VOTE: Who is your pick for All Football Player of the Week?

Who is the best player of last week? We name 5 candidates based on their ratings & performances. Please vote for the player who impressed you most last week.

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, Man City's Bernardo Silva, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema, Dortmund's Paco Alcacer and Barcelona's Lionel Messi are the five nominees for our All Football Player of the Week, with all of them included in our All Football Team of the Week.

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Virgil van Dijk has been widely praised following the Liverpool defender's outstanding contribution to his side's 2-1 win over Tottenham on Sunday.

The Dutch stopper was lauded for stopping a potent Spurs counter-attack in the second half, when the Reds were themselves chasing a match-winner.

What sets Van Dijk apart is the way he thinks clearly in the most pressurised moments.

He knew that if Son was put through, the ball would be in the back of the net. Sissoko, by contrast, has not scored all season.

Van Dijk positioned himself to block the pass at all costs while closing down Sissoko just enough to force him into a snap shot.

His smart, instinctive thinking in the heat of battle earned Liverpool a crucial win.

Bernardo Silva (Man City)

Bernardo Silva opened the scoring inside five minutes with a pinpoint strike from 20 yards before made the other for Sergio Aguero in City's routine 2-0 Premier League win at Fulham on Saturday.

The 24-year-old bossed the game at Craven Cottage as City edged a step closer towards an unprecedented quadruple and Guardiola admitted he is left with no choice but to keep selecting Silva, given his scintillating form.

Is it possible to low-key be player of the year? If so, that’s exactly what Bernardo Silva is doing. Whilst Raheem Sterling and Virgil van Dijk are hoovering up headlines – and rightly so – Bernardo Silva has been equally as dominant and impressive at the heart of City’s midfield.

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

The French striker scored in the 89th minute to earn Real Madrid a dramatic 3-2 win at home to LaLiga's bottom side Huesca in Zinedine Zidane's second match since his return.

Benzema scored against Huesca and completed a historic record, by netting against every team he has faced in the league throughout his career.

He has faced 34 teams since arriving at Real Madrid a decade ago and scored against every one of them (total 141 goals), after his late winner against Huesca on Sunday.

That feat is something that neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo have achieved in their careers.

Paco Alcacer (Dortmund)

Paco Alcacer’s late match-winning brace means he has 16 league goals, having played just 963 minutes for Dortmund.

When you have Alcacer in the team, those additional minutes can make the difference even at the 90 minutes. The Spanish hitman yet again chose the most opportune moment to score two of his most important goals of the season, in the twilight hour.

The significance of those goals cannot be under-stated either. After two rounds of matches spent in Bayern Munich’s slipstream that followed months of being at the top of the pile, the Black and Yellows are now back on top spot in the league – just in time for Der Klassiker next weekend.

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Forget the Panenka... Messi has gone one better here

Lionel Messi scored twice in the second half, including a 'Panenka free-kick' as Barcelona beat Derby rivals Espanyol to keep their 10-point lead at the top of La Liga.

Messi has scored 22 goals in his past 15 Spanish top-flight games, while he has surpassed 40 goals for the 10th season in a row and also scored 30+ league goals for 8th straight season.

Maybe Messi's not a God, but he is the GOAT!

Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section. The winner of the vote will be announced tomorrow.

See you next week!