Which Premier League stars simply weren’t good enough this weekend?
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It’s not all about these best players each weekend – plenty of Premier League stars have a shocker. This is our worst XI from the weekend’s action from England’s top flight:
GK) Julian Speroni (Crystal Palace)
It was generally a good weekend for Premier League goalkeepers, so the inclusion of Speroni is perhaps harsh, but he will have felt that he should’ve done better with Juan Mata’s winning goal at Old Trafford despite a slight deflection.
RB) Calum Chambers (Arsenal)
Chambers has generally had an excellent debut season since joining Arsenal from Southampton and deserves some slack, but Swansea’s Jefferson Montero made him look very much like an inexperienced kid at the Liberty Stadium.
CB) Younes Kaboul (Tottenham Hotspur)
The Spurs captain was lambasted by Alan Shearer on Match of the Day 2 and it is easy to see why – he shirked headers and his defensive positioning was disastrous.
CB) Dejan Lovren (Liverpool)
Lovren was again awful for Liverpool as they were beaten by Chelsea, the Croat losing his man on numerous occasions and his distribution again being well below par. Looks a long way short of the required standard.
CB) Martin Demichelis (Manchester City)
Demichelis has largely improved from his dreadful early time at the Etihad Stadium, but this was a hark back to the past – he was dominated by Zamora before heading the ball into his own net to put QPR ahead.
LB) Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur)
Questions have to be asked about whether Rose is of the requisite standard for Tottenham – his positioning for Jonathan Walter’s crucial second Stoke goal was horrendous.
CM) Mathieu Flamini (Arsenal)
Flamini returned to the Arsenal side in place of injured captain Mikel Arteta, but the Frenchman again showed just how much the Gunners need a new holding midfielder in January.
CM) Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
The Liverpool captain is really starting to look his age, he was easily shackled by Chelsea’s central players and misplaced numerous passes.
CM) Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur)
Eriksen is usually one of Tottenham’s better players, but the Danish international had an absolute nightmare against Stoke as his impact was easily limited by the Potters’ hard-working midfield.
SC) Leonardo Ulloa (Leicester City)
Ulloa once again failed to find the net for misfiring Leicester, with his fine start to the season seeming a long way away – people are even starting to utter the fateful words ‘Amr Zaki’.
SC) Romelu Lukaku (Everton)
Everton’s record signing is yet to hit the heights of last season so far this campaign and the big Belgian was again largely ineffectual at Sunderland.