🦁 Premier League Player of the Week: Southgate are you watching? | OneFootball

It's the international break, but before we head into that, there's just time to crown our Premier League Player of the Week.

And the winner is going to be sat at home after making a point ...

Raheem Sterling (Chelsea)

Whatever you think of Todd Boehly's project at Chelsea, you can't deny it's interesting.

So many new players - many of them young - have been brought to the club in recent transfer windows that it's understandable if manager Mauricio Pochettino doesn't know what his best team is yet.

This young group could blossom into something really special in the coming years, but they're going to need guidance from the more experienced, older heads in the squad as they go.

He's still only 28, but Raheem Sterling is one of those older heads at Stamford Bridge and his performance in Saturday's 4-1 win at Burnley suggested he's maturing into a proper leader.

Sterling was a victim of the chaos at Chelsea last season as he struggled to get going following his move from Manchester City, but this season he looks more comfortable and more assured when he steps onto the pitch, and the forward's display at Turf Moor was his best in a Chelsea shirt to date.

He was involved in all four of his side's goals, with his run and cross forcing an own goal from Ameen Al-Dakhil for the equaliser, before he won the penalty which Cole Palmer slotted away to make it 2-1.

Sterling then got on the scoresheet himself for the third time this season, before rounding off a great afternoon's work with the pre-assist for Nicolas Jackson's goal.

Unfortunately for him, his super display came too late to change Gareth Southgate's mind about omitting him from a fourth consecutive England squad, with Southgate explaining that other English wide players have simply been in better form than Sterling in recent months.

That may well be the case, but if Sterling keeps playing like he did on Saturday, Southgate will have no choice but to reassess his options. With Euro 2024 coming up next summer, the Chelsea winger could really do with forcing himself back into international reckoning at the earliest opportunity.

Sterling's career goals tally now stands at 186 for club and country, but he has had to adapt his game and take on a slightly more unselfish role at Chelsea. So far he has not enjoyed anything like the service he got at Manchester City, where he was often able to ghost in late at the back post for a simple tap-in, and Chelsea need him to be more of a creator than a finisher at present.

On his day, Sterling remains a world class player capable of giving any full-back in the game a torrid time with his speed and quick feet, and he will play a key role in determining whether the Chelsea project is successful or not.

If he keeps working hard and putting in consistently high performances, he can be a role model to the young players at Chelsea, and an England recall will take care of itself.