Liverpool took complete control of the 2019-20 Premier League title race heading into the final international break of the year courtesy of a 3-1 victory over champions Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.
The result puts the Reds nine points above Pep Guardiola's side and eight points clear at the top of the table, with Leicester City and Chelsea now Liverpool's closest challengers.
Leicester eased to a 2-0 victory over Arsenal to leave the Gunners now eight points off the Champions League places, while Chelsea continued their winning run by beating Crystal Palace with their youngest-ever starting lineup in the Premier League.
Surprise package Sheffield United are up to fifth following their controversial 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur, while Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers both moved into the top half with Sunday wins over Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa respectively.
Watford finally picked up their first win of the season on Friday night, sending Norwich City bottom of the table in the process, while there were also victories for Burnley, Everton and Newcastle United.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League team of the week for gameweek 12.
It was a long wait for Watford to finally get their first win of the campaign and, while there were telling contributions from those further up the field, Ben Foster was equally instrumental with five saves to keep another clean sheet. The Hornets by no means had things all their own way at Carrow Road and they needed their keeper on form again to get the all-important victory.
There was a lot of competition for the right-back spot this week, with George Baldock and DeAndre Yedlin both getting on the scoresheet and Trent Alexander-Arnold putting on a clinic of long passing against Man City, but it is Leicester's Ricardo Pereira who gets the nod for us. The full-back not only helped Leicester keep another clean sheet to preserve their status as the league's best defence, he also completed more passes that ended in the final third than any other player on the park.
Newcastle have had to rely heavily on their defenders to weigh in with goals recently, and Ciaran Clark was on hand again on Saturday with a self-proclaimed deft touch to score what proved to be the winner against Bournemouth - a goal which makes him the Magpies' joint-highest scorer this season.
Clark's clubmate Federico Fernandez deserves an honourable mention, as do the likes of Chris Basham, Caglar Soyuncu, Mason Holgate and Ben Mee, but it is the latter's Burnley central defensive partner James Tarkowski who earns his spot having won 11 aerial duels and provided an assist as Burnley swept West Ham United aside.
The headline act of the weekend took place at Anfield, of course, and it was a Liverpool performance in which some of the less heralded players shone brightest. Andrew Robertson perhaps does not fit under that umbrella given how integral he has been to their success under Jurgen Klopp, and the Scot played a huge role again at Anfield - not least with his inch-perfect cross for Mohamed Salah to score their second.
It was the Liverpool midfield - often considered their weakest area when compared to Man City's team - that really made the difference in that game, with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho both coming up with moments of telling quality. The captain's cross to Sadio Mane for Liverpool's third goal put it on a plate for the winger, while Fabinho got things up and running with a thunderous strike after just six minutes and went on to produce a towering all-round performance.
Wolves' poor start to the season has been all but forgotten now as they climbed up to eighth with a derby victory over Aston Villa, and Adama Traore was the chief tormentor for the hosts at Molineux. The speed merchant won the free kick which led to Wolves' first goal and then created the second himself, marking his maiden Spain call-up in style.
Traore's teammate Ruben Neves deserves a mention - if only for his stunning goal - while the likes of Wilfred Ndidi, James Maddison, Tom Davies, Mateo Kovacic and Fred were also in contention for the midfield spots, but our 4-2-3-1 formation opens the door for Gerard Deulofeu to play in the number 10 role having scored one and created the other in Watford's overdue first win.
There was a lot of competition in the forward areas too, specifically on the left where Christian Pulisic, Richarlison, Marcus Rashford and Sadio Mane all made notable impacts. However, Burnley's Dwight McNeil beats them all to a place having provided one assist and only been denied another by a very tight VAR offside call.
Raul Jimenez and Anthony Martial both provided stiff opposition for the number nine spot in this team, but Jamie Vardy is the Premier League's form player at the moment and kept his scoring run going by putting the finishing touch to a sweeping team move to give Leicester the lead against Arsenal. Vardy then added an assist for Maddison's strike, further improving his incredible record against the team he once almost joined.
Barney Corkhill
