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EA FC 25 Team of the Week 20 Highlights: Who Balled Out and Who Got Snubbed

Let's take a look at the performances that shaped Team of the Week 20 in EA FC 25 and see who was snubbed from the list.

Another week of football is in the books and with it, another EA FC 25 Team of the Week has dropped. Once again, the team behind the selection were spoiled for choice with goals flying in all across the world’s biggest leagues, with many standout performers making their case for inclusion on the exclusive list. Today, we look at some of our favorite performances from players who made the cut this week, as well as one performer whose contributions were overlooked.

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EA FC 25 Team Of The Week 20 Highlights

Bournemouth Are Scoring Hat Tricks For Fun

A Premier League team has a hat-trick hero on this list for the second straight week, and it’s not top scorers Liverpool, or the Haaland-led Manchester City. Instead, as nobody would have predicted, it’s an injury-ravaged club short at striker who entered the year picked to finish closer to the Championship than the Champions League. Last week, it was Justin Kluivert hanging a trio of goals on then top-four Newcastle United. This week, the top-four hopeful on the receiving end of a Bournemouth clinic was Nottingham Forest, who sit third in the table.

A winger by trade, Dango Ouattara moved centrally for the short-sided Cherries and dominated this season’s surprise high flyers. What’s more, he did it with a trio of prototypical striker goals, looping home a header inside the six to get things started, running in behind for the second, and finally acting first to latch onto a rebound to complete his hat trick. Now sitting seventh in the table, Bournemouth finds themselves holding onto the final European place in England with their eyes looking up the table just as much as over their shoulder.

Vivianne Miedema Is Back, WSL Defenders Beware

Vivianne Miedema has been one of the best players in the world over the last decade and, as the WSL all-time leading goal scorer, one of the most reliable game winners ever. Nobody told Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall, who almost immediately reduced Miedema’s goal-scoring role before the club ultimately let her go over the summer. This came before Miedema led a push for more matches at the Emirates, with the club announcing that all WSL matches would be held in the main stadium. Miedema would eventually join rivals Manchester City.

Everyone watching could have predicted the inevitable when Miedema scored in her City debut at the Emirates, but another injury soon had the Dutch star back on the sidelines. But, she’s back. After a goal in her first match since early October last week, Miedema was at her best this past week in City’s 4-2 bounce-back win over Aston Villa. Scoring first off a successful pressure-induced turnover in the box, Miedema then uncorked some of her trademark magic for the brace, following an immaculate first touch to set up a curling beauty into the far corner from outside the box. A healthy Miedema will likely be required if City are to claim one of two European places up for grabs in a three-team race with rivals United and Arsenal, and performances like these are sure to guide them there.

Fermin Lopez Has Himself A Shift

At just 21 years old and coming out of the famed La Masia pipeline, expectations for Fermin Lopez remain high. However, he had yet to have an opportunity to play a full 90 for Barcelona this season before this past weekend. He made as strong a case as you could ask for to get a full run-out more often moving forward with a masterclass in Barcelona’s 7-1 drubbing of an overmatched Valencia side.

Now, any time a team hangs seven on an opponent, you can count on being spoiled for star performers. But even within that context, Fermin stood out. His close control in the midfield left Valencia players kicking their feet into the air, while his electric passing saw him deliver a pair of assists. Rounding out his brilliant performance, Fermin showed an ability to contribute to goals directly as well, with a brace on top of his creative exploits. With a four-point day, Fermin was a lock for Team of the Week, and Barca fans will be hoping to see more of the same as they try to claw back points off the two Madrid sides.

Guus Til Powers PSV Atop The Eredivisie

Manager Erik ten Hag’s long-overdue departure from Manchester United has certainly gone down well with their fans. But nowhere has ten Haag’s absence been felt as heavy as the Eredivisie, as the Dutch giants Ajax have fallen off their throne in the years since Ten Haag left the helm. Into that void have stepped fellow big names PSV and Feyenoord, who traded one-two finishes the last two seasons. With Feyenoord falling off slightly, Ajax are back on the rise in second, but it’s the defending champions PSV who maintain their place in first, sitting four points clear after snapping a two-game winless spell that had seen their lead cut in half.

Facing midtable NAC Breda and trailing 1-0, PSV were in danger of seeing Ajax pull within just one point of their spot atop the table until a ten minute brace from Guus Til turned the game on its head. The Dutch midfielder showed his ability to score from the midfield before a Ricardo Pepi insurance goal in stoppage time proved vital, with NAC immediately hitting back. Powered by Til’s double, however, PSV had done enough to secure the victory and settle nerves whilst also maintaining a comfortable gap that can’t be undone in just one matchday.

Chelsea Could Use A Keeper Like Đorđe Petrović

It’s been a bad time to be Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez whose ongoing series of blunders has turned Chelsea’s title hopes into a top-four fight they’re currently losing. Fortunately for Sanchez, the man making the best case for the gloves has been shipped off to France, where loanee Đorđe Petrović dazzled again in goal for Strasbourg as they upset French power Lille 2-1 last weekend.

Things did not get off to a great start for Petrović and company, with lazy play from out the back gifting Lille an opener in just the 8th minute. While conceding an early goal to a team in the Champions League places is often a recipe for disaster for midtable sides, Petrović gave the ten men in front of him every opportunity to get back into the match. With five saves the rest of the way — several of them highly challenging — Petrović kept Strasbourg in the game and, after his teammates found their way past the Lille defenses twice, helped Strasbourg move up into 9th place. This puts Strasbourg just three points outside of the European places as the French league heads into its second half.

Who Was Overlooked? – Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal)

To say that Arsenal has had a bad time when going down to ten men this season would be an understatement. The Gunners have found themselves down a man after a series of broadly-uncommon red cards early in the campaign, and the common theme has been dropping crucial points, resulting in Arsenal barely holding onto Liverpool’s coattails as the last true challenger to the runaway Reds’ title aspirations. When Michael Oliver handed an already-redacted red card to Myles Lewis-Skelly against relegation-battling Wolves, it looked like it would be more of the same and that Arsenal were on their way to a pair of dropped points that may have put their title challenge to bed.

Instead, a Calafiori goal was the difference with Arsenal taking advantage of Wolves’ own ten-man troubles to secure a crucial three points. Calafiori started the game on the bench due to injuries and the breakout play of Lewis-Skelly, but played a critical role after coming on due to the ejection. Having played a key role in maintaining Arsenal’s shutout and scoring the winning goal, Calafiori could justifiably feel hard done to not see a special card of his own up for grabs this week.

These were my standout performers from this week’s crop of Team of the Week qualifiers, but who stood out the most to you? Who missed out on a spot that you think handed in a Team of the Week-caliber performance?

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Robert Preston
Robert Preston is a sports and gaming journalist with nearly two decades of professional experience. He has covered a broad range of sports both on the field and on a console from lacrosse to MMA and football to football.