Hello and welcome back to another prediction for the upcoming Team of the Week on Wednesday! It was an eventful weekend of football with results many expexted or not and insane performances again! We saw Manchester City recording a big win against Bournemouth, with Jeremy Doku probably having the best performance of all players on the weekend while Rekordmeister FC Bayern bounced back from their Cup defeat midweek and smashed Dortmund. Overall we should get a good Team of the Week on Wednesday with defenders being the main standouts but as always, a potential upcoming promo on Friday could once again result in a few surprise inclusions or misses so keep that in mind! For now, go on and check out the potential TOTW!
TOTW8 Predicted Starting XI
GK: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (Barcelona) - 89 OVR -> 90 OVR:
Barcelona subjected fans to one of the most uninspiring performances of the Xavi era as they somehow escaped with a 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday evening. Rter Stegen kept Barcelona in the game with a few spectacular saves, even early on. Made a few sketchy pass choices, though, which only racked up the pressure from La Real but overall he was a key for Barcelona to even still be in the game and not falling behind.
LWB: Grimaldo (Leverkusen) - 86 OVR -> 87 OVR:
Bayer Leverkusen kept their winning streak alive and recorded a narrow and hard-fought 3-2 victory away at Hoffenheim. Coming to Leverkusen as a free agent in the summer, Grimaldo already can be seen as the bargain signing of the season. The Spanish fullback once again proved to be the difference maker on that day as he added another two goals to his tally.
CB: Dayot Upamecano (Bayern) - 82 OVR -> 84 OVR:
Bayern Munich kept Bayer Leverkusen in their sights at the Bundesliga summit with a commanding 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker. Kane got the hat-trick and Sané registered two assists but with Kane being in TOTW7 and the Player of the Month voting coming soon we could see Sané being excluded and Upamecano would be the next logical choice after he scored the opening goal of the game and kept a clean sheet.
RB: Achraf Hakimi (PSG) - 84 OVR -> 86 OVR:
Paris Saint-Germain moved to the top of the Ligue 1 table with a 3-0 win at home to Montpellier on Friday night. Hakimi once again proved he's in fine form at the moment. He was a little shaky when Montpellier sought to counter but acted as another attacker when PSG had the ball. Grabbed the assist for Lee's opener and Vitinha's second-half strike. Hakimi was ignored twice already, if he once again gets snubbed I'm sure there's something going against him.
CM: Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Inter) - 85 OVR -> 86 OVR:
Visitors Inter were able to defeat Atalanta on Saturday evening as they expanded their lead at the top of Serie A. Lautaro Martinez scored a fantastic goal in order to secure all three points for the Nerazzurri, fighting off a Gianluca Scamacca-led comeback for the hosts. Calhanoglu comfortably converted the penalty into the bottom left corner. Controlled the tempo with his accurate passes and was superb in the midfield three. Picked up MOTM from Gazzetta.
LM: Jeremy Doku (Man City) - 81 OVR -> 84 OVR:
Manchester City maintained their perfect Premier League record against Bournemouth, cruising to a 6-1 victory on Saturday afternoon - the club's record-extending 13th consecutive win against the Cherries. What a performance it was from Doku! Delivered the quick burst they needed to open the scoring, fancy footwork for the second, smashed it off Akanji for the third, teed up Foden for number four and then a gorgeous pass to Bernardo for the fifth. Stunning and deservedly picked up a 10/10 match rating from Sky.
CAM: Sancet (A. Bilbao) - 81 OVR -> 84 OVR:
Athletic Bilbao moved back up to fifth place in the La Liga table after beating Villareal 3-2 away in a thrilling game. Spanish youngster Oihan Sancet could be the one to pick up the inform from this game after he assisted two of the goals for Bilbao.
