chelsea and Manchester City respectively in their sides' wins.

A more expensive quartet of TOTW contenders would be difficult to imagine. This week's defence, by contrast, is jammed with players who could almost have been picked up at Oxfam and paid paper-round wages because it's an all Premier League new-boys defensive line.

Burnley's back four won plaudits from the boys of Fleet Street after a second gritty 1-0 win against (supposedly) superior opposition in the space of a few days, with Clark Carlisle, Andre Bikey and Tyrone Mears all making the line up.

Birmingham's Stephen Carr takes the left-back spot after a solid showing in the 0-0 draw against Stoke, while Boaz Myhill picks up the goalkeeper's gloves - a great showing for a man who was in the Flops XI for the mid-week matches.

Not content with almost locking out the back four, the Clarets have a player in midfield as well: Robbie Blake, who impressed once again and was one of the first names on the team-sheet.

Alongside him in the centre of the formation are Arsenal's two- goal hero Abou Diaby, the ever more depdendable Darren Fletcher and another Hull player, Kamel Ghilas, who scored the only goal of the match against Bolton on his first start of the season.

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

GK: Boaz Myhill (Hull) - 7.5

LB: Stephen Carr (Birmingham) - 7

CB: Clark Carlisle (Burnley) -7.5

CB: Andre Bikey (Burnley) -7.5

RB: Tyrone Mears (Burnley) - 7

LM: Robbie Blake (Burnley) - 8

CM: Abou Diaby (Arsenal) - 7.5

CM: Darren Fletcher (Manchester United) - 7.5

RM: Kamel Ghilas (Hull) - 8

FW: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - 8

FW: Kenwyne Jones (Sunderland) - 8

FLOPS OF THE WEEK

The whims of Fleet Street hacks sometime seem a little harsh, and this week Sunderland duo Marton Fulop and George McCartney might feel a little aggrieved at being included in the flops line-up as they were on the winning team against Blackburn.

There can be no such comfort for Portsmouth's Marc Wilson and Aaron Mokoena, who were harshly criticised for being part of the side that Arsenal ran rings round on Saturday.

Similarly Bolton striker Johan Elmander: the Swede is spearheading an attack that has so far produced 180 goalless minutes of football, so he can have few complaints about being picked out here.

Birmingham would be goalless in 270 minutes of football if it weren't for James McFadden's penalty during the week, and old heads like Lee Bowyer and Kevin Phillips will not be surprised to see themselves on the flops list this week.

Fulham's Zoltan Gera and summer arrival Damien Duff round out the XI, with Gera being rated the worst outfield player of the whole weekend.

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

GK: Marton Fulop (Sunderland) - 4.5

LB: George McCartney (Sunderland) - 5

CB: Aaron Hughes (Fulham) - 5

CB: Michael Mancienne (Wolves) - 5

RB: Marc Wilson (Portsmouth) - 5

LM: Damien Duff (Fulham) - 5

CM: Lee Bowyer (Birmingham City) - 4.5

CM: Aaron Mokoena (Portsmouth) - 5

RM: Zoltan Gera (Fulham) - 4.5

FW: Johan Elmander (Bolton) - 5

FW: Kevin Phillips (Birmingham) - 5

Team of the season and flops of the season

With several teams only having played two matches (and Aston Villa only having played once) it's a little early to be judging season-so-far performances.

But early front-runners for inclusion in the team of the season include Chelsea hitman Didier Drogba, Burnley defender Andre Bikey and Arsenal's likely-looking new centre-back Thomas Vermaelen.

Early flops ratings show Hayden Mullins and John Utaka of Portsmouth as the most consistently mediocre performers so far after helping their south coast side build a zero point tally and a minus-five goal difference from three matches.

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