Norwich broke the cardinal rule when attempting to defend against Deulofeu in their 2-0 loss against Watford on Friday - don't give him too much room. The Spaniard was allowed the freedom of Carrow Road to dribble his way through into the final third, and it was through this space that he scored the opener. After collecting the ball from deep, he embarked on a lovely run, evading tackle after tackle before slotting into the bottom corner with his left foot. Then, he turned provider for the second by flashing a cross into the feet of Andre Gray to tap home. He also completed five dribbles overall and won half of his duels.
Martial and Marcus Rashford are striking up quite the partnership up top for Manchester United, with their recent slight upturn in form correlated to the return to the starting XI of the Frenchman. On Sunday, Brighton simply couldn't handle the pace, power, and dribbling of the pair, with Martial twice assisting goals for Andreas Pereira and Rashford. Both were simple enough passes to his team-mates, but the work before the pass, particularly for the third goal of the day, was excellent as he danced beyond defenders before intelligently cutting back into space. He made 14 passes into the final third and had seven touches inside the opposition penalty area.
Leicester made a real statement at the weekend as they defeated Arsenal 2-0, with James Maddison emerging as the man of the match. He scored the second with an impressively taken finish at the edge of the box which nestled perfectly in the bottom left corner, but was effective in other areas, too. He made 23 passes into the final third as the Foxes pinned Arsenal back, while he completed 53 out of 60 attempted passes.
If Traore picked out better final balls, he would be one of the most frightening players to play against for opposition defenders. Although by no means a perfect outing against Aston Villa, he was, on occasion, unplayable. He recorded an assist for Raul Jimenez, but could have and should have had more. He completed 10 dribbles on the day, which was by far the most of anyone in the Premier League, and sent seven crosses into the area. He lost possession 14 times, too, however, so it is clear the area of his game which requires improvement.
Pereira is emerging as one of the most consistently best full-backs in the Premier League, and he was once again in good form in the aforementioned victory for Leicester over Arsenal. His best work came defensively, as he won 9/14 duels, 4/6 tackles, and made four ball recoveries and three interceptions. He sent 23 passes into the final third, and only misplaced six passes all afternoon.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
It took Chelsea a little while to get going against Crystal Palace, but eventually broke the deadlock after Willian (8) set-up Tammy Abraham. The Brazilian was Chelsea's best player on the day, incredibly misplacing just two passes the whole afternoon.
ROUND TO FORGET
Fabian Balbuena (4.7) was hapless at the back for West Ham in the loss against Burnley as he was regularly bullied by Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood, while making one error which led directly to a goal.
