Premier League Team of the Week: Van Dijk, Vardy and Willian feature

Premier League best XI for Week 7, featuring Virgil van Dijk, Jamie Vardy and Willian.

FIFA’s decision to overlook Virgil van Dijk for the Best Men’s Player award in favor of Lionel Messi went from strange to ludicrous after the Liverpool defender bossed Sheffield United for the Premier League leaders on Saturday.

Van Dijk was a colossus in what proved to be a testing trip to Bramall Lane for the Reds. As good as he was, Van Dijk did have help, most notably from left-back Andy Robertson.

Liverpool holding firm kept the pressure on Manchester City to keep pace. Fortunately for the champions, playing Riyad Mahrez usually guarantees a win, and the winger was the catalyst for beating Everton 3-1.

Wingers from across the league enjoyed themselves in Week 7. Wilfried Zaha excelled in a rare Crystal Palace home win, while Andriy Yarmolenko helped West Ham earn a point.

Zaha’s brilliance is well known, but fans might have forgotten how effective Willian can be for Chelsea. The overlooked Brazilian offered a timely reminder of his talents to help the Blues overcome struggling Brighton.

Chelsea are one of the teams whose top-six status is thought to be under-threat from Leicester. The Foxes proved there is substance to their ambitions by obliterating Newcastle 5-0 on Sunday, with Jamie Vardy still deadly in front of goal.

Find out who else joins Vardy and Co. in the latest team of the week:

Goalkeeper: Ederson, Manchester City

For all City’s brilliance going forward, Ederson is becoming an equally active and influential presence at the back. The man between the sticks was crucial in keeping City in the game against an Everton team spoiling to cause an upset at Goodison Park.

It was 1-1 when Ederson made a key save to hold the Toffees at bay, tipping a Yerry Mina header over the bar. Yet Ederson saved his best stop for shortly after Mahrez had restored City’s lead.

The Brazilian spread himself and blocked brilliantly when one-on-one with Dominic Calvert-Lewin. It was the signature moment of a match-winning display from City’s most under-appreciated player.

Defender: Andy Robertson, Liverpool

Like Ederson did for City, Andy Robertson made the single-most important defensive contribution to helping his team win. In his case, the Scotland international anticipated danger and committed himself to a last-ditch block at full stretch to deny John Fleck in the box.

It was a breathtaking moment of defensive aptitude from a player often associated more with what he does going forward.

Robertson couldn’t impact the attacking phase as much as usual thanks to the Blades’ numbers in wide areas. The Scotland international’s response was to stay disciplined and alert against raiding wing-backs and overlapping center-backs.

Defense was the foundation of Liverpool’s title challenge last season, and Robertson ensures the base is still strong.

Defender: Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool

Sometimes, the elite of the top flight can be unnerved by defiant opponents determined to make the game uncomfortable. Van Dijk was never going to be rattled by the Blades’ physicality and pace, though.

Instead, the Dutchman merely responded with the calmness and authority that has come to define him. He bossed things in the air, rarely got caught out of possession and timed his tackles brilliantly on the deck.

Van Dijk plays like this so often his performances are starting to be taken for granted. However, it would be wrong to devalue the consistency no other player at his position is producing at the top level.

Defender: Matt Doherty, Wolves

Wolves needed a win and likely welcomed the visit of bottom-of-the table Watford on Saturday. It presented an ideal chance for the hosts to get back to the formula that served them so well last season.

It was all about an athletic and versatile back five giving Wolves a platform to counter. Right-back Matt Doherty was a key figure in the plan.

The “Dublin Cafu” has struggled with injuries and illness so far, but he was back to his best against the Hornets.

Doherty’s 18th-minute goal showcased everything that makes Wolves dangerous on the break, namely, pace, precision and energy. This forward-thinking defender has all those qualities and more.

Midfielder: Wilfried Zaha, Crystal Palace

When Palace win it’s usually down to Zaha, and Saturday’s dismissal of Norwich was no different. The wing-wizard who flirted with Arsenal and Everton in the summer appeared fully committed to the Eagles’ cause while he led the visitors on a merry dance.

Zaha teased and tricked the Canaries, creating chances for Jordan Ayew, as well as capping moves with the final touch. On another day, Zaha would have had a hat-trick, but while he’s still searching for his range in front of goal, the 26-year-old had to settle for teeing up Andros Townsend to score the clinching goal after Luka Milivojevic had given Palace the lead from the penalty spot.

