Premier League - Team of the Week

Eurosport - Mon, 21 Apr 21:02:00 2008

The players of Aston Villa and Newcastle emerged fist-clenchingly triumphant from their respective derbies at the weekend, and it's no surprise to see them well-represented in our Team of the Week.

2007-2008 Aston Villa Ashley Young - 0

HOW IT WORKS

We tot up the marks out of 10 awarded in five national newspapers - The Sun, The Mirror, The Mail, The Times and The Guardian - to create a total out of 50. The top player in each position will be rewarded with a spot in the Team of the Week, while the worst scorers will be named and shamed in our Flops XI.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel is our Player of the Week after single-handedly keeping Manchester United at bay for 87 minutes on Saturday, while Gareth Barry, Ashley Young and John Carew earn their places in the side for inspiring Aston Villa's merciless dismantling of their city rivals Birmingham. Michael Owen's goalscoring renaissance continues apace, after a match-winning brace against Sunderland.

1. Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers) - 44

2. Habib Beye (Newcastle United) - 36

3. Stephen Warnock (Blackburn Rovers) - 35

4. Christopher Samba (Blackburn Rovers) - 37

5. Gary Cahill (Bolton Wanderers) - 37

6. Gareth Barry (Aston Villa) - 43

7. Ashley Young (Aston Villa) - 41

8. Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal) - 38

9. John Carew (Aston Villa) - 39

10. Michael Owen (Newcastle United) - 43

11. Martin Petrov (Manchester City) - 39

- - -

FLOPS OF THE WEEK

Our Flops XI this week is populated by the kind of under-achieving no-marks who provoke scornful frowns from every schoolboy who experiences the misfortune of plucking one of their unrecognisable faces from a pack of Panini stickers. Kasey Keller and Liam Ridgewell lead the way; the former for meekly allowing Liverpool to ease to victory at Craven Cottage, the latter for standing aside as his former team-mates at Villa sent Birmingham hurtling towards the Championship. And having horrendous bum-fluff, perhaps.

1. Kasey Keller (Fulham) - 20

2. David Murphy (Birmingham City) - 21

3. Paul McShane (Sunderland) - 21

4. Liam Ridgewell (Birmingham City) - 20

5. Brede Hangeland (Fulham) - 21

6. Kalifa Cisse (Reading) - 23

7. Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham City) - 22

8. Jimmy Kebe (Reading) - 21

9. Cameron Jerome (Birmingham City) - 21

10. Mauro Zarate (Birmingham City) - 22

11. Carlos Edwards (Sunderland) - 21

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TEAM OF THE SEASON (minimum 17 starts)

Team of the Season reads like a Who's Who of the Premier League's poster boys, although messrs Lescott and Carvalho would probably only grace posters bought by parents not averse to giving their children nightmares. Brad Friedel thoroughly deserves his place in the team after a commendably consistent season, but he is being rapidly caught by Newcastle reserve Stephen Harper, who is making the most of Shay Given's injury-enforced absence to prove that his skills extend beyond cheerful bench-warming.

1. Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers) - 33.49 average

2. Martin Laursen (Aston Villa) - 33.23

3. Joleon Lescott (Everton) - 33.92

4. John Terry (Chelsea) - 33.43

5. Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea) - 33.39

6. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) - 34.67

7. David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers) - 34.04

8. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) - 34.20

9. Fernando Torres (Liverpool) - 33.95

10. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) - 35.61

11. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) - 35.56

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FLOPS OF THE SEASON (minimum 17 starts)

It's probably too late for the likes of uber-flops Jay McEveley and Alan Smith to get out of the Flops of the Season XI, but players like Michael Chopra, Benni McCarthy and Paul Robinson could be just a couple of match-winning performances away from an escape. Which is bad news for Robinson, because he's injured.

1. Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur) - 29.55

2. Chris Baird (Fulham) - 27.74

3. Jay McEveley (Derby County) - 26.31

4. Brynjar Gunnarsson (Reading) - 27.69

5. Younes Kaboul (Tottenham Hotspur) - 27.52

6. Robbie Savage (Derby County) - 28.09

7. Craig Fagan (Derby County) - 28.12

8. Alan Smith (Newcastle United) - 26.93

9. Benni McCarthy (Blackburn Rovers) - 27.9

10. Michael Chopra (Sunderland) - 28.46

11. Eddie Lewis (Derby County) - 27.21

Tom Williams / Eurosport