This article is part of our FPL Best XI series.
With another week of the Premier League season in the books, a high-profile Manchester derby headlines Gameweek 32 this weekend.
Reeling from four losses in their past six games across all competitions, now fourth-place Manchester City heads to Old Trafford to play a United side just one point ahead of their crosstown rivals.
That heated affair is sandwiched between two other tussles – Monday's tie of Newcastle at fifth-place Liverpool and Sunday's early London derby of Chelsea at Queens Park Rangers.
Beforehand, Saturday's late game pits Burnley against Arsenal, whose 4-1 domination of Liverpool last weekend paired with a Man City loss to vault the Gunners into second.
Then, the normal slate Saturday includes five matches, with all but the West Ham (ninth) versus Stoke (tenth) encounter coming with a team looking to stave off relegation.
While Sunderland is currently three points clear of the drop and 10 points behind opponents Crystal Palace, the Eagles' have won four of their past five matches.
Just ahead of the Black Cats, West Brom looks safe in 14th place and 11 points ahead of opponents Leicester, but the last-place Foxes are growing increasingly desperate at this stage.
Speaking of desperation, 17th-place Hull City has frustratingly gone six straight road trips without a win, a horrid streak they'll hope to break at Southampton.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa sits one point ahead of Hull going into Saturday's game at Tottenham, where new Villa boss Tim Sherwood spent the latter portion of last season in-charge.
However, to start everything off, Saturday opens with Everton putting their streak of three consecutive wins on the line at Swansea City, who have posted back-to-back wins of their own.
With those matchups in mind, let's shine light on the Best XI for Gameweek 32:
Goalkeeper
Simon Mignolet
After coming under fire a bit for his role in shipping four goals at Arsenal last weekend, Mignolet acquitted himself nicely in keeping a clean sheet during Liverpool's FA Cup quarterfinal at Blackburn on Wednesday. Overall, the Belgian made four saves, which brought his total to a healthy 15 stops over his last four outings. Furthermore, Mignolet has secured four clean sheets over his past six games across all competitions. That recent record bodes well for this round's home match against Newcastle, who have scored merely twice in their past six appearances, including no goals in their last three away games.
Defenders
Hector Bellerin
While summer-signings Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers started this season ahead of Bellerin in Arsenal's pecking order at right back, the 20-year-old Spaniard has seized the position recently with superb performances. The Barcelona product scored the opening goal of last weekend's win over Liverpool, which brought his season total to two goals, one assist and four clean sheets through 10 Premier League starts. On the heels of that showing, Bellerin now plays a Burnley club with only two goals from their past six matches. Meanwhile, Arsenal's defense has tied for the fewest goals allowed over that same six-match span.
John Terry
Like him or not, only one defender (Southampton's Jose Fonte) has earned more than Terry's 13 clean sheets this season. Similarly, only teammate Branislav Ivanovic has scored more than Terry's three goals from a defender this season. Impressively, the 34-year-old has scored at least three goals in five straight league campaigns, which includes a goal against Queens Park Rangers in April 2012. While that surely won't matter much this time he faces QPR, Terry's defensive prospects are definitely encouraging heading into Sunday's London derby. Only one team has allowed fewer goals than first-place Chelsea this season and the Blues have blanked 18th-place QPR in two of their past three meetings.
Ryan Bertrand
Despite his team's prolonged slide in the standings, Bertrand and Southampton have still allowed the fewest goals in the Premier League this season. The Saints have been slightly stingier at St. Mary's Stadium, where they've incredibly claimed 10 clean sheets from 16 matches. Bertrand also blanked Hull City earlier this season and now faces the Tigers with Steve Bruce's side having scored a league-low two goals from their last six away games. Overall, the Premiership's worst recent road offense at the top-flight's best all-around defense makes Southampton defenders like Bertrand excellent selections in Gameweek 32.
Midfielders
Eden Hazard
In offering up both a goal and an assist last weekend against Stoke, Hazard's season totals jumped to 12 scores and seven helpers. While no midfielder other than Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez has notched more goals, Hazard's seven assists already match his amount from last season. This weekend, the Belgian will attack a Queens Park Rangers team that he scored the match-winning penalty against in November. A goal against the Rs might not prove too hard to duplicate this time around, as the cross-London club has given up nine more goals than any other team this season. Also, since Chelsea will be without top striker Diego Costa (hamstring), Jose Mourinho's men may turn more toward Hazard to carry their goal-scoring exploits, a task the midfielder has proven capable of doing in the past.
Mesut Ozil
In 14 appearances since returning from his knee injury, Ozil has been a part of 12 Arsenal wins and just two losses. Additionally, he's provided four goals and four assists over that stretch. Perhaps his most breath-taking contribution came last weekend versus Liverpool, when he curled in a wonderful free-kick goal to further punctuate his post-injury impact. Such success could continue this weekend at Burnley, a team the free-scoring Gunners have cannoned for three goals in both of their past two meetings. Only Queens Park Rangers has surrendered more goals than Burnley this season, while Ozil and Arsenal are just two goals short of the Premiership-lead in the scoring column this season.
Raheem Sterling
While under heavy scrutiny, Sterling won the penalty that set up Liverpool's lone goal last weekend at Arsenal. He also would have scored an empty net goal, if teammate Lazar Markovic had supplied a better pass. So although Sterling hasn't found the back of the net in over a month, the youngster is still finding himself in dangerous areas. As a result, Sterling could break his drought come Monday against a Newcastle side that has leaked nine goals over their past three away matches. Moreover, Sterling is still tied with teammate Jordan Henderson for Liverpool's team-lead in both goals (six) and assists (seven), and benefits from usually playing in a more advanced position than Henderson.
Christian Eriksen
Another player that surprisingly hasn't scored in quite some time, Eriksen's chances of returning to the scoresheet look up this weekend. That's because the Tottenham playmaker goes against Aston Villa, who have allowed at least two goals in six straight games versus Spurs. Additionally, Tim Sherwood's Villa side not only conceded three times at home to goal-shy Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday, but the Villains have also allowed the third-most goals from their last six away trips. Meanwhile, Tottenham sport 18 goals from their last six home games, which should give their second-leading scorer Eriksen some confidence to fire away Saturday.
Forwards
Saido Berahino
Although West Brom have tallied the fourth-fewest goals this season, one certainly can't blame the 21-year-old Berahino, whose 12 goals alone constitute nearly 45 percent of the Baggies' scores this season. At home this weekend, Berahino may be licking his chops at the prospect of adding more goals versus a Leicester City defense ranked second-last in away goals conceded. In fact, the long-time last-place Foxes have surrendered at least two goals in six straight road trips. That standing works perfectly for Berahino, as he's feasted on the six teams currently ranked below West Brom in the standings by scoring a combined seven goals against lesser competition this season.
Olivier Giroud (C)
As Arsenal has enjoyed an unmatched run of recent form that includes a Premier League-high 15 goals from their past six matches, Giroud has been at the forefront of the Gunners' assault. To that point, the Frenchman has notched seven goals from his last six league games, but he sports an astounding 13 goals and four assists from his last 17 total appearances for club and country. In short, Giroud has been scoring for fun recently and is the Premier League's hottest striker at the moment. While the opposition hasn't mattered much lately, Saturday's match comes against a Burnley defense tied for second-worst in England's top-tier this season. That stellar matchup, along with Giroud's flying form, makes the Arsenal striker this week's Best XI captain.
Glenn Murray
Believe it or not, only the current top three (Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United) has earned more points than Crystal Palace over the past six games. During that span, new Eagles manager Alan Pardew has found a consistent goal-scorer in Murray, who has notched five goals in his last 329 minutes of play. More specifically, the veteran has averaged around 66 minutes between goals recently. However, when examining Murray's season-long totals, the striker has still notched 13 goals from 23 league starts between Championship side Reading and Palace this season. Those fine pieces of form make the 31-year-old one to watch this weekend as Murray visits Sunderland, who have tied for the second-most goals allowed at home this season.
