Matchday 7 Awards

Just when we feel like we get into the swing of things, there’s another international break to stop the Premier League from gathering too much steam. However, with the seventh matchday behind us, we are now giving out our Premier League awards!

First of all, what has been happening? The three teams making up the early season’s leading pack have all prevailed, with Arsenal too strong for Southampton, reigning champions City downing Fulham and Diogo Jota’s early goal proving to be the difference between Liverpool and Palace.

We had a proper goal fest between Brentford and Wolves, a couple of drab 0-0s and a proper comeback from Brighton to beat Tottenham.

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

We cannot ignore Bukayo Saka’s contribution in Arsenal’s win against the Saints on Saturday.

The winger made two assists and scored a goal in a performance that seems to be the latest in a series going back over two seasons.

It’s hard to believe that he is only 23 and that his peak years are supposedly still ahead of him.

Best XI

GK – Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest)

RB – Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

CB – Wout Faes (Leicester)

CB – Jonny Evans (Manchester United)

LB – Diogo Dalot (Manchester United)

CM – Mateo Kovacic (Manchester City)

CM – Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford)

CM – Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)

RW – Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

ST – Kai Havertz (Arsenal)

LW – Jarrod Bowen (West Ham)

Best Goal

Doku’s great strike against Fulham secures the award this week, spinning and swerving all over the place to bamboozle Bernd Leno in the Cottagers’ goal.

Have a look at it here, along with short highlights of the City vs Fulham game.

HIGHLIGHTS! Man City 3-2 Fulham | ⚽️ Kovacic (2) and Doku (screamer!) Goals | Premier League

Best Game

Sure, Brentford vs Wolverhampton treated us to 8 goals, but this award goes to the last game of the matchday: Brighton vs Tottenham.

Spurs going 2-0 up in the first half, Brighton scoring three goals after the interval to turn the game on its head, plenty of chances, a total xG of 3.77 yielding 5 goals, this game had the lot. And it kept us entertained from the first whistle to the last.

HIGHLIGHTS | Brighton v Tottenham | Premier League

Best Stats

Brentford have gotten lazy. Instead of under a minute to open the scoring, like in the previous three outings, this time they needed 75 seconds to find the net against Wolves.

Kai Havertz has matched Robin van Persie’s record (from 2011/12) of scoring in seven consecutive games for Arsenal at the Emirates. We wouldn’t bet against him breaking it in the next home game.

Erik ten Hag broke his own record of ‘masterminding’ the worst start to an EPL season for United. Seven games into the 2023/24 campaign, the Red Devils had accumulated nine points. 2024/25? EIGHT.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

We’re not too sure how PGMOL would be able to reasonably justify the lack of VAR review for Burn’s foul on Calvert-Lewin during the Everton vs Newcastle game on Saturday.

It looked like a pen to us.

Best Substitution

Less than 10 minutes after coming off the bench against Southampton, Gabriel Martinelli was in the right place at the right time to score the goal that put Arsenal ahead and on the road to three points on an afternoon that could have ended differently for them.

Arteta has plenty of talent at his disposal and it’s nice to see that Martinelli, who is usually a starter for the Gunners, still made a decisive contribution in a game that he began on the subs’ bench.

Funniest Moment

Ashley Young man-marking Dan Burn for a corner kick sounds like a terrible idea. Especially with Joelinton pointing to the OBVIOUS target.

Even the Everton veteran looks like he doesn’t want to be in that situation.