If Zaha can replicate performances like this one more often, Palace will need to fend off further interest in their attacking talisman.

Midfielder: Willian, Chelsea

Frank Lampard may be enamoured with the youth movement at Chelsea, but he isn’t likely to forget about the talented veterans in his squad. Just to make sure, Willian showed Lampard what a 31-year-old who remains focused on the game can do.

The Brazilian tore into Brighton at Stamford Bridge, showing he hasn’t lost his willingness to take shots on early. Willian’s pace and power gave the Seagulls all they could handle.

It was the strength of his 76th-minute shot that left Mat Ryan with no chance once the ball had scraped off Dan Burn. Willian has rediscovered his scoring touch at the right time with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic available to take his place.

Midfielder: Wilfred, Ndidi, Leicester

For all the talk of what Leicester might become, it’s scary to think about how good Ndidi could be. Still just 22, the towering enforcer is the ball-winning talisman who gives the artisans around him the freedom to play.

Ndidi takes ownership of the middle in most games thanks to his appetite for defensive dominance. He snuffed out any hint of a threat Newcastle tried to pose at the King Power Stadium:

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The fact he added a goal almost seemed unfair. It merely let opposition teams know there is more to come from this raw but outrageously gifted athlete’s development.

Midfielder: Andriy Yarmolenko, West Ham

There are other names in the West Ham squad you may hear more about than Yarmolenko. Yet none of Felipe Anderson, Declan Rice, Mark Noble or Sebastien Haller can match the importance of the Ukrainian winger.

Quick, sturdy and direct, Yarmolenko is the ideal outlet for the way the Hammers are constructed in attack. It’s all about letting gifted technicians like Anderson and Manuel Lanzini conjure chances around powerhouse focal point Haller in the middle.

His job is to bring others into play, and Yarmolenko knows how to turn the deft passes and slick touches into end product. The 29-year-old’s emphatic finish on the turn during Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Bournemouth was the prime example of a player ending a sequence of neat passing with decisive action.

Yarmolenko is the lightning to Haller’s thunder and the player the Hammers’ creators can trust to make the most of their supply.

Midfielder: Riyad Mahrez, Manchester City

Time to end the doubts and admit Mahrez has now joined Ederson and Kevin De Bruyne as a player City suffer without. He was dynamic and diligent against Everton, leading the press and toying with defenders when in possession.

Mahrez made Lucas Digne, a classy left-back, look ordinary. His clever footwork and natural acceleration demanded he drew a crowd on the right flanks.

Unfortunately for the Toffees, a free kick prevented them putting pressure on a player who is rarely off the mark with his left foot. Mahrez made the chance count by arrowing the ball into the bottom corner to help rescue a City side in danger of buckling under intense pressure, some off-key performances and a myriad of injuries in defence.

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The numbers don’t lie, City need Mahrez to help keep their title charge at least close to Liverpool’s.

Striker: Jamie Vardy, Leicester

Leicester becoming the people’s choice to break the top-six monopoly owes as much to getting Vardy back on song as any other factor.

Brendan Rodgers’ arrival as manager during last season helped put the spring back in the prolific No. 9’s step. Vardy showed how keen his appetite for goal remains by putting two past the hapless Magpies.

His first was a sweet finish from a narrowing angle, even though Martin Dubravka didn’t have his finest moment in the Newcastle goal. Vardy was alert again when he headed in from close range, a reminder of the instincts in the box sharp enough to match those of Sergio Aguero, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or any of the game’s heavyweight goal-hangers.

He’s 32, but Vardy is relentless in his pursuit of goals and consistent enough to inspire the Foxes to match the hype.

Striker: Heung-Min Son, Tottenham

Spurs needed somebody to drag them out of their recent slumbers and it was hardly a surprise Heung-Min Son stepped forward. His pace, industry and flair were central to everything good Tottenham did against Southampton on Saturday.

Son’s touch and perceptive movement formed the basis of the slick counter that ended in Harry Kane scoring the winner. Kane’s goal eased nerves with the Saints level thanks to a mistake from Spurs’ goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

Serge Aurier had also been sent off, but the way Son kept on running and running it was difficult to tell there was a numbers disadvantage for Tottenham.

Kane and manager Mauricio Pochettino have expressed frustration recently, while Christian Eriksen spent the summer wanting to leave. Yet Son is the one player Spurs can count on to ignore the noise and simply continue to play like he wants to be there.