With the first few days of the new FIFA being done we're heading forward to another week of content which could bring us a decent Team of the Week on Wednesday with probably one of the best defensive lines we've seen in recent months! Check out who could potentially be an upgrade for your team or who could be a decent investment!
Looking at the past weekend of football, we've seen the usual teams recording their victories but we've also seen a lot of games full of goals. Newcastle United completely steamrolled Sheffield, recording a record-breaking 8-0 and German record champs Bayern (once again) smashed Bochum at home with 7-0, the third 7-0 in their past five meetings. That being said, keep in mind that Team of the Week is now reduced to 18 players which makes it harder to select players, especially when it comes to silver based ones and also keep in mind that we could see some different and unexpected inclusions with the Road to the Knockouts promo appearantly starting on Friday!
Starting XI
GK: Marcin Bułka (OGC Nice) - 73 OVR -> 80 OVR:
Folarin Balogun missed two penalties for AS Monaco as they slumped to their first defeat of the season against local rivals OGC Nice. Jérémie Boga netted the winner in injury time and although Marcin Bulka didn't have much to do apart from the two penalties he saved from Balogun it was an impressive return to top form after a very difficult night against his former club last week and Nice went home with 3 points thanks to him.
RB: Achraf Hakimi (Paris SG) - 84 OVR -> 86 OVR:
Paris Saint-Germain beat Olympique de Marseille 4-0 at the Parc des Princes to move to within two points of Ligue 1 Uber Eats leaders Stade Brestois 29. Hakimi won't officially be given the assist for Kolo Muani's goal but his free-kick was expertly taken, and he has now had a hand in five goals from seven games in all competitions this season. The Madrid-born Morocco international looks like the deadliest full-back in the game, and was the difference for PSG on Sunday. L'Equipe handed him an 8 match rating, if it's not Hakimi Kolo Muani would be the next logical choice to pick up the inform.
RB: Kieran Trippier (Newcastle Utd.) - 85 OVR -> 86 OVR:
Newcastle United recorded their joint-biggest win in Premier League history on Sunday, thumping a truly woeful Sheffield United side 8-0 at Bramall Lane. Eight different goalscorers got in on the action for Newcastle in a brilliant day for the club and a bloody awful one for the Blades. Kieran Trippier was a wand of a right foot as the Enland international delivered from set pieces and provided the assists for Burn, Botman and Wilson. He also made some important defensive contributions too with an early block to stop Luke Thomas from scoring. Gordon was named MOTM by Sky but it's impossible to not inlcude a defender with three assists and a clean sheet.
RB: João Cancelo (Barcelona FC) - 86 OVR -> 87 OVR:
Three goals inside the final ten minutes saw Barcelona roar to a stunning 3-2 comeback victory over Celta Vigo on Saturday. Xavi's side had been woeful for the first 80 minutes and were deservedly 2-0 down, but Robert Lewandowski struck twice to claw Barcelona level and save his team from their first defeat of the season. The fun didn't end there, however, as Joao Cancelo tapped home a late winner to seal all three points for Barcelona. The right-back pushed high up in attack, leaving vast spaces behind him for the visitors to counter. Was creative in the final third but relatively shaky in defence but he more than made up for this with his goal and assist.
CM: Saul (Atlético de Madrid) - 80 OVR -> 83 OVR:
Atletico Madrid ended Real Madrid's perfect start to the 2023/24 season with an impressive 3-1 win at the Estadio Civitas Metropolitano. Saul drifted around the pitch and pulled the offensive strings, grabbed two assists with crosses to Griezmann and Morata respectively — the first multi-assist game of his career. Defensively, the 28-year-old tracked back to block, intercepted, and made life hard for Real Madrid. An all-around great performance which could see him being in this week.
CM: Éver Banega (Al Shabab) - 79 OVR -> 82 OVR:
With all the transfers from players to the Saudi League in the summer we can expect them to be included on a weekly basis now in the Team of the Week squads but one we could see this week is veteran Banega who scored twice and assisted another in Al-Shabab's 4-1 win against Al-Hazem. There's a chance we could see Wijnaldum instead of Banega or also Kanté but Banega gets it for me this week.
CM: Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen) - 80 OVR -> 83 OVR:
Victor Boniface bagged his fifth and sixth goals of the season as Bayer Leverkusen beat Heidenheim 4-1 at the BayArena to maintain their undefeated start to the campaign and remains a strong title contender in the earl days of the new season. Man of the Match tho was teh Argentinian midfielder Palacios who provided two assists for his side and with the lack of options from other teams I think he should be in.
RM: Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton & Hove) - 80 OVR -> 83 OVR:
Brighton and Hove Albion made it five wins from their first six Premier League matches with a 3-1 win against Bournemouth at the American Express Stadium. It was a huge result for them as they bounced back from their painful 3-2 Europa League loss to AEK Athens midweek. Mitoma once again was the difference maker after he got subbed on. Linked well with Fati and finished his very good performance with two goals.
