Palace quartet join Leeds, Leicester duos in worst XI upon Premier League return

Bungling centre-backs from Crystal Palace and Leeds feature in front of a flapping keeper in the Premier League’s worst XI from the festive round of fixtures.

Here is that XI, according to WhoScored ratings…

GK: Gavin Bazunu – 4.98
Nathan Jones got off to a miserable start at St Mary’s in his first home game as Southampton boss, and it certainly did not help that his keeper chucked in Brighton’s opening goal. Bazunu flapped pathetically at Adam Lallana’s header before contributing to the chaos that led to Romain Perraud scoring an own goal shortly after.

RB: Jack Stacey – 5.63
Stacey started as right wing-back in a back five for Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge but he spent much of the first half backpedalling before being hooked at half-time with the Cherries 2-0 down and Gary O’Neil moving to a four-man defence. In fairness to Stacey, he was little worse than the other Bournemouth defenders.

CB: Liam Cooper 4.86
Dealing with a fresh Erling Haaland was hard enough for Leeds without their skipper giving Manchester City chances they barely needed. It was Cooper’s sloppy square pass across the hosts’ defensive line that gifted Jack Grealish the ball and, having missed a couple of sitters in the first half, the £100million man wisely chose to present Haaland with an open goal. Cooper’s error ended what little hope Leeds may have had of getting anything from their first game back.

CB: James Tomkins 4.66
When Palace were already a goal down and a man light, the last thing the Eagles needed was to lose their centre-back to a needless second booking. Tomkins received his first caution on 20 minutes before stepping across Aleksandar Mitrovic for no good reason just before the hour mark, leaving the Eagles to slip to a 3-0 defeat while playing more than half an hour with nine men.

LB: Tyrick Mitchell – 5.08
Palace’s first red card was the first of Mitchell’s senior career, and the Palace youngster knew he’d f***ed up if the way he covered his face while leaving the pitch was any indication. It was a daft, dangerous challenge on Kenny Tete, but more misjudged than malicious. Still, coming so soon after going a goal down, his indiscipline left Palace facing an uphill task.

CM: Michael Olise – 5.79 
Palace’s creative players were handicapped by their defenders’ recklessness but Olise, playing to the right of a midfield three, did woefully little with what possession he had. Neither of his two shots troubled Bernd Leno…