Premier League Match Day 18 TOTW-Spurs Stars Son, Kane and Eriksen smash Everton

The 18th round of Premier League matches featured Ole Gunnar Solskjær to manage Manchester United in his first game in charge of his former team. They would face his former managerial team in Cardiff City.

Other games at the weekend consisted of West Ham United to play Watford, Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City against Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium.

My TOTW for matchday 18

Goalkeeper- Ben Foster (Watford)

Ben Foster’s heroics in goal against West Ham at the London Stadium saw Watford move to 7th in the Premier League table, whereas the home side fell to 12th.

Foster made some exceptional saves, in the 90 minutes, against Michail Antonio and Robert Snodgrass.

In the game Foster made 7 saves, which was his joint highest tally in a Premier League game this season.

A huge part of Watford’s recent success is definitely down to Ben Foster performing consistently time and time again for The Hornets.

Defenders- Christian Kabasele (Watford), Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool) and Aaron Wan Bissaka (Crystal Palace)

Christian Kabasele: Another Watford player to make my team of the week this week. Kabasele played a huge part in Watford’s win against The Hammers.

Using his size and pace he managed to make a number of blocks and clearances throughout the game. He was under a lot of pressure by some of the oppositions forwards but remained calm through the storm and helped Watford get another deserved 3 points.

Virgil Van Dijk: Liverpool won 2-0 against Wolves as Van Dijk scored his 2nd goal in his Liverpool career. The Dutch centre back scored a header in the 68th minute and doubled Liverpool’s lead in a comfortable day out for his side.

Alongside a well taken goal, Virgil Van Dijk comfortably shut down attacks from Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez. The pace of Spaniard Traore was not enough to get past Van Dijk because he too gets across the field quickly and ultimately stopped the Premier League’s fastest player at his own game.

If Liverpool win the title, a huge amount of credit has to go to Van Dijk and he will be remembered as one of Liverpool’s greatest defenders of all time.

Aaron Wan Bissaka: 21-year-old, English full back Aaron Wan Bissaka has become one of 2018’s breakthrough players-and deservingly so.

With the task of playing against Leroy Sane on Saturday, Aaron managed to pass with flying colours despite conceding two goals. He can read the game terrifically well and foresaw danger when it became a threat to Palace’s box. Furthermore, he marshalled Sane and prevented the German international from having an impact on the game.

England’s young players are now managing to reach the main stage, after so many people have been crying out for them to be used. Players such as Aaron and even Jadon Sancho and Morgan Gibbs White have finally been given the opportunities to perform and it makes the future of the England national team to look very promising.

Midfielders- Andros Townsend (Crystal Palace), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham Hotspur) and David Brooks (Bournemouth)

Andros Townsend: Has Townsend just scored the goal of the season already? Outrageous to be scoring from 29yards against one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League. He scored a superb goal against Burnley, but the one against Manchester City is miles better.

Technique, power and accuracy were all 10/10.

In addition to his wonder strike, his work rate against the current title holders was second to none and he helped his side defensively all night. From pressuring constantly to last ditch challenges to keep his side in front, Townsend put in a man of the match performance.

Paul Pogba: With Mourinho out of the picture, Manchester United put on their best performance of the season and Paul Pogba showed why he’s worth £80 million.

Clearly his new manager had told him he is free to do as he pleases on the football pitch because he was able to express his creativity and talent with ease all through the night.

The French international registered two more assists in the Premier League and proved that the feud between him and Mourinho was personal.

As a Liverpool fan I’m glad Mourinho was still in charge when we played them because it definitely wouldn’t have been so easy and dominant that night.

Christian Eriksen: Who needs to make signing’s in the Premier League when you’ve got a starting xi as good as Mauricio Pochettino’s. When Spur’s first team are all fit, it’s the third best in the league in my opinion.

Eriksen scored his fourth goal in his 10th meeting with Everton and was the heart of his side’s attacking play. At 26, Tottenham have to make sure the likes of PSG or Barcelona are kept away from him because if the London side don’t win anything soon, he will want to play elsewhere.

David Brooks: What a season David Brooks is having so far. From being loaned out to Halifax from Sheffield United, to scoring goals against Premier League opposition.

Brooks scored 2 goals in Bournemouth's 2-0 win against Brighton. Brooks, 21, now has 5 goals and 1 assist so far in his debut season in the Premier League and looks like he will be a future star for the Welsh national team if he keeps producing.

Credit needs to go to Eddie Howe who has been successful when utilized his talented, young players and it's always a risk in the best football league in the world.

Forwards- Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) and Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)

Son Heung-min: Man of the match performance for the Korean forward. Son ran Everton in circles all game as he scored his side’s 1st and 5th goals for the afternoon in a comfortable outing for Tottenham.

Son pounced on a fatal error between Pickford and Zouma for his first, but his second was a delightful composed finish inside the 18-yard box and through the legs of Jordan Pickford.

I’m glad Son was spared of his military duties for South Korea because he is so talented it would have been a waste to keep away from the game for 21 months. Son won gold in the Asian Games, so he was exempt of his mandatory military services.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Aubameyang scored a brace as Arsenal beat Burnley 3-1. The Gabonese national team captain looked a threat throughout the game and his pace was too much to handle for Tarkowski and Mee.

Aubameyang’s 22 goals in 31 Premier League appearances for Arsenal takes him 5 more goals more than Arsenal legend Thierry Henry when he played his first 31 games for the London team.

The Premier League’s top goal scorer with 12 goals really has helped Arsenal and Unai Emery, and without him I believe Arsenal would be a lot further down the line, even with Lacazette.

Harry Kane: England’s No.9 wasn’t at his best at Goodison Park, but still manged to score two goals. Kane could’ve had 3 or 4 but only increased his goal tally to 11 in the Premier League season.

To not be on his best, but to still score two goals against a side who are challenging for the Europa League shows Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in the world, but to be the best he need’s to be ruthless and take the chances which takes him to 4 or 3 goals a game.

Overview

After match day 18, Manchester City fall four points from leaders Liverpool as they lose to Crystal Palace. Watford, Bournemouth and Leicester all move up to positions 7,8 and 9 respectively and Southampton leave the bottom 3 with a crucial win against David Wagner's Huddersfield.

But the huge talking point is Manchester United under Solskjær because they look a completely different team. Maybe in 2004 Mourinho would of had the dressing room in control, but with social media playing such a huge part in society, the situation showed Mourinho need's to adapt.

Furthermore, the outcome has showed football players are bigger than the managers in this current age in football.

Plus Manchester United's next two games are Huddersfield and Bournemouth, surely those are games Mourinho could of won, or are they tough jobs for Solskjær to take care of?