LM: Moses Simon (FC Nantes) - 74 OVR -> 83* OVR:
It was goals-galore at the Stade de Beaujoire as Nantes picked up their second win of the season in a eight-goal thriller against Lorient. Mostafa Mohamed scored a thunderous free-kick and Moses Simon netted a injury time penalty to cap-off a 5-3 triumph over their local rivals. Moses Simon also registered two assist and L'Equipe rewarded him with an 8 match rating which could see him being in this week and he's also my FTOTW.
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr) - 86 OVR -> 87 OVR:
With a lot of players having moved to Saudi Professional League there are a ton of options this week to include which won't make selecting any easy. Ronaldo once again put himself on the scoresheet and I would ignore him for the same in a couple of weeks but with the world wide release of the game this week I think we'll see some big names in it and one of them could be Ronaldo after his brace in thier 4-3 win against Al-Ahli.
ST: Harry Kane (FC Bayern) - 90 OVR -> 91 OVR:
Bayern Munich made light work of their Saturday afternoon clash with Bochum, easing to a devastating 7-0 win to take them to the top of the Bundesliga table. He will come up against much sterner opposition in the Bundesliga, but Kane and Bayern already looks like being a very happy partnership. There has been no bedding-in phase for the England captain and he already is dovetailing perfectly with the skillful wingers at the club. The assists he got in the game will have pleased Tuchel even more than the three goals and you get the feeling it will not be the only matchball he picks up this season.
Subs & Reserves
CB: James Tarkowski (Everton FC) - 79 OVR -> 82 OVR:
Everton got their season up and running on Saturday evening, as they produced a brilliant performance to win 3-1 at Brentford. The victory moves Everton on to four points from their six games, with home matches against Luton Town and Bournemouth to come before the international break. James Tarkowski was the standout players that day. Strong in the air, he headed Everton back in front from a corner after earlier setting up their first goal when his flick-on picked out Doucoure with one of several dominant headers he won. Doucoure picked up MOTM from Sky but it's hard to ignore a defender with two goal contributions.
LM: Ermedin Demirović (FC Augsburg) - 75 OVR -> 81 OVR:
The German top-flight not offers a lot in terms of potential inform players with Guirassy not being eligible and Kicker's TOTW being full of Bayern Munich players after their 7-0 over Bochum but one who stood out this weekend was Augsburg Demirovic who scored both goals in their narrow 2-1 win against Mainz 05 and made sure his side recorded their first victory of the season with being down to 10 men too.
CAM: Giacomo Bonaventura (Fiorentina) - 79 OVR -> 82 OVR:
Serie A isn't easy to predict players from this week with the games being really boring scoring wise and most big teams failed to score more than one once or twice. Someone who stood out the last matchday tho as Fiorentina's Bonaventura who has once again shown he's still capable of performing on a top level. The Italian was the main man in Fiorentina's 2-0 win against Udinese, scoring one and assisting the other and was awarded with a 7.5 match rating from Gazzetta. Fiorentina's goalkeeper actually picked up POTW with an 8 match rating but I don't think we'll see two goalkeepers this week.
LW: Amahl Pellegrino (FK Bodø/Glimt) - 75 OVR -> 81 OVR:
We've seen a ton of players scoring three goals this week and we can expect some of the miss out but I totally expect to see Amahl Pellegrino being included this week in the team after he scored all four goals for Bodo/Glimt in their 4-2 win against Valeranga on the weekend.
ST: Josip Drmic (Dinamo Zagreb) - 70 OVR -> 80 OVR:
There were a lot of hat-tricks the past weekend from silver players but with EA limiting the Team of the Week down to 18 it's getting even harder to inlcude all of them and thus it's more like a guessing game who will make it. One who I predict to be in is Drmic who scored three times in Zagreb's 5-1 victory on the weekend.
ST: Morgan Whittaker (Plymouth Argyle) - 66 OVR -> 80 OVR:
There have been a good amount of hat-tricks or even more this week and with EA appearantly reducing the Team of the Week to 18 players it's not getting easier to include them all. One who could be in this week is Plymouth's Whittaker after he scored three times in his side's stunning 6-2 victory over Norwich City.
ST: Cucho Hernández (Columbus Crew) - 76 OVR -> 81 OVR:
The Columbus Crew have returned to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in their first year under head coach Wilfried Nancy thanks to a 3-0 midweek victory over Chicago Fire and Cucho Hernandez once againw as the difference maker as the forward scored all three goals and continued his excellent form.
That concludes this week's Team of the Week predictions! What do you make of these predictions? Is there anyone else who should have made the TOTW? Let us know below!
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