Matchday 6 Awards
The sixth matchday of the 2024/25 season has come and gone, so today we are giving out our Premier League awards!
Manchester City dropped some more points by drawing against Newcastle, Everton got their first win of the campaign against Palace, while Chelsea and Brighton played a first half for the ages.
Liverpool climbed to the top of the table with a 2-1 away win versus Wolves, while on Sunday Ipswich got their fourth draw in a row against Villa and United got embarrassed at home against Spurs.
You can also click here to check out all our reports from this weekend’s action.
So who gets our awards this week? Read on to find out.
Best Player
There can only be one winner. Ladies and gentlemen, Cole Palmer!
Four goals in the first half of the game against the Seagulls ensured that he is the first EPL player to ever do so, writing his name in Chelsea folklore.
By his own admission, he could have had five or six, especially since he hit the post once and had a strike disallowed even before scoring his first in the game, but we’re guessing he’s still quite happy with a poker.
Hats off to you, lad!
Best XI
GK – Mads Hermansen (Leicester)
RB – James Justin (Leicester)
CB – Micky van de Ven (Tottenham)
CB – Cristian Romero (Tottenham)
LB – Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City)
CM – Sandro Tonali (Newcastle)
CM – Dwight McNeil (Everton)
CM – Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
RW – Dejan Kulusevski (Tottenham)
ST – Liam Delap (Ipswich)
LW – Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal)
Best Goal
Evanilson’s opener against Southampton.
Ok, hear us out. Sure, Justin’s equaliser for Leicester was sublimely struck, Palmer’s freekick to complete his hat-trick was great and we also loved Mbeumo’s volley to give Brentford a now customary first minute lead.
But we’re going with Evanilson – and mainly because of Marcus Tavernier’s assist – for this one because it features a lot of what the Premier League is all about: awareness, quick reactions, focus and precision.
Have a look for yourself.
Evanilson scores first Premier League goal in first-half BLITZ | AFC Bournemouth 3-1 Southampton
Best Game
Arsenal vs Leicester City gets this award from us this week. Chelsea vs Brighton was a strong contender, but they crammed all the action in the first half. In contrast, Arsenal and Leicester put on a contest that had plenty of drama throughout, as well as top performances.
After all, it’s not every day that the best goalkeeper of the matchday is one who had to pick the ball up from the net four times.
A BIG WIN! 🤩 | HIGHLIGHTS | Arsenal vs Leicester City (4-2) | Martinelli, Trossard x2, Havertz | PL
Best Stats
Here we are talking about Brentford again. For the third successive game they have managed to open the scoring in the first minute, becoming the first Premier League team to ever accomplish that feat.
For more interesting statistics from this weekend’s games you can also click here.
Best/Worst VAR Decision
Sure, Bruno Fernandes committed a foul on James Maddison, but there are serious question marks about whether it was enough for a straight red card.
We feel like VAR should have intervened and asked referee Chris Kavanagh to review the incident, especially because the United captain had slipped and lost his balance, making it obvious that there was no malice in that challenge.
While it would probably not have given United a way back into the game because they performed poorly regardless, it is still a decision that makes us wonder why exactly is VAR not doing its job at all times.
Best Substitution
No players who came off the bench really stood out this time around through some goalscoring heroics. The best sub this weekend was arguably 20-year-old winger Carlos Forbs, who came on at half time for Wolves and brought plenty of energy and endeavour to his team, but not much end product.
Funniest Moment
Romeo Lavia was not exactly generous with his praise for Cole Palmer. We disagree, but find it funny regardless.