Coral’s Heroes and Villains: No laughing Mata

An interesting weekend of Premier League action threw up yet more shocks and surprises climaxing in an enthralling Super Sunday as Liverpool hosted fierce rivals Manchester United, and Hull hosted league leaders Chelsea. Read on to find out who we list in our weekly Heroes and Villains feature, and see whether you agree with us!

Heroes

Harry Kane
At the risk of upsetting a number of Man Utd fans, Tottenham’s Kane takes top-spot in our list of heroes for his superb hat-trick in Spurs’ 4-3 defeat of Leicester City.

After earning his first call-up to the England squad, he celebrated with a terrific performance, and gives manager Roy Hodgson an even bigger selection headache than he had previously.

Now fourth highest goalscorer in Europe, (6/4 with Coral to be Premier League top scorer) behind usual suspects, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lyon youngster Alexandre Lacazette, he is the most in-form of Hodgson’s group of strikers. This surely can’t be ignored.

Juan Mata
The Spaniard was quite simply on another level to everyone else at Anfield. His first goal showed great intelligence and anticipation, as he gambled on a run for Ander Herrera to slide in the diagonal pass. From a tight angle, he still had work to do, though his finish was postage stamp precision.

Clearly inspired and full of confidence, Mata’s second finish was world class. Angling his body in the penalty area, he improvised as the ball came over the top and steered an acrobatic effort in to the far corner.

Olivier Giroud
Say what you want about the Frenchman, he is effective. After dispatching in midweek, he bagged a brace for the Gunners; two in four minutes as the north London outfit beat Newcastle 2-1 at St James’ Park, to keep their top four hopes alive.

Villains

Steven Gerrard
Unsurprisingly, the Liverpool skipper and former England captain tops the list of villains. He had only just come on in the second half, when a rash stamp in response to reckless challenge on him from Herrera earned him a straight red card. He did apologise in his post-match interview, however, by then the damage had already been done, as the Reds slip further behind United in the race for the top four.