CAM: Alexandr Golovin (AS Monaco) - 79 OVR -> 82 OVR:
AS Monaco won 2-0 at home to Brest on Sunday to move third in the the table and who else than Golovin stood out again. He has now been involved in six goals against Brest, his highest tally against an individual Ligue 1 opponent. The Russia international's energy, set-piece precision and powerful shot make him a valuable asset for Monaco and he proved that against Brest, scoring one and assisting another and picked up an 8 match rating from L'Equipe.
RW: Kadidiatou Diani (OL Women) - 89 OVR -> 90 OVR:
While OL's Men team is really struggling so far this season in the Ligue 1, their Women team remains unbeaten and continued their flawless season, beating second placed Paris FC with a thumping 6-1. Diani scored one and assisted another two and it looks like we'll see a very useable link for Centurion Geyoro.
ST: Cucho Hernández (Columbus Crew) - 76 OVR -> 84* OVR:
Columbus Crew faced Atlanta United midweek in the first game of their Round One Best-of-3 series and the Crew started the series in a positiv way, beating a Almada-less Atlanta with 2-0. Both goals once again came from Columbian forward Cucho Hernandez, with one from the penalty spot. With Barreal's inclusion in TOTW7 we could once again see another MLS player being included this week and Cucho seems to be a good option with the lack of gold strikers this week too.
ST: Simon Banza (Braga) - 78 OVR -> 82 OVR:
Braga extended their unbeaten streak in the Liga NOS to now five game, recording a thumping 6-1 win against Portimonense. Match-winner was the french forward Banza, who raised his seasn tally to now ten goals in then games after he scored three goals and also registered an assist for his side.
TOTW8 Predicted Subs & Reserves
CB: Moussa Niakhaté (Nottingham Forest) - 77 OVR -> 81 OVR:
Nottingham Forest picked up their first Premier League win since early September with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa at the City Ground. Their two goals aside, Nottingham Forest were dominated in terms of possession and territory at the City Ground. The key to only their third clean sheet in all competitions was a dominant performance by Niakhate. His astute reading of Villa’s attacks in the left half of the pitch nullified so may positions of promise for the visitors, who are one of the highest scoring teams in the Premier League.
CAM: Takuma Asano (VFL Bochum) - 74 OVR -> 80 OVR:
VFL Bochum picked up their first win of the season, beating Darmstadt away from home narrowly with 2-1.Man of the Match was Japanese international Asano who scored both of his side's goal and picked up a 1.5 match rating from Kicker.
LM: Wilfried Zaha (Galatasaray) - 81 OVR -> 84 OVR:
Galatasaray remains unbeaten in the Turkish Super League after they recorded a narrow 2-1 victory against Kasimpasa. Summer signing Zaha scored both goals for his side and could end up being in the side this week.
LW: Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona Women) - 78 OVR -> 82 OVR:
The stage was set for Aitana Bonmati who paraded her Ballon d'Or trophy prior to the match against Sevilla but it was Salma Paralluelo who took centre stage by scoring four goals of the massive eight that Barcelona put past Sevilla and even crazier she did that already in the first half of the game. There is a chance EA could include Hansen with her scoring one and assisting three if they want another high rated card in the team but with Paralluelo picking up the Player of the Match award I can't ignore her.
LM: Joakim Persson (IK Sirius) - 60 OVR -> 80 OVR:
I wasn't sure about EA giving out inform to players with a bronze card but we recently got one in Team of the Week so I'm happy to include Persson now after he got 3 goals and an assist in Sirius' 4-2 win against Djurgardens.
ST: Artem Dovbyk (Girona) - 70 OVR -> 80 OVR:
Girona remains top of the table and ahead of Real Madrid, after coming back from being 1-2 down and Dovbyk again proved his fine form this season as the Ukrainian forward scored one and assisted another two for his side.
ST: Oskar Zawada (Wellington Phoenix) - 68 OVR -> 80 OVR:
I'm not sure if we'll see any A-League player getting an inform this year after someone with 4 goals have been ignored last week but we go again this week. Zawada scored three goals in his side's 5-2 win against Brisbane Roar and if he gets ignored again we can pretty much expect to see the A-League being completely ignored this year.
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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