Premier League team of the week: Declan Rice rampant and Igor Thiago take a bow

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Brentford's Igor Thiago took his tally to 14 Premier League goals after bagging three against Everton. Getty Images

Arsenal opened up a six-point gap at the top of the Premier League, coming from a goal down before holding on for a 3-2 win over Bournemouth.

Declan Rice's drive and energy pulled the Gunners out of a hole after an error by Gabriel Magalhaes led to Bournemouth's opener.

The Brazilian made up for his gaffe, heading in a Rice corner before the latter stole the show with two well-taken strikes.

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Aston Villa recovered from their own setback against Arsenal and returned to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest.

Manchester City moved above the Villans on goal difference despite a 1-1 draw against managerless Chelsea in Sunday's late kick-off.

Wolves finally registered their first Premier League win of the season - at the 19th attempt.

A 3-0 win at home to relegation rivals West Ham United doubled their season's tally to six points. Here is our Premier League team of the week (4-5-1 formation):

Goalkeeper

Senne Lammens (Manchester United): A superb save to deny Noah Okafor’s overhead kick ensured Manchester United clung on for a point at Leeds United.

Defenders

Malo Gusto (Chelsea): Marc Cucurella's injury forced Chelsea's temporary coach Calum McFarlane to play the Frenchman in the unfamiliar role of left-back against City. Stuck to his task well as City looked to create overlaps.

Jan Paul van Hecke (Brighton): After a few weeks best described as shaky, the Dutchman produced a calm and reassuring performance to help Brighton get back to winning ways against Burnley.

Cristian Romero (Tottenham): Didn't allow Sunderland a sniff in the first half in arguably his best performance of the season. Recovered well after a blind backpass towards his goalkeeper almost allowed Sunderland in.

Matty Cash (Aston Villa): Always provides an out ball and picked out his teammates with precision crosses, particularly the one that led to the first of John McGinn's goals against Forest.

Midfielders

Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea): McFarlane praised the character and resilience of his players in the wake of a difficult week that saw head coach Enzo Maresca leave the club. Fernandez exemplified both perfectly, coming up with the equaliser against City in injury time.

Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle): Provider turned poacher as the Brazilian got on the end of a peach of a cross to give Newcastle the lead against Palace.

Declan Rice (Arsenal): If Arsenal are to go all the way and win a first English title in more than 20 years, it will be largely off the indomitable spirit of their totemic midfielder. Two class finishes capped the best performance of the weekend.

John McGinn (Aston Villa): The Scotland international does the nuts-and-bolts job as good as anyone, and proved that he is no slouch in front of goal either. His first came inside the Forest penalty box, the second way outside of it, putting the perfect curl on the ball with John Victor stranded in no-man's land.

Matheus Cunha (Manchester United): Had an early volley ruled out for offside but looked a threat every time he got his head up to run at the Leeds defence. Carried the team on his back and deserved his equaliser.

Forward

Igor Thiago (Brentford): It's hard to think the Brazilian had gone six games without a goal before blasting three past a hapless Everton - his first hat-trick in the Premier League. Only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane have scored more in Europe’s top five leagues this season.

Coach

Rob Edwards (Wolves): Wolves were the better team against Manchester United in their final game of 2025 and were a cut above West Ham in their first game of this year. A growing sense that Wolves have turned a corner. Whether they have enough games left to get out of trouble is the question.