Players from Leicester City and Stoke City heavily contribute to the Midlands team of the weekend, which also includes Burton Albion’s man-of the-match and an emerging fan favourite at Aston Villa.
Midlands teams experienced a mixed set of results over the weekend, with Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Derby County and Birmingham City all suffering disappointing defeats. Burton Albion, Aston Villa, Stoke City and Leicester City, on the other hand, will be delighted with their three points after suffering inconsistent seasons so far.
We take a look at the stand-out performers across the region in our Midlands team of the weekend.
Goalkeeper
West Bromwich Albion made the trip to Anfield and faced an in-form and dominant Liverpool side. Despite their 2-1 defeat, West Brom had goalkeeper Ben Foster to thank for keeping the score down, as the Englishman made several stops to deny the likes of Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino.
Honourable mentions should go to Stoke’s Lee Grant, Burton’s Jon McLaughlin and Villa’s Pierluigi Gollini, who all kept clean sheets, against Hull City, Birmingham and Fulham respectively. However, the Midlands goalkeeper of the weekend is Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel. The Denmark international stopper deserved to keep a clean sheet and was unlucky not to do so during his side’s 3-1 victory – as he was in inspired form against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
Defence
Mark Hughes’ Stoke kept their first clean sheet away from home since December 2015 and defensive stalwart Ryan Shawcross was a hugely influential part of this achievement. Shawcross is joined in the centre of defence by another Premier League captain, Leicester’s Wes Morgan. Like Shawcross, Morgan replicated his renowned commitment, determination and leadership to help the reigning champions secure all three points against Crystal Palace.
The full-back slots are allocated to Morgan’s team mate Christian Fuchs and Aston Villa’s Jordan Amavi. Leicester’s left-back Fuchs signed a new three-year contract during the week and marked the occasion with his first goal in 47 appearances for the Foxes. Meanwhile, Frenchman Amavi was recalled to Steve Bruce’s line-up at the expense of under-fire compatriot Aly Cissokho. Amavi did not disappoint and his defensively disciplined performance will have pleased the Villa fans, who are all too aware of Amavi’s attacking qualities.
Midfield
Joe Allen‘s recent impressive form continued at the weekend, as his quality in midfield helped Stoke remain unbeaten in their last four Premier League games (won two, drawn two). Allen, who also made last week’s Midlands XI, joins team mate Xherdan Shaqiri as Stoke’s representatives in the Midlands’ XI midfield. Shaqiri’s performance against a helpless Hull City received plenty of justifiable praise over the weekend. The Switzerland star was the Midlands’ stand-out performer and scored both of Stoke’s goals in their 2-0 victory. The Stoke duo are alongside Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez, who was instrumental throughout their 3-1 victory over Palace and shone, despite the absence of Jamie Vardy from Claudio Ranieri’s line-up.
Attack
Burton Albion and Birmingham City kicked off the Midlands’ weekend fixtures in a head-to-head battle on Friday night. Nigel’s Clough’s Burton side secured a much-valued 2-0 victory over former Brewers boss Gary Rowett’s Birmingham. Albion’s man-of-the-match was Jamie Ward, who makes the Midlands team of the weekend by virtue of his involvement in both of his team’s goals – an assist on the first and by scoring the second himself. Staying in the Championship, Jonathan Kodjia is gradually developing into a fans’ favourite at Aston Villa. The big-money signing from Bristol City helped Villa secure back-to-back league wins for the first time since May 2015 by scoring the decisive goal in his team’s 1-0 victory over Fulham.
The front three is completed by Leicester’s Shinji Okazaki. The Japanese international forward was selected alongside Islam Slimani, in preference to Jamie Vardy, and his performance helped Ranieri’s side reach 20 home games unbeaten in the league (won 12, drawn 7). This leaves the Premier League champions just one game short of equalling Chelsea’s record of 21 undefeated home matches in the top flight. Okazaki capped his game off with a well taken goal and a pass success rate of 84.4%.
The Midlands team of the weekend
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