Liverpool dominated the Actim Team of the Week following their 4-0 thrashing of Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn, with four players making the grade. Jose Reina and Jamie Carragher make the team for their part in producing a clean sheet, while Danny Agger’s 25-yard thunderbolt and Fernando Torres‘ brace earned their places.
Frank Lampard retains his place as number one in the overall Actim Index following his performance in Chelsea’s 4-3 thriller with Bolton. The England international also features in the Team of the Week as he scored from the penalty spot and created one of Didier Drogba’s goals. Drogba also makes the team of the week following his goalscoring exploits and his 39-point haul is a season’s best and also makes him a prolific mover in the Index, rising a mammoth 34 places.
Roy Wegerle, John Harkes and Kasey Keller have all had their have all their moments in representing Uncle Sam’s stars and stripes in English football’s top tier and this week, it’s the turn of Clint Dempsey to fly the flag. The Fulham midfielder had a fine game in the 3-1 win at Manchester City and scored two goals. That performance saw him rack up 44 points and take his place in the Team of the Week. Despite the impressive score and a shift of 45 places up the Index, Dempsey still cannot claim to be the highest ranked American. Everton’s Tim Howard claims that accolade sitting in 23rd place, while fellow goalkeeper Brad Friedel is just three places below and Dempsey registers in 145th place.
Dempsey’s 44 points made him the joint highest points earner of the week along with Middlesbrough’s Stewart Downing and Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin. Downing was influential in Boro’s 2-1 win over relegation rivals Hull and posts his best score of the season to climb up to 162nd, while the Russian international is making quick progress up the Index, jumping another 41 places to 218th courtesy of his impressive score.
Just as the week’s best score was shared between more than one player, so was the week’s worst score. Wigan’s Lee Cattermole and Manchester City’s Felipe Caicedo are the red-faced duo who both posted a thoroughly unhealthy score of -11. Both men had disappointing performances in their respective 3-1 defeats at the weekend and with Cattermole in 189th position and Caicedo even worse off in 368th, neither have much hope of averting a finish of mid-index mediocrity.
Robinho may have thought he was signing for Manchester United and has had an inconsistent debut season in the Premier League, but the talented Brazilian is still top of the pile when it comes to posting the highest score of the season. Robinho flicked and jinked his way to a mega 82 points with a hat-trick in the 3-0 win over Stoke in week nine and that has yet to be overhauled. Fellow South American Maynor Figueroa has the dubious honour of posting the lowest score of the season. The left-back managed a dreadful score of -26 on the opening day of the season.
