Garth Crooks has called up three Manchester United players in his final Premier League Team of the Week for BBC Sport after a crucial 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
Looking back on the weekend and the race for the top four, it was a good weekend for the Reds. Newcastle and Tottenham lost and we took all three points despite a series of injuries which virtually wiped out most of Erik ten Hag’s defensive options.
United actually have more players in this week’s TOTW than any other Premier League.
David de Gea gets a nod, as do Diogo Dalot, who played on the left flank, and Gary Neville’s man of the match Bruno Fernandes. Crooks was so impressed with De Gea that he thinks the Spaniard should be made captain: “If there’s a goalkeeper who can win a game after not playing for a long time, then that’s David de Gea. His performance against a stubborn Nottingham Forest was nothing special, but totally reliable. De Gea has come a long way since the days when he considered returning to his native Spain. The former international now has to captain Manchester United and he deserves it.
The BBC Sport column also praised match-winner Dalot, adding that the Portugal international was ‘excellent in defense and always supportive in attack’.
Meanwhile, Fernandes might offer a little tongue-in-cheek praise just for upsetting some people the wrong way.
Crooks wrote: “The Portugal international is not for everyone but when he plays he is as good as any midfielder in the country.”
