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Spurs absolutely stinking out St James’ Park mean there’s no Bournemouth or Leeds representation in the weekend’s worst XI. An Arsenal star makes the cut though…
Here’s the worst XI from the weekend’s Premier League action, according to WhoScored ratings…
GK: Hugo Lloris – 4.96
Six of 17 keepers in the Premier League this weekend earned sub-six scores but Lloris was by far the worst after conceding five in the opening 21 minutes. You could question his attempts to stop three of them – the second, third and fifth – before he was hooked at half-time, apparently due to a muscle injury.
RWB: Pedro Porro – 5.61
Porro played as a full-back rather than a wing-back as Cristian Stellini switched to a calamitous back four. The recent arrival struggled as badly as his centre-backs with the switch, giving the ball away 20 times while losing five of his eight duels.
CB: Mason Holgate – 5.63
Given the nod ahead of Nathan Patterson, the Everton centre-back played as a right-back in Everton’s draw at Palace – or at least for 80 minutes of it before he was sent off for two cautions that Sean Dyche had no complaints over. Before he received his marching orders, Holgate lost possession 25 times, finishing with a miserable pass accuracy of 51.5%.
CB: Cristian Romero – 5.22
Playing in a back three here, in which Romero is evidently more comfortable if the miserable defeat to Newcastle is any guide. Three-quarters of Stellini’s defence allowed Joelinton to drift off the right for the opener, while Romero seemed to forget the Brazilian’s existence as he let a long ball in behind him for the second. The Spurs defender didn’t make a tackle while being dribbled past three times, losing all but one of his five duels.
CB: Eric Dier – 5.21
Marginally more dire even than Romero. When he did win the ball, he promptly gave it back, losing possession on 15 occasions, 11 times from lumping aimless long balls. Positionally all over the show with a back four apparently an alien concept to the England centre-back.
LWB: Oleksandr Zinchenko – 5.73
Not Arsenal’s worst performer – that was Aaron Ramsdale (5.09) – but Zinchenko struggled upon being recalled to Mikel Arteta’s XI. Lost the ball 16 times in 72 minutes while making no tackles, interceptions or blocks and losing five of his seven duels. Leads a good huddle, though.
CM: Pape Sarr – 5.44
Sarr lasted half the time Lloris managed, with Stellini’s response to going 5-0 down being to bring on Davinson Sanchez – booed off by his own fans last week – for the midfielder, moments after he had got nowhere near close enough to Alexander Isak for the Newcastle attacker’s second and the Toon’s fifth.
CM: Youri Tielemans – 5.51
The Leicester midfielder is back from injury but doing little good for the Foxes’ survival hopes or his own prospects of securing a decent move when his contract expires in the summer. Tielemans was bundled off the ball by Mario Lemina in the build-up to Wolves’ opener – one of 17 times he lost possession in 67 minutes, in which time he was dribbled past four times.
CM: Leander Dendocker – 6.06
The Villa midfielder is a little unfortunate to make the cut for this XI. He didn’t do badly at Brentford – he just didn’t do much at all. No tackles, interceptions, crosses, long balls, key passes or shots, and only one duel competed – which he lost.
AM: Son Heung-min – 5.85
The expectation of improvement from Son was one of five reasons to be cheerful for Spurs fans, but that certainly did not materialise at Newcastle on Sunday. Son didn’t lack effort but he lost six of his eight duels and none of his three shots tested Nick Pope.
Read more: Spurs might not even have hit rock bottom yet despite historic humiliation at Newcastle
Striker: Odsonne Edouard – 5.88
Edouard was shackled by Everton, who restricted the Palace forward to just 19 touches in 71 minutes. With what little of the ball he saw, he managed only five accurate passes and no shots while losing 14 of his 17 duels.
