Garth Crooks possibly watched a lot of actual Premier League football this weekend.
The BBC pundit usually gets us talking with his Team of the Week selections. He rarely gets it right, usually makes left-field selections and rarely goes for straight-forward formations.
Who could forget last September, of course, when he went 3-1-1-5 in order to sardine in as many forwards as physically possible?
His Premier League Team of the Year also had a distinct lack of Jamie Vardy.
Last night, Crooks nailed it.
There is strong justification in his Team of the Week selection, with a healthy dollop of the weekend’s big winners – Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool. Two of Manchester City’s shining lights also feature:
Crooks finds room for Son Heung-min from Spurs, one of his old clubs, but the Korean merits it after a two-goal salvo that helped to see off Middlesbrough. He reserved his finest praise for Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho:
‘This guy is my favourite Premier League player at the moment and a real pleasure to watch.’
There could be calls for the likes of Juan Mata, Roberto Firmino, Shkodran Mustafi or the excellent Harry Arter but we think Crooks have got most calls on the money.
Catch up on the first episode of Football Friday: Live…
