This week’s European Team of the Week includes three players each from Barcelona and Arsenal after both clubs produced impressive wins, but there were strong performances scattered across all five major leagues.
Arsenal came from behind to beat Chelsea in the highest-profile Premier League game of the weekend. Barcelona went to Valencia and demolished them 5-0. Athletic Club put three past Atlético Madrid, Roma scored twice in the closing minutes to steal a win from Atalanta and Inter somehow recovered from a 2-0 deficit to beat Napoli 3-2.
The Best XI lines up in a 4-3-3, although we are moving natural left back Tyrick Mitchell over to the right side to make everything fit. Team of the Week positional crimes continue.
The Player of the Week goes to Lamine Yamal, who combined two goals with five chances created in Barcelona’s destruction of Valencia.
Player of the Week: Lamine Yamal, Barcelona
There is a very good argument for Lautaro Martínez here, but Lamine gets the narrow edge because his performance against Valencia was about much more than two finishes in a 5-0 win.
He scored twice and created five chances, constantly giving Valencia problems whether he stayed wide on the right or moved into more dangerous central areas. His first goal was particularly good. Fermín López chipped the ball toward him inside the box and Lamine recognized the opportunity early, meeting it with an outside-of-the-foot finish before the defense could recover.
Yamal and Fermin combined repeatedly to rip apart the Valencia defense. It became amusing that the same inside-out Fermin run into the box and Yamal reverse pass kept opening up the defense for shots on goal.
Lamine had started the season a little slow after a long World Cup run and little rest over the summer, but this weekend he took the restrictor plates off. Barcelona looked like the best team in Europe in this demolition that easily could have been worse than 5-0.
Two goals and five chances created is enough for Player of the Week.
Goalkeeper: David Raya, Arsenal
Raya conceded after only 77 seconds against Chelsea, but there was not much he could do about Morgan Rogers’ strike, which caught him moving in the opposite direction.
He made sure Chelsea never found another.
Raya finished with four saves as Arsenal recovered to win 2-1, including the most important one late in the second half when Estêvão curled an effort toward the top of the goal and Raya got across to tip it over. Chelsea also tested him from distance through Cole Palmer and Reece James earlier in the match.
Arsenal was the better team overall, but Chelsea remained dangerous enough that the goalkeeper had actual work to do after Ødegaard gave the champions the lead.
Raya did it.
Left Back: Miguel Gutiérrez, Bayer Leverkusen
Gutiérrez provided two assists as Bayer Leverkusen bounced back from its ugly opening-weekend loss by overwhelming Union Berlin 4-0.
This was exactly the type of game that demonstrates why calling Gutiérrez a left back does not really describe everything he does.
He continually joined the midfield and attack rather than simply staying outside to provide width, giving Leverkusen another player capable of progressing possession and creating from advanced areas. He finished with two assists as Bayer outshot Union 21-5 and generated nearly three expected goals.
There will be much tougher defensive assignments, but Leverkusen needed a response after its opening loss to Elversberg.
Gutiérrez was one of the players who helped provide it.
Center Back: Mario Hermoso, Roma
This was not a spotless defensive performance from Hermoso.
Charles De Ketelaere beat him in the sequence that produced Atalanta’s opening goal shortly after halftime, leaving Roma chasing the match despite controlling much of the afternoon.
Hermoso eventually provided his own correction.
Roma was still down 1-0 entering the final minute when he attacked a corner and headed home the equalizer. Matías Soulé then scored three minutes later to complete a 2-1 comeback and preserve Roma’s perfect start to the Serie A season.
Soulé produced the winning goal, but a center back rescuing a point in the 90th minute while contributing to another Roma victory is enough to get Hermoso into this team.
Even if he will probably want the first Atalanta goal removed from the highlight package.
Center Back: Jonathan Tah, Bayern Munich
Selecting a Bayern defender after a scoreless draw against Schalke is slightly strange, but leaving Tah out would have been stranger.
Bayern spent virtually the entire match attacking, but Tah was a large part of the reason Schalke could rarely turn all that defending into a meaningful counterattack. He completed 126 of 130 passes, won three tackles, recorded eight recoveries and made two last-man interventions.
Schalke’s game plan was obvious. Survive Bayern’s pressure, then hope one clearance or turnover created an opportunity at the opposite end.
Tah repeatedly prevented the second part from happening.
The bigger story from the match was Loris Karius somehow keeping Bayern off the scoreboard. Tah was probably Bayern’s best player anyway.
Right Back: Tyrick Mitchell, Crystal Palace
Mitchell is a left back, but we’re fudging the rules this week to fit him in.
Scoring twice as a defender in a 3-2 road victory earns a certain amount of positional flexibility.
Crystal Palace needed both goals against Fulham. Mitchell provided the equalizer as Palace fought back and then scored again during a match that repeatedly swung back and forth.
Fullbacks can make this team through elite defending, chance creation or controlling an entire flank.
Or they can just score twice.
That works too.
Central Midfield: Pedri, Barcelona
Pedri was somehow only the third-best Barcelona player against Valencia.
That says considerably more about Barcelona’s afternoon than his performance as he continues to perform magic week in and week out.
While Lamine and Fermín produced the bigger numbers, Pedri again controlled where the game was played. He constantly offered himself during buildup, moved the ball through Valencia’s pressure and recognized when Barcelona needed to accelerate rather than simply circulating possession.
Then he added the fourth goal himself after combining with Dani Olmo.
Pedri has already appeared in each of the first three editions of this Team of the Week, which is probably getting repetitive.
So is watching him control games.
Until someone stops him, there is not much reason to pretend otherwise.
Central Midfield: Martin Ødegaard, Arsenal
This was probably the best pure midfield performance of the weekend.
Chelsea stunned Arsenal with an early goal, but Ødegaard gradually became the most influential player on the field as the champions took control.
His movement between Chelsea’s midfield and defense continually gave Arsenal an outlet near the penalty area, particularly once Kai Havertz began pulling defenders away from the middle.
The reward came early in the second half.
Arsenal worked the ball into the box, Havertz cleverly allowed the pass to run through him and Ødegaard arrived behind the striker with enough space to finish the winning goal.
Arsenal eventually won the expected-goals battle 2.11-0.35 and deserved the result.
Ødegaard was the player most responsible for turning their territorial advantage into something decisive.
Central Midfield: Fermín López, Barcelona
One goal and two assists would have been enough.
The movement behind the production was even better.
Fermín continually found spaces between Valencia’s midfield and back line, giving Barcelona a much more aggressive presence around the penalty area than a conventional central midfielder.
He created Lamine’s opener with the chipped pass into the box, scored Barcelona’s second himself from outside the area and later supplied Raphinha.
That is the advantage Fermín gives Barcelona alongside Pedri.
Pedri can organize the possession and determine where the attack develops. Fermín is much more interested in attacking the space that possession creates.
Against Valencia, the combination was devastating.
Forward: Kai Havertz, Arsenal
Havertz had one of those performances where his influence becomes much clearer once you stop evaluating him like a conventional striker.
He scored Arsenal’s equalizer against his former club, cutting onto his left foot and finishing from the edge of the box after Chelsea had taken the early lead.
His contribution to the winner may have been even better.
As Arsenal attacked down the right, Havertz moved toward the ball and looked prepared to receive the cross. Instead he recognized Ødegaard arriving behind him and deliberately allowed the pass to run through, taking the nearby defenders with him and leaving his captain free to score.
That combination summed up why Havertz remains so useful in this Arsenal attack.
He can finish chances like a striker, but his movement is often designed to create space for the players around him rather than simply occupying the penalty area.
Against Chelsea, he did both.
Striker: Lautaro Martínez, Inter Milan
Most weeks this would have been the Player of the Week.
Napoli led Inter 2-0 after 53 minutes at the San Siro and appeared headed toward an enormous early-season victory over a direct title rival.
Then Lautaro started the comeback.
He scored in the 56th minute to cut the deficit, Marcus Thuram eventually equalized and Inter continued throwing players forward until a corner dropped into the box in stoppage time.
Lautaro was there.
His 91st-minute finish completed a 3-2 victory after Inter had generated 29 shots and more than three expected goals.
The numbers tell us Inter probably deserved something from the match. Lautaro is the reason “something” became three points.
This was the captain turning a potentially damaging home defeat against Napoli into one of the best wins of the young season.
Forward: Nico Williams, Athletic Club
Athletic Club entered its game against Atlético Madrid needing someone capable of disrupting one of the more talented defensive teams in Spain.
Nico Williams did exactly that.
The match remained scoreless into the second half before Williams opened the scoring and changed the conditions completely. Once Atlético had to push higher and chase the game, Athletic suddenly had the space its attackers wanted.
They punished it.
Two more goals followed as Athletic turned a close match into a 3-0 statement victory at San Mamés.
Williams remains most dangerous when he can attack a defender with space behind him, and Atlético eventually gave him exactly that opportunity. Once he broke through, the entire match opened with him.
Team of the Week
GK: David Raya, Arsenal
LB: Miguel Gutiérrez, Bayer Leverkusen
CB: Mario Hermoso, Roma
CB: Jonathan Tah, Bayern Munich
RB: Tyrick Mitchell, Crystal Palace
CM: Pedri, Barcelona
CM: Martin Ødegaard, Arsenal
CM: Fermín López, Barcelona
FW: Kai Havertz, Arsenal
ST: Lautaro Martínez, Inter Milan
FW: Nico Williams, Athletic Club
Player of the Week: Lamine Yamal, Barcelona