Aston Villa midfielder makes Premier League team of the week despite defeat, Liverpool, Norwich & Brentford dominate

It’s an inclusion that has raised the eyebrows of many among the fanbase
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Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn has made SofaScore’s Premier League team of the week for matchday 31 despite being on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline to local rival Wolves on Saturday.

It’s an inclusion that has left many among the claret & blue fan base shocked and whilst social media isn’t always the best measure of an opinion, judging by the reaction of those on Twitter, they aren’t agreeing this one.

Ollie Watkins, Tyrone Mings, Philippe Coutinho and John McGinn of Aston Villa react during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa at MolineuxOllie Watkins, Tyrone Mings, Philippe Coutinho and John McGinn of Aston Villa react during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa at Molineux
Ollie Watkins, Tyrone Mings, Philippe Coutinho and John McGinn of Aston Villa react during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa at Molineux
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Being part of a side that has tasted defeat doesn’t always reflect on one’s personal performance but the Scotland international’s display against Wanderers was largely forgetful.

He slipped for the first goal which got Wolves on their way and looked second best all afternoon to his opposing number, Joao Moutinho.

It wasn’t just McGinn of course who had a forgetful day, the majority of the Villa squad were below par in defeat, especially during a first 45 that manager Steven Gerrard described as watching a team that ‘were still on international duty.’

But nevertheless, the statistics don’t lie and according to SofaScore, the 27-year-old racked up an impressive 8.2/10 performance.

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The website states that the ‘ratings are generated by a sophisticated algorithm that translates hundreds of stats into one live number which quantifies a player’s performance. So far, our algorithm has rated almost 1.5 million players in over 50,000 matches’.

Make of that what you will!

The rest of the team saw some far more predictable outcomes so it certainly wasn’t a malfunction for this particular week.

Norwich City goalkeeper Tim Krul (7.7) was awarded a place for his display and cleansheet against Brighton and his teammate Grant Hanley (7.9) was also part of a defence which included Brighton’s Marc Cucurella (7.7), Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen (8.2) and Liverpool’s Joe Gomez (7.6).

Alongside McGinn in midfield Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt boasted the best score (8.6) with Tottenham Hotspur’s Heung-min Son (8.3) and Leicester City’s James Maddison (8.0) completing the four.

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The Bees and the Reds both had their second players of the line-up getting the nod up front with Bryan Mbeumo (8.1) and Diogo Jota (8.2) the best performing strikers.

You can take a look at the full squad yourself and/or browse the numerous other options that SofaScore have on their website here.

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