Who has made Troy’s Premier League team of the week?

After every round of Premier League matches this season, BBC football pundit Troy Deeney will give you his team and manager of the week.

Here are this week’s choices. Do you agree? Give us your thoughts using the comments form at the bottom of this page.

Bart Verbruggen (Brighton): He made four or five really good saves and kept them in the game in the draw against West Ham. On another day West Ham go on to win that. He was bang on it and a big reason why Brighton nicked a draw.

Matty Cash (Aston Villa): Wonderful goal as Aston Villa beat Arsenal and great defending. As a Birmingham fan it pains me to give him credit but he was great and Aston Villa were fantastic. Everyone feels Arsenal are going to run away with the league, but Aston Villa said “no, not on my watch”.

Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace): He got his team over the line for their win at Fulham and led by example as he always does. He got my mind thinking – not only did he play well this weekend and has been great all season, how much would Liverpool not be in this mess if they had managed to sign him? How good could Liverpool be if they had a proper centre-half like him?

Marco Senesi (Bournemouth): I don’t know where Bournemouth keep getting these players from. They sold two centre-halves in the summer and he has just stepped in no problem. He’s been absolutely fantastic, and was again as they shut out Chelsea.

Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle): I’m putting Bruno at the base of a diamond in midfield because he is the heart, soul and spirit of Newcastle’s team, and was brilliant again against Burnley. He is just a very good football player and there are not many people you can say that about.

Anton Stach (Leeds): He was the player who stood out for Leeds in their draw with Liverpool. The visitors were obviously cruising but I look at players and teams in that moment and look at who is hiding. This guy turned it up – not only a notch but another 10 notches – scored a goal and got an assist.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Everton): Is he the signing of the season? He has been fantastic. Not only is he scoring, he is pulling the strings and has become the heartbeat of this new-look Everton team under David Moyes, who can get another gear out of these players as they did against Nottingham Forest.

Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United): Top of the diamond is Fernandes. Two goals at Wolves and an assist. His passing was fantastic. He loses a bit of credit because it was against arguably the worst team I have ever seen in Wolves, but he did very well. Manchester United are back on the winning trail.

Xavi Simons (Tottenham): He has had a bit of a tough time at Spurs but it felt like this was his moment to show everyone why people think he is so talented. He has pace, power and glides past people. We used to call people like that a luxury but when you put in a match-winning performance like he did against Brentford, you have to start saying he is just good.

Hugo Ekitike (Liverpool): Even though he is in a team that is a shambles, he gets in through the middle. He scored two goals against Leeds. I understand Liverpool spent a lot of money on Alexander Isak – and I am a huge fan – but just start this kid. Get the two of them up front and figure it out.

Rayan Cherki (Manchester City) My favourite footballer to watch in world football. Not only was his assist for Phil Foden in the win against Sunderland worth the admission fee, he was just delightful. He is like the cult heroes I grew up with and makes me feel like a kid again watching football. Back in the day you had Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, JJ Okocha – a plethora of them. Now there is just Rayan Cherki – and he is fantastic.

Unai Emery (Aston Villa): A massive game for Aston Villa. Against Arsenal it was that match where he gets to say: “Remember me? You got rid of me.” I think with all that being said, Emery is manager of the week.

Do you agree with Troy’s selections? Who would be in your team of the week? Have your say using the comments form below:

Hugo Ekitike

With Liverpool and Mohamed Salah appearing to be moving in different directions – and Salah heading to join his Egypt team-mates for the Africa Cup of Nations next week anyway – the Reds need other players to step up and fill the Salah-shaped hole in the scoring charts. In Hugo Ekitike, they may have found that man.

Ekitike is now Liverpool’s leading Premier League scorer with five goals, while in all competitions he also tops the charts with eight. On Saturday at Elland Road, the Frenchman scored the first double of his Liverpool career, and with the goals coming in the 48th and 50th minutes, he was the first Premier League player to score twice in the opening five minutes of the second half since Raheem Sterling in March 2019 for Manchester City against Watford.

He led all players in the match for shots (5), shots on target (3) and touches in the opposition box (9) and his only disappointment must have been the scoreline – he was the first Liverpool player to score two goals in a Premier League and not win since Salah last December in a 3-3 draw with Newcastle.

Rayan Cherki

Despite playing just 398 minutes in the Premier League this season, no player has more assists than Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki (5), with two of those coming in the 3-0 victory over Sunderland.

Cherki created six chances in open play, the joint most by a player in a Premier League game this season, while at 22 years and 111 days on Saturday he was the second-youngest Manchester City player to achieve that in a Premier League game, older only than – maybe surprisingly – Mario Balotelli in February 2012 against Blackburn Rovers.

Among players to play 300 minutes in the Premier League, no player has created more chances per 90 minutes than Cherki (3.4) and only four have had more touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes (7.7). The Frenchman is currently assisting a goal, on average, every 80 minutes – also a league best.

Bruno Guimaraes

Bruno Guimaraes has taken 10 corners in the Premier League this season and it is clear which one of those was most memorable – his in-swinging delivery on Saturday against Burnley caught his former team-mate Martin Dubravka out to give the Magpies the lead.

It was not the first Premier League goal direct from a corner (or ‘Olympico goal’ as it’s known) but it was Newcastle’s first ever corner to be put directly into the opponent’s goal in the Premier League, to give Guimaraes a slice of Magpies history. Given the term Olympico goal originates from South America, it seems apt that four of the past seven direct corner goals have been scored by players from that continent – all, in fact, from Brazil. Those scorers are Matheus Pereira, Douglas Luiz, Matheus Cunha and Guimaraes.

Aside from swinging corners directly into the net, Guimaraes has been in excellent recent form – he now has four goals and two assists across his past nine Premier League appearances, scoring five in total this season. Only in 2023-24 has he ever scored more in one season, netting seven times.