Premier League Team of the Week

Our Premier League Team of the Week this round heavily features players from Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea.

On Sunday, United won their battle with arch-rivals Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford and as a result three players from Sir Alex Ferguson's starting XI have made the grade here.

City impressed with a 2-0 win over Arsenal to ensure that a couple of their players also get a mention in our Team of the Week.

As for Chelsea, the Blues hammered Stoke 4-0 with their midfielders in particularly devastating form.

Further down the table, Tottenham were frustrated to a goalless draw by QPR.

We've gone with a 4-4-2 formation.

GK: Julio Cesar (QPR)
First name on the list and the first player I had in mind when I was thinking about the best XI players from the Premier League this week. Anyone who watched Saturday's goalless draw between QPR and Tottenham will tell you that Spurs would have won this game comfortably had it not been for Julio Cesar.

The QPR goalkeeper's double save where he pushed Jermain Defoe's looping shot onto the post and then got up to deny Emmanuel Adebayor on the follow-up was world class.

RB: Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City)
Sometimes when a team plays against 10-men they find it more difficult as they struggle to understand how to use the extra space and man to their advantage. Not so with Manchester City and their full-back Pablo Zabaleta who time and time again caused havoc down the right against Arsenal following Laurent Koscielny's early dismissal.

LB: Patrice Evra (Manchester United)
Patrice Evra loves to be at the centre of attention against Liverpool but this time it was for all the right reasons. The United full-back was blindingly good in Sunday's 2-1 win over Liverpool, smartly setting up Robin van Persie for the opening goal before turning the ball towards goal emphatically for the winner (It was later credited to Nemanja Vidic but I doubt he knew anything about it as the ball grazed him and flew into the net).

CB: Ashley Williams (Swansea)
What a defender Ashley Williams has grown into in the last 18 months. He didn't miss a beat against Chelsea in the League Cup in midweek and continued this form into Saturday's game against Everton where he helped Swansea keep a clean sheet and earn a valuable point.

CB: Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle)

Newcastle captain Fabricio Coloccini put in an assured display to shut Norwich out at Carrow Road on Saturday. Not bad for someone who had 24 hours earlier asked to leave the club for personal reasons. Not sure what is going on his mind at the moment but he hasn't let it affect his football yet.

RM: James Milner (Manchester City)
Manchester City were missing several key players for Sunday's clash with Arsenal so Roberto Mancini will have been a relieved man on Monday morning that midfielder James Milner stepped up for the champions.

Milner's career at City has often been overshadowed by his more illustrious team-mates but he shone the brightest in Sunday's 2-0 win over the Gunners.

LM: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard was one of several high performing Blues midfielders in Saturday's 4-0 win over Stoke. The Belgian was full of energy, flicks, tricks, and capped his performance with a delicious strike from 25 yards.

CM: Michael Carrick (Manchester United)
Michael Carrick does pass the ball forward - and he does it extremely well. Can we please move on from this myth that he does not? Carrick was instrumental in Manchester United's 2-1 win over Liverpool, distributing the ball at the right times to the right players as well as being in great positions to make defensive interceptions.

CM: Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

Frank Lampard increased his tally to 194 goals with a penalty in Saturday's 4-0 victory over Stoke, edging him clear of Kerry Dixon in second place and only eight behind record-holder Bobby Tambling. Chelsea are not willing to negotiate a new contract with him. Disgraceful.

ST: Romelu Lukaku (West Brom)
West Brom's Romelu Lukaku was the standout striker from the Barclays Premier League weekend - an impressive feat considering what Robin van Persie did to Liverpool on Sunday. He finished the game with two goals but could have had a couple of more had he not slammed two efforts against the post. West Brom somehow lost the game but the good news is that Lukaku is enjoying his time so much with the Baggies that he wants to extend his loan deal from Chelsea into next season.

ST: Robin van Persie (Manchester United)

I've run out of superlatives to describe Robin van Persie's performances for Manchester United this season because every weekend he impresses me more and more. What struck me about Van Persie against Liverpool was how determined he is to become a success - which means at least winning the Premier League trophy - at United.

He's not taken a back seat and just waited for things to happen, he's taken responsibility for the team, which is not an easy thing to do at Old Trafford. His goal on Sunday against Liverpool was not one of his prettier strikes but it was hit just as sweet and true as any other before it. He's also deadly from set-piece situations as Liverpool found out.

Unfortunate Mention: Jonathan Walters
Spare a thought this week for Stoke's Jonathan Walters who scored two-own goals against Chelsea, missed a penalty, and saw his side get spanked 4-0 by the European Champions. All it needed was for him to kick the ball into his own face to make it an exceptionally bad day. Oh...wait...that happened too. My bad.