🦁 Premier League Player of the Week - Hat-trick hero | OneFootball

It’s that time again, where we decide who will be the recipient of the illustrious OneFootball Premier League Player of the Week award.

And the honour had to go to …

Patrick Bamford (Leeds United)

Without captain Liam Cooper and influential midfielder Kalvin Phillips, Leeds needed someone to step up on Friday night and produce a huge performance against unbeaten Aston Villa.

Patrick Bamford was that man.

Much-maligned during his time in the Championship for wayward finishing and a general air of ‘what am I doing here?’, Bamford has stuck two fingers up to those critics and become Marcelo Bielsa’s attacking lynchpin.

Many wondered if the former Chelsea graduate would enjoy much playing time this term once Rodrigo arrived from Valencia over the summer but Bielsa has stuck by the 27-year-old and that paid dividends at Villa Park as Bamford scored a superb hat-trick – his first ever in the Premier League.

Dean Smith’s side were yet to taste defeat this season after five games but were put to the sword by the Yorkshire giants who played some Peak Bielsa stuff under the lights.

It was Bamford who stole the show, though, with his second and third goals so beautiful they could hang on the walls of the Louvre.

With a few yards of space outside the area, Bamford unleashed a stunning left-footed strike at the near post to beat Emiliano Martinez all ends up – to hit that angle, with such ferocity and precision, showed a striker with supreme confidence.

The third strike was even better.

A sweeping team move saw the forward with the ball inside the Villa area, but with one swerve of his hips and flick of his boot, the ball curled into the far corner to complete a brilliant night.

With the complete trust of his coach, Bamford has become exactly the sort of striker that he threatened to be all those years ago at Stamford Bridge and must surely now be in the conversation for an England place.