As February came to a close the respective title races in Europe’s top five leagues continued to provide further excitement. Leicester and Spurs are now the runaway favourites to win the Premier League, while Juventus finally look to have their necks out in front of Napoli. Paris Saint-Germain will no longer finish Ligue 1 unbeaten, but winning the title is still a matter of when and not if. As for Bayern Munich and Barcelona, they both have one hand firmly on retaining their league crowns this season.
However, February’s action wasn’t all about the players fighting at the top of the table, as WhoScored.com reveals the Team of the Month from Europe’s top five leagues from the past month.
Between the sticks stands Heurelho Gomes, a goalkeeper that was often the butt of all jokes during his time at Spurs. Many questioned whether Watford were wrong not to sign a more reliable goalkeeper at the start of the season, but the 35-year-old has put in great strides to proving most of his critics wrong this season. In fact, Gomes’ performances have been so impressive that he is currently the highest rated goalkeeper in Europe’s top five leagues this season, and there wasn't any let up in standards last month.
Watford only lost one of their four league matches in February, and with goals proving a problem in that time, Quique Sanchez Flores can be thankful for Gomes’ role in ensuring they only had one defeat to their name, particularly when they earned a 0-0 draw with Chelsea. In fact, only Lukasz Fabianski (22) made more saves than Gomes (19) in February in the Premier League.
In front of Gomes reads a back four of Ignazio Abate, Virgil van Dijk, Thiago Silva and Juan Vargas. Abate’s performances for AC Milan have been integral behind their recent renaissance period, picking up two WhoScored man of the match awards in four matches, whereas Van Dijk was part of the Southampton defence that went 225 minutes without conceding a goal in the Premier League.
He is partnered in the team, as he is in the Team of the Season, by Silva. The Paris Saint-Germain captain misplaced just 22 passes from the 340 he completed (94%), as well as completing one last man tackle and 20 interceptions in his four appearances. Vargas, 32, completes the defence after playing a direct hand in more goals in four appearances in February than he had managed in the rest of his 12 league appearances for the season (3). He also finished as the joint-highest rated player in La Liga, with Lionel Messi.
Messi and Mesut Ozil, who both feature in the top-10 rated players across Europe’s top five leagues are also prominent in the European Team of the Month for February. The Barcelona No.10 scored four times and registered two further assists to help Barcelona extend their lead at the top to eight points, whereas Ozil drew to within two assists of equalling Thierry Henry’s all-time record (20) in the Premier League in that period. Arsenal’s creator-in-chief also scored as many league goals in his four appearances in February as he had managed in his previous 10 matches combined (2).
The two remaining spots in the midfield four are filled by lesser-known players across the continent, although ones worth keeping an eye on for the remainder of the season. Nicolas de Preville, for example, registered an assist in four of his five outings in February, as Ligue 1 strugglers Reims won three of their five league matches to move out of the bottom three.
The 25-year-old is in the XI with fellow Ligue 1 compatriot Corentin Tolisso, who actually garnered the highest WhoScored.com rating in February across Europe’s top five leagues (9.14). The 21-year-old impressed from a deeper position in midfield, scoring twice as well registering three goals in just three appearances. Lyon won all three of their league matches in which Tolisso featured, scoring 10 goals with only one in reply during that time.
Completing the Team of the Month are arguably two of the most in-form strikers in Europe’s top five leagues this season: Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Luis Suarez. The Barcelona striker averaged a direct hand in a league goal every 40.9 mins during his five league matches last month, scoring six and registering five assists.
Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, wasn’t far behind. The PSG striker scored a goal or registered an assist every 45 minutes in the league for the runaway leaders, scoring four and registered as many assists in his four outings.
very very good