Us football fans were privileged to a smorgasbord of both Premier League and FA Cup fixtures this weekend.
We now know our final four for the latter, and it’s congratulations to Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Watford, and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Ahead of the international break, Chelsea have slumped further out of the race for top-four (and Champions League qualification), whilst West Ham and Huddersfield provided a cracking slice of entertainment.
The Sportsman choose our Team of the Week XI from an absolutely brilliant weekend of football involving some of the top sides in the English top tier.
Goalkeeper: Heurelho Gomes
A sentimental choice as the Brazilian marked his last game before his retirement. Tears flowing.
Left-back: Lucas Digne
After last week’s horror show away at Newcastle United, Everton certainly made up for that at Goodison Park against Chelsea, albeit after a shaky start. So this is what all the investment is for.
Centre-back: Wes Morgan
Ended up playing the majority of the match after Harry Maguire was shown a straight red after just four minutes, a finished the game with a fantastic truly centre-back’s header for Leicester City’s
Centre-back: Matt Grimes
Body on line. What an impressive display from the centre-midfielder positioned in defence, with a series of simply stunning blocks to deny the Manchester City attack. Tucked away his penalty nicely too.
Right-back: Seamus Coleman
A truly great performance from the Irishman, reminiscent of his past great seasons. Coleman is partly responsible for providing Marco Silva with the best night of his managerial career at Everton with a solid home victory over Chelsea.
Midfield: Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
Sadio Mane has picked up the mantle from the suffering Mo Salah of late, and with his goal against Fulham for Liverpool’s opener in their 2-1 win at Craven Cottage, has now registered 11 goals in 11 games.
Midfield: Ruben Neves (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
If the rumours heat up about the Portuguese moving to Old Trafford in the summer, there could be no better advertisement after Neves’ brilliance at Molineux to see Wolves through to the Quarter-Finals.
Midfield: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
It’s a Portugal party in midfield! Tenacious, dynamic, unrelenting. Arguably Manchester City’s best player of the league so far this season and proved his worth in the FA Cup. If the Cityzens do indeed win the quadruple, a major factor will be down to 24-year-old.
Forward: Bersant Celina (Swansea City)
The former City youth product produced the goal of the weekend, both for the team effort behind it (the audacity to outplay City at their own game) and the individual brilliance to sail the pall past the disbelieving Ederson for Swansea’s opener.
Forward: Javier Hernandez (West Ham United)
When I find myself in times of trouble, Chicharito scores for me, Javier Hernandez, little pea, little pea. The Mexican’s brace at the London Stadium completed the comeback for West Ham in arguably the best game of the weekend.
Forward: Joshua King (Bournemouth)
A brace from the 27-year-old allowed Bournemouth to share the points with Newcastle United. Has now 11 league goals for the season. For our money, just pips out Sergio Aguero this week.
Manager of the Weekend: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)
Managing the first comeback in his reign at Manchester City from being two goals down.
Runners-up: The Portuguese pairing of Marco Silva/ Nuno Espírito Santo
