Premier League Team of the Week

Liverpool punctuated their claim for European football next season with a 5-0 win over Norwich thanks to a captain's display from Steven Gerrard. The Reds have slowly crept up the table and only sit seven points behind Tottenham in the race for fourth.

However, the Anfield outfit will have a tough time trying to catch Spurs as they continued their impressive form in the Barclays Premier League by holding the current leaders Manchester United to a 1-1 draw.

Arsenal also dropped points as they were beaten by Chelsea 2-1 and champions Manchester City cut the gap with United at the summit to five points.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Sunderland and Swansea while QPR held on to a point against West Ham.

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

GK: Julio Cesar (QPR)
QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar continues to impress under new manager Harry Redknapp. He was almost unbeatable in Saturday's 1-1 draw against West Ham and did superbly to deny Marouane Chamakh twice in the match while Carlton Cole also could not find a way past the Brazilian.

RB: Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)
The Chelsea right-back did the job for Chelsea against what was always going to be a tricky opponent in Arsenal - no matter what the league table says - on Sunday. It's always a test for full-backs such as Cesar Azpilicueta to get the balance between attack and defence right and the Spaniard can be congratulated on a job well done against the Gunners. His raking pass to find Juan Mata for Chelsea's opener was also a highlight.

LB: Glen Johnson (Liverpool)

You wouldn't have known that Glen Johnson was being played out of position in Saturday's 5-0 thrashing of Norwich. He dominated his area of the pitch on the left which allowed his team-mates further up the field the freedom to go on and dismantle the Canaries defence.

CB: Vincent Kompany (Man City)
Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany was quietly effective in Saturday's 2-0 win over Fulham. The big centre-back hardly gave Fulham a sniff all game and it made for scary reading on the stat sheet at the final whistle. Fulham - more than a decent side going forward - did not muster a single shot on target and only created two efforts at goal in 90 minutes.

CB: Rio Ferdinand (Man United)
Rio Ferdinand showed why Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson still has so much faith in the veteran defender. In testing conditions - which included snow - on Sunday, Ferdinand kept Gareth Bale from repeating his devastating performance against United from earlier in the season. In addition, his block on Clint Dempsey's goal bound shot was also excellent.

RM: Aaron Lennon (Tottenham)
Clint Dempsey might have been the Tottenham goal scorer against Manchester United but I have no problem including his team-mate Aaron Lennon in our Team of the Week ahead of the American. Lennon was brilliant on the right flank and created so many chances for Spurs against the current Premier League leaders.

LM: David Silva (Man City)

The only criticism I can make of David Silva's performance at the weekend is that he should have had a hat-trick! Instead, he scored a ‘paltry' two goals to ensure Manchester City beat Fulham 2-0 at the Etihad. His second goal was classy too. Watch it if you haven't seen it already.

CM: Steve Gerrard (Liverpool)
Steven Gerrard was honoured with a tribute by the Football Writers' Association on Sunday - a day after he scored a typical Stevie G long range bomb in Liverpool's 5-0 win over Norwich. No wonder Jamie Carragher believes the Liverpool and England skipper is the greatest player to have ever graced the books at Anfield.

CM: Jonathan de Guzman (Swansea)
Swansea manager Michael Laudrup may have found another gem in midfielder Jonathan de Guzman albeit on loan from Villarreal. The midfielder can blow hot and cold sometimes but he certainly burned Stoke with two goals as the Swans went on to win 3-1 at the weekend.

ST: Steven Fletcher (Sunderland)

Sunderland have struggled this season and one of the key reasons why is an over-reliance on Steven Fletcher for the goals. When he doesn't score, the Black Cats suffer. However, when he does get on the score sheet, Sunderland tend to win games as they did on Saturday against Wigan. The Scot finished off the Latics with a brace in a 3-2 away win.

ST: Luis Suarez (Liverpool)
The last place in our Team of the Week goes to Luis Suarez although his team-mate Daniel Sturridge made a strong case for inclusion as well. Both players were excellent in Liverpool's 5-0 demolition of Norwich and together they linked-up outstandingly. I have to give the final nod to Suarez, though, as he was the one who played slightly wider than usual, and yet managed to still be heavily involved in every good thing Liverpool created.