Matchday 23 Awards

Some very interesting results this weekend have reinforced our belief that there are still plenty of twists and turns up and down the table for the remainder of this season.

For instance, while some of our writers predicted a Bournemouth win against Forest in our YouTube show, the margin of the victory still took us by surprise. Also, Everton winning away