Newcastle defender and Villa striker join six Fulham flops in Premier League weekend’s Worst XI
It was a miserable weekend for Fulham, who unsurprisingly dominate the Premier League’s Worst XI from matchday four.
Inclusions are down to WhoScored ratings…
GK: Bernd Leno – 4.78
Bernd Leno and James Trafford both conceded five goals, Jordan Pickford scored an own goal and Nick Pope had an error leading to a goal (take your pick between the fumble or failed launch). It wasn’t the best of weekends for Premier League goalkeepers.
You can forgive Leno for conceding three to Erling Haaland (including a penalty), while one of the goals could have been disallowed for offside with Manuel Akanji seemingly blocking the German’s view; it was an unstoppable header from Nathan Ake regardless.
Despite all of this, Leno still had the worst rating out of any Premier League goalkeeper.
RB: Ameen Al-Dakhil – 4.51
The worst rating of the weekend belongs to Burnley right-back Ameen Al-Dakhil, who made Heung-min Son look like a brilliant footballer, which can be quite the achievement these days.
Al-Dakhil gave the ball away in his defensive third for the goal that put Tottenham 3-1 up and struggled to deal Son, James Maddison and Destiny Udogie.
CB: Issa Diop – 5.28
Like with Leno, there is a bit of leeway as a defender if you are dominated by Haaland, but there is a lot more justification in criticising Issa Diop for his performance against Manchester City.
Haaland’s terrific movement caught out Diop for City’s opening goal and the Frenchman later conceded a penalty when he fouled Julian Alvarez in the box.
CB: Dan Burn – 5.61
Moved into the centre of the Newcastle United defence thanks to an injury to Sven Botman, Dan Burn had a day to forget against his former club Brighton.
Burn has been solid enough at left-back but Eddie Howe did him no favours by moving him into the middle of a back four. In fairness, it was either that or Jamaal Lascelles.
He was nowhere near confident enough up against young Evan Ferguson and almost invited him to score two of his three at the Amex. Howe needs Botman back ASAP.
LB: Connor Roberts – 5.52
Clearly a torrid afternoon for Burnley’s full-backs as they were torn to shreds by Angeball. Don’t worry, you won’t be the last this season.
Connor Roberts misplaced 14 passes, didn’t win any tackles and was dribbled past twice. Eek.
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CM: Andreas Pereira – 5.35
Dispossessed three times and booked for dissent, Brazilian playmaker Andreas Pereira did not enjoy his return to Manchester.
It was always going to be a difficult afternoon for Pereira, whose ability from set-pieces would have been one of Marco Silva’s biggest hopes going into the match. He did take the corner which led to Tim Ream’s goal, so there is that.
CM: Harrison Reed – 5.63
As he sprinted over to cut out a potential pass to Phil Foden, Harrison Reed left a massive gap between himself and Pereira as Rodri broke the lines for Alvarez, who found Haaland (with a bit of help from Ream) to score. It is those tiny little details that cost you in games against Manchester City. You need to be perfect. It is so f**king annoying.
Reed actually completed 43 of his 46 attempted passes, which is good going at the Etihad.
CM: Tahith Chong – 5.63
Before the season kicked off, a lot of people probably looked at Luton Town vs West Ham as a decent chance for the Hatters to get their first win of the season. Under the lights at Kenilworth Road for the first time in the Premier League. It had potential, that’s for sure.
Unfortunately for them, the Hammers have surprised everyone with their start to the campaign and they made fairly light work of Rob Edwards’ side.
Tahith Chong has been an energetic player in Luton’s midfield but he struggled to stamp his authority on the match, misplacing eight of his 19 attempted passes, which is a pretty grim 58 per cent success rate. The 23-year-old failed all five of his attempted dribbles, was taken on once, didn’t win a single tackle and committed two fouls. Not the best of nights for the young man.
RW: Harry Wilson – 5.81
Harry Wilson’s match rating is the second-best in this XI and Matty Cash actually had a 5.72 for his contribution to Aston Villa’s battering at Liverpool, but the latter was playing as a right-wing-back, so we have harshly included the Welshman. It felt important to clarify.
Wilson was pretty anonymous, doing a lot more defending than attacking. He made a grand total of seven passes and was substituted after 81 minutes.
ST: Ollie Watkins – 5.73
Ollie Watkins is bang in form but is surprisingly still waiting to score his first Premier League goal of the season. He had two shots, both off target, and could not get into the game as Aston Villa were beaten 3-0 at Anfield.
LW: Bobby Decordova-Reid – 6.10
Like Wilson, Bobby Decordova-Reid did a lot more defending than he would have liked and is the sixth Fulham player to make the Premier League weekend’s Worst XI.
He had a lot more successful passes (17) than Wilson and is the only player in this team with a rating above 6, but that is not enough to prevent his inclusion.
