Chelsea are represented in the latest Premier League team of the week that has been selected by BBC pundit Garth Crooks.
Actually Garth is now down as a ‘Football Analyst’ these days, a posh term for a pundit then!
The performances by Cesar Azpilicueta for Chelsea during their festive fixtures was enough to earn them a place in the side alongside the other, in the opinion of the former Spurs striker anyway, most impressive performers in the topflight over the last few matchdays.
I think we’ll already know ourselves, and not just based on the latest performance, why Crooks, we’ll also not argue with it, selected Azpilicueta as part of his team but explaining his choice he told the BBC.
‘Azpilicueta helped keep a clean sheet at Everton and produced the ball of his life for Alvaro Morata to nod home against Brighton. The entire Chelsea backline seems to respond to everything he says these days. Brighton contained Chelsea brilliantly in the first half until Azpilicueta found a way through. However, what is so amazing about his performances this season is the number of times the defender has found Morata with the same ball from the same position. Blues boss Antonio Conte went to great lengths to point out in his post-match news conference just what ‘good feet’ Azpilicueta has to offer. I, for one, had not really appreciated the extent of the Spaniard’s talents and neither did the teams who have fallen victim to his superb delivery. He also registered a clean sheet against Stoke, who were more concerned about their game against Newcastle two days later than they were against the champions, which once again poses more questions about the Premier League’s scheduling.’
It’s always good to see the club represented in this way, so well played to Azpilicueta for his recognition.
Full Team:
Mat Ryan (Brighton), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal).
