Matchday 2 Awards

The second round of games of the 2024/25 season is now in the history books and it’s time to hand out our Premier League Awards.

There was plenty of excitement this weekend, with all 10 games taking place on Saturday and Sunday. Some of the more notable results were Brighton leaving it late to beat Manchester United in the noon kick-off on Saturday and Manchester City putting four past Ipswich, while Sunday saw Chelsea win big away against Wolves and Liverpool get another professional win against Brentford.

So what did our EPLNews staff think? Who wins which award this week?

Best Player

Let’s face it: we could go for the low-hanging fruit and give this one to Madueke or Haaland for their hat-tricks.

But we feel like Cole Palmer just picked up where he left off last season. He was instrumental in Chelsea’s 6-2 win, where he was involved in his team’s first goal, scored one himself, hit the woodwork and registered three assists.

Any success Chelsea enjoy this season will certainly have Palmer centre-stage, receiving his ovations.

Best XI

GK – David Raya (Arsenal)

CB – Cristian Romero (Tottenham)

CB – Nikola Milenkovic (Nottingham Forest)

CB – Max Kilman (West Ham)

CM – Yves Bissouma (Tottenham)

CM – Cole Palmer (Chelsea)

CM –  Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)

RW – Noni Madueke (Chelsea)

ST – Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

ST – Joao Pedro (Brighton)

LW – Son Heung-min (Tottenham)

Best Goal

Yves Bissouma’s goal for Spurs in their 4-0 dismantling of Everton was so satisfying to watch. The clip off the bar, the bounce, the power of the shot.

Just beautiful. And the rest of the game was not bad either. Apart from whatever Everton did.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 4-0 EVERTON | PREMIER LEAGUE HIGHLIGHTS | FOUR-MIDABLE DISPLAY AS SON SCORES TWO!

Best Game

Wolves vs Chelsea was a goal fest with some impressive performances, showing once more that the Blues are Premier League’s great entertainers this season as well, for both good and bad reasons.

Have a look at the highlights below.

Wolves 2-6 Chelsea | 8-GOAL THRILLER – HIGHLIGHTS | Premier League 2024/25

Best Stats

“Fergie Time” working against Manchester United? Between 1992 and 2022, United had lost only two games due to goals conceded in the 90th minute and beyond. Since 2022? Six games.

Another one from Brighton vs United. The Seagulls’ entire starting XI was signed for £75.1 million. Less than the money paid to bring Harry Maguire to Old Trafford.

Cole Palmer’s hat-trick of assists for Noni Madueke was only the fifth time in Premier League history that a player laid on three goals for the same teammate in a game, after Mike Newell for Alan Shearer, Stan Collymore for Robbie Fowler, Thierry Henry for Freddie Ljunberg and Harry Kane for Son Heung-min.

Erling Haaland’s hat-trick against Ipswich was his 10th since joining City. Having played 101 games for the club, he averages a hat-trick every 10 games. Do with this information what you see fit.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

Nothing really dubious happened this weekend, so we hope that we will have less to write in this section in the coming weeks as well.

Best Substitution

This award just has to go to Leandro Trossard, scoring the opener for Arsenal in a tricky game at Villa Park just two minutes after coming off the bench.

Take a bow, lad!

Funniest Moment

It seems that not all of Haaland’s teammates appreciate his hat-tricks.

We would love to know who that was!