Matchday 19 Awards

Happy New Year, dear EPLNews readers!

Here we are in 2025, where some things are clearer – like Liverpool being firm favourites for the title after dismantling West Ham or Manchester United’s ever deepening crisis – and some are much less clear. Such as just how much longer will the Spurs board support Postecoglou and the results he brings in.

Meanwhile, Forest are continuing the season strongly after beating Everton last time out, Southampton are inching ever closer to relegation after failing to hold on to a lead against Palace and Manchester City have shown that there is still some fight left in ‘old dog’ Guardiola. The question remains whether it will be a false dawn again, like their win against Forest in matchday 14.

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

So who earned our Premier League matchday awards this time? Read on to find out.

Best Player

Once again we feel compelled to ask Liverpool’s owners to just give Mohamed Salah his new contract already in order for the Premier League to not lose the best footballer in the world at the moment.

He scored one goal and assisted two more as the Reds swatted West Ham aside and, if we’re being honest, he could have scored at least one more. But the most impressive moment was his assist for Cody Gakpo’s goal, when Salah nutmegged not one, but two Hammers’ players in the space of half a second.

We really hope to see him still playing Prem football come August.

Best XI

GK – Martin Dubravka (Newcastle)

RB – Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

CB – Dan Burn (Newcastle)

CB – Jacob Greaves (Ipswich)

LB – Lewis Hall (Newcastle)

CM – Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)

CM – Joelinton (Newcastle)

CM – Mikel Merino (Arsenal)

RW – Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

ST – Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest)

LW – Liam Delap (Ipswich)

Best Goal

Raul Jimenez scored an old school thumping header to open the scoring for Fulham against Bournemouth. Take nothing away from Andreas Pereira’s cross, but it was the header that made the goal. And it was a goal that reminded us of the 1990s with its simplicity and decisiveness.

Here it is, along with the highlights for the whole game:

HIGHLIGHTS | Fulham 2-2 Bournemouth

Best Game

“Are you not entertained?!”

Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs once again provided entertainment for the neutrals in their game against Wolves as they fell behind, came back to lead and then conceded a late leveller.

The average number of goals in Tottenham games since the Australian manager took over stands at 3.6, higher than any other EPL side. Whatever you plan on doing for 2025, one of your New Year’s resolutions should be to watch every Spurs game.

Or at least the highlights, starting with this one:

Scoring LATE to earn a point at Spurs! | Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Wolves | Extended Highlights

Best Stats

Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, four teams that were in 14th place on New Year’s Day ended up being relegated (Newcastle – 2008/09, Burnley – 2009/10, Norwich – 2013/14, Leeds – 2022/23). Guess where Manchester United are right now…

Mohamed Salah is the first EPL player to register a goal and an assist in eight different games of a Premier League campaign. The scary thing is that we’re only at the halfway point of the season, leaving us guessing what the final total will be and whether his new record will ever be broken.

Almost exactly 15 after Rory Delap opened the scoring for Stoke against Chelsea, his son Liam did the same thing for Ipswich.

Nottingham Forest have ended 2024 with a streak of five wins, their longest winning run in the Premier League since 1995.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

Why did Trevoh Chalobah’s goal stand when Jean-Philippe Mateta’s push on Aaron Ramsdale was so evident and so consequential in the Saints’ goalie not being able to keep the ball out of the net?

And one more thing: what was so unclear about Joao Felix being a yard offside that the VAR check had to take two minutes and 15 seconds? It was an offside that was obvious to the naked eye on any given replay.

This is bordering on the ridiculous now.

Best Substitution

This award once again goes to Bournemouth’s Dango Ouattara, who came on in the 64th minute of their away fixture against Fulham. He managed to score in the 89th minute with a delightful chip over Bernd Leno to seal a point for the Cherries.

Funniest Moment

From the warmth of the south coast of France where he is spending the season on loan with Marseille, Neil Maupay is clearly not missing his parent club.

We thought toffees are supposed to be sweet, but this seems pretty bitter to us.