This article is part of our FPL Best XI series.
Following the latest round of the Premiership, we've already entered the final third of the season.
While there's still plenty of positioning to sort in league play, this weekend will see either Chelsea or Tottenham return home from Wembley with Capitol One Cup silverware.
As a result of that contest, both London clubs' Gameweek 27 matches have been postponed, leaving their respective counterparts, Leicester City and Queens Park Rangers, without a league match this weekend.
So with a slightly diminished schedule, Saturday's fixtures kick off with a London derby of Crystal Palace at West Ham, who both played out inner-city rivalries last weekend as well.
From there, the main slate features numerous unbalanced matchups, with Burnley-Swansea City, Manchester United-Sunderland and West Brom-Southampton highlighting those types of affairs.
To a lesser extent, Newcastle versus Aston Villa is another lopsided pairing; however with just one win from their past 12 combined matches, both sides enter in poor form.
Conversely, Saturday's tie of Hull City at Stoke City involves two teams coming off wins last weekend.
Come Sunday, the opening encounter of Manchester City against Liverpool at Anfield pits two of the league's hottest outfits, as both camps have lost just once in the Premier League since December.
Nonetheless, both setups are coming off midweek losses in European competition, as City fell 2-1 at home to Barcelona in the Champions League and Liverpool were bounced from the Europa League after losing on penalties to Besiktas.
Likewise, Arsenal took a midweek Champions League thumping to AS Monaco, which could leave them in contrasting spirits to Europa League advancers Everton ahead of Sunday's game at the Emirates Stadium.
With only those eight matches in mind, let's take a look at the Best XI for Gameweek 27 of the Premier League.
Goalkeeper:
Despite losing at Swansea City last time out, as Manchester United returns to Old Trafford this weekend, de Gea and the Red Devils' defense can take comfort in the fact that only Southampton has allowed fewer goals at home this season. Meanwhile, Saturday's opponent, Sunderland, currently sports the league's second-fewest goals and have scored just once from their past three matches. That dry spell includes back-to-back scoreless outings from the Black Cats, which is hardly ideal ahead of a trip to a reeling United outfit anchored by one of the league's best goalkeepers.
Defenders:
After selling three of their most important defenders and replacing their goalkeeper last summer, who would have thought Southampton would claim the Premier League's best defense two-thirds of the way through this season? Well, that's exactly the type of stability new manager Ronald Koeman has cemented at Southampton, who are also tied for the league-lead with 12 clean sheets. The Saints' right-back revelation Clyne has played a part in 11 of those occasions, including during Gameweek 2 against West Brom. Months later, only two teams have scored fewer goals than the Baggies, making Saturday's away match a nice opportunity for Clyne to capitalize upon.
Although only two teams across the league have surrendered more goals than Newcastle to date, the Magpies' summer signing Janmaat has been a bright spot this season. That's mostly because the Dutchman has offered up a team-high five assists, providing a creative outlet along the Toon's right flank. This weekend, Janmaat's defensive prospects actually seem encouraging as well, since Newcastle host Aston Villa, who have scored nine goals fewer than any other team. Furthermore, the Villains have been particularly powerless on the road, where they've failed to score in nine of their last 11 tries.
One of two West Ham players to have started every match thus far, Cresswell came within about 15 minutes of his seventh clean sheet last weekend at Tottenham. While a 2-2 final score ultimately prevented such an effort, Cresswell still doled out an assist during that contest, and his four helpers on the campaign are now tied for third-best among defenders. This time around, Creswell welcomes a Crystal Palace team that, besides their three-goal outburst at lowly Burnley in Gameweek 22, has scored just one goal from their previous five Premier League away trips. Meanwhile, only Southampton, Chelsea and Manchester United boast better defensive records at home than Cresswell's West Ham.
Midfielders:
As Man City narrowed the gap on first-place Chelsea last weekend, their creative maestro Silva was at the forefront, bagging a brace while setting up another goal versus Newcastle. In doing so, Silva notched a new Premier League single-season career-high with nine goals already on the current campaign. What's more, the Spaniard followed that performance by assisting City's only goal versus Barcelona this week. So in advance of this weekend's match at Liverpool, Silva is enjoying fantastic form and also scored at Anfield last season. Similarly, on a team scale, Man City has scored at least two goals in a whopping seven straight matches against the Reds across all competitions, which seemingly fares favorably for Silva this Sunday.
Scorer of Man United's lone goal last weekend, Herrera has now found the scoresheet in consecutive appearances for the Red Devils, which should earn him another start this weekend when Sunderland visits Old Trafford. Like his teammate Falcao, who will be discussed later, playing a full 90 minutes has been invaluable for Herrera, as he's quietly scored all five times he's completed the duration of a match this season. Moreover, Saturday's opponent, Sunderland, conceded a trio of goals the last time they were in Manchester, where United has scored at least two goals in six of their past seven home Premier League matches.
With Southampton experiencing a bit of a goal drought at the moment, Saturday's match comes against a West Brom outfit tied for the most goals allowed at home this season. Knowing that possibility for resurgence, Saints boss Ronald Koeman could very well re-insert his team-leader in assists, Tadic, into the starting lineup this weekend. Should he do such, Tadic will aim to lead Southampton to their fifth-straight road win and resurface in fantasy circles as well. After a fast start to his Premiership career, the Serbian has just two goals and one assist since Christmas, but as Southampton cling to Champions League hopes, Tadic could use this weekend's matchup to kick-start a return to prominence.
The Premier League's fifth-highest scorer with 12 goals, Alexis somewhat surprisingly hasn't found the back of the net since mid-January. In his defense, the Chilean has missed two of Arsenal's five league games since then, but the point remains. Nevertheless, he is posed against Everton's bottom-five defense at home this weekend. While no team has averaged more goals at home than Arsenal this season, Alexis could also potential spearhead the Gunners' attack, after teammates Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck underwhelmed during the midweek. Wherever he plays, Alexis has proven to be a thorn in opposing defenses this term and could make a similar statement as Arsenal looks to rebound on Sunday.
Forwards:
Man U's much-maligned loan-signing, Falcao figures to finally get the sort of consistent playing time he's been longing for since arriving at Old Trafford now that teammate Robin van Persie (ankle) is expected to be sidelined long-term. Judging by the Colombian's understated total of one goal or one assist in eight of his 11 league starts, a place in Louis van Gaal's first XI could certainly benefit Falcao moving forward. Additionally, no team has scored more than the Red Devils at home, which bodes especially well for Falcao this weekend against a Sunderland team just two road wins all season.
As Burnley looks to use last weekend's improbable draw at Chelsea as a springboard toward safety, the Clarets would be wise to keep feeding their top-scorer Ings in front of goal. In fact, only compatriot Harry Kane has netted more Premier League goals than Ings' five in seven matches during 2015. This weekend, the 22-year-old will try to keep the ball rolling against Swansea City, who are nearly a bottom-five road team this season. So as Burnley looks to jump from the relegation zone, their current streak of three games with two goals at home could improve further with the help of Ings come this Saturday.
Sergio Aguero (C)
In scoring last weekend versus Newcastle, Aguero drew level with Chelsea hitman Diego Costa for the Premier League lead with 17 goals. The Argentine also found the net versus Barcelona this week, bringing his total to an amazing 23 goals in 27 matches across all competitions. With that spectacular record, Aguero this weekend enters a match at Liverpool, whose three-man defense could carry heavy legs after playing 120 minutes in Turkey on Thursday. All in all, a man that needs little introduction, Aguero earns the Best XI captain's armband for Gameweek 27.
