Past the midway point in the season and Europe's leagues are taking shape. There are in each division favourites breaking free at the top, intriguing battles emerging for the Champions League places and relegation battles primed for the final strait. Here, we take an in-depth look at the European team of the week from the past weekend.
Goalkeeper
Ligue 1's Evian Thonon Gaillard are one of the teams that have allowed themselves to become entrenched in a relegation scrap, currently sitting precariously above the drop zone. Thus, every point gained is a huge stride towards survival, and equally important is stopping the teams around them from gaining ground. Saturday's goalless draw at Rennes - who are two places above them - was therefore a huge result.
36-year-old stopper Bertrand Laquait put in a team of the week-worthy performance to earn his side a point, making 6 saves en route to a WhoScored rating of 8.5. He has had to share first team duties this season with Jesper Hansen, but this showing might have convinced manager Pascal Dupraz that he should be first-choice.
Defence
A Premier League pairing makes up the heart of WhoScored's best defence of the week, with two clubs that have struggled of late picking up vital points in their fight against the drop, thanks to the goals of their centre-backs. England's top flight is so tight at the bottom that Norwich and West Brom, in 12th and 13th, are only 5 and 4 points, respectively, above the bottom of the table after 22 games.
Norwich earned a crucial three points at the weekend, with Ryan Bennett's late header enough to win their clash with Hull. The centre-back was key in his side registering their first clean sheet in seven outings, winning 9 of the 10 aerial duels he was challenged with as Hull looked to put the Norwich back line under pressure with balls up to new centre-forward Nikica Jelavic. Nearly 1 in every 5 of the Tigers' passes were played long, but time and again Bennett was on hand to deal with the threat and ensure the visitors were unable to register a single shot on target.
Partnering him at the back is West Brom's Diego Lugano, who gave Pepe Mel something to cheer about in his first home game in charge of the Baggies. The Uruguayan made a colossal 17 clearances as Everton looked to assert themselves on the game, but largely failed, as Mel's men restricted their opponent's to 50% possession (extremely low for Roberto Martínez's team), with Lugano making an impressive 5 tackles and 3 interceptions to break up play, while also netting an all-important goal.
Monaco's Layvin Kurzawa was the best-performing left-back in Europe this weekend as he continued his fine run of form with the opening goal in his side's 2-0 win at Toulouse. The youngster has impressed no end this season, making the spot his own despite having made very few first team appearances over the last few seasons and still being only 21 years of age. An energetic and attacking full-back, Kurzawa's goal was his third in his last 4 appearances, but he was also key without the ball, dealing astutely with the fact that 50% of Toulouse's attacking touches came down his wing. He has made a meteoric rise at club level that could see him earn a France call up before long.
On the other flank, Elche's Damián Suárez earned his place in the team of the week with an assured display as his side registered their first win in 6, this coming over relegation rivals Rayo Vallecano. Suárez made countless marauding runs down the right, completing 3 successful dribbles and making 3 key passes as Elche enjoyed a rare game of near utter domination.
Midfield
There were a couple of perfect 10s in midfield, with Yohan Cabaye and Santi Cazorla each scoring twice in match-winning performances for their respective teams. The former has attracted a fair amount of attention during the last couple of transfer windows and again displayed just why, with a controlled finish and a free-kick to beat West Ham. He played a more advanced role than he sometimes does, occupying the number 10 role behind striker Loïc Remy. Less of the play went through him than usual, but he is so dangerous so high up the pitch that that does not matter. He attempted 5 shots and created 4 chances, while he also displayed his fantastic vision; the 5 through balls he attempted was the most by a player in a Premier League match so far this season.
Cazorla has been somewhat overshadowed by the arrival of Mesut Özil in the summer, but with the German quiet and perhaps looking a little jaded at the weekend, Cazorla stepped up to the plate and provided where necessary as Arsenal maintained their lead at the top of the table. His two goals means he has now directly contributed to just 5 goals this season, having scored or assisted a total of 23 over the course of last term. The Gunners' front 4 were as narrow as usual, with Cazorla coming in off the flank with regularity to allow the left-back space to overlap. Arsenal have such attacking talent that they keep the ball brilliantly high up the pitch and Cazorla should really be putting in performances like this one more often.
Arturo Vidal is unquestionably one of the best central midfielders on the planet, and quite how he manages to cover the ground he does is beyond the best of us. Whilst leading Serie A for tackles he is also fourth in the goals scored column and joint 11th for assists. This weekend he added to each of these tallies with 3 tackles, 2 goals (one from a penalty which he, naturally, won) and an assist in Juventus' 4-2 win over Sampdoria. Given the onus on the Chilean and Paul Pogba to drive the play forward through midfield, it is little surprise that the majority of Juve's touches (39%) in the attacking half and their shots (78%) came through the centre of the pitch.
Making up the midfield is the man who set up Ryan Bennett's aforementioned winner, Robert Snodgrass. The Scot has been below par this season, at least by the standards he set for himself last term, and will be glad to have registered his first assist of the campaign this weekend. Manager Chris Hughton has highlighted his work rate, and that was clear to see, so rumours of interest from Celtic will encourage them to hang on to their star man.
Attack
Samuel Eto'o put Manchester United boss David Moyes under further pressure, netting a lethal hat-trick at Stamford Bridge. He may have had the help of a big deflection and some terribly poor defending on the visitors' part, but that he got into the positions to take advantage of those circumstances shows a sharpness that was perhaps previously lacking since he moved to Chelsea.
The Cameroonian needed only 4 shots and 32 touches of the ball to complete his 3-goal haul, but that is typical of a striker of his pedigree; clinical in and around the area to such an extent that you can't afford to allow him such opportunities. He now ranks behind only Sergio Agüero and Daniel Sturridge in terms of number of touches taken per goal in the Premier League this season, and if he can hit a run of form, he may well prove to be the solution to Chelsea's long-standing striker problem.
Partnering Eto'o up front is the player he swapped clubs with back in 2009, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic made the move from Inter Milan to Barcelona. Now at Paris Saint Germain, the Sweden superstar is arguably playing at a level too low for his ability, and he gave another hint towards that being the case with 16th and 17th goals and 9th assist of the season at the weekend. Les Parisiens are running away with the title and Sunday's 5-0 trouncing of Nates epitomised their dominance perfectly. They enjoyed 73% possession, with everything attacking going through their centre forward, who maintained a pass success rate of 85%, vastly impressive for a striker so involved in the play. He made 6 layoffs, bringing others into the game, whilst also testing the keeper with all 4 of his attempts on goal.
Who impressed you most this weekend? Let us know in the comments below
