Matchday 11 Awards

While the last international break of 2024 now takes centre stage, we can still take a look back at the latest Premier League matchday and draw some conclusions.

Liverpool were the big winners of this weekend, overcoming Aston Villa after Manchester City succumbed to yet another loss, this time against Brighton. Arsenal could only muster a draw against Chelsea, leaving them further behind in this relatively early stage of the season.

Brentford were once again at their entertaining best while securing a 3-2 win over Bournemouth, while Wolves and Ipswich finally sealed their first wins of the EPL campaign.

As usual, you can also click here to check out all our reports from this weekend’s action.

So who gets our Premier League awards this week? Let’s have a look.

Best Player

Bruno Fernandes was at the heart of everything that Manchester United did right during Ruud van Nistelrooy’s short stint in charge, and that was the case on Sunday against Leicester as well.

The Portuguese midfielder scored one, forced an own goal from Leicester defender Victor Kristiansen and then assisted Alejandro Garnacho to end the evening.

It’s fair to say that ten Hag’s dismissal has revitalised Fernandes, as he has scored four goals in four games under van Nistelrooy. This comes after he had failed to score even once in 13 games under Erik ten Hag this season.

A great performance in anticipation of his compatriot taking charge at Old Trafford.

Best XI

GK – Bart Verbruggen (Brighton)

RB – Noussair Mazraoui (Manchester United)

CB – Craig Dawson (Wolves)

CB – Joachim Andersen (Fulham)

LB – Pervis Estupinan (Brighton)

CM – Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)

CM – Joelinton (Newcastle)

CM – Matheus Cunha (Wolves)

RW – Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

ST – Sammie Szmodics (Ipswich)

LW – Yoane Wissa (Brentford)

Best Goal

Matheus Cunha’s long range strike against Southampton gets our nod for this week’s best goal. It was a strike of great precision, but with plenty of power behind it, making it impossible for Saints goalie Aaron Ramsdale to keep it out.

Cunha STUNNER gives us first win! | Wolves 2-0 Southampton | Highlight

Best Game

Warning: we are about to wax lyrical about Brentford again.

The Bees’ game against Bournemouth was a great advert for the Premier League, with its 5 goals, the hosts coming back from behind twice, visitors hitting the crossbar deep into injury time and some great individual performances.

We are definitely enjoying seeing them play this season!

Best Stats

Tottenham have conceded the first goal in 13 Premier League games this calendar year. The record is 14 times in a year, held by Ipswich in 1994, Crystal Palace in 2017 and… Spurs in ‘94.

Before Saturday’s defeat against Brighton, Manchester City had not lost a Prem game when leading at half time since May 2021. Also against Brighton.

However, one of Guardiola’s players at least has yet another record to his name. Erling Haaland is now the fastest player to reach 75 Premier League goals in the division’s history, needing only 77 games to do so.

In his short stint as caretaker manager with Manchester United, Ruud van Nistelrooy has registered three wins at Old Trafford. This is the same number as Erik ten Hag since the start of the campaign.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

Finally there is nothing too bad to moan about in this section. Refreshing change.

Best Substitution

Matt O’Riley made his Premier League debut for Brighton off the bench, coming back from ankle surgery back in August to score the goal that beat Manchester City.

Can’t write a better script than that.

Funniest Moment

Pedro Neto and his fellow Chelsea players celebrated his goal against Arsenal for well over a minute, showing everyone just how much it meant for him to score his first goal for the Blues.

Surprisingly enough, there were only five minutes of injury time at the end of the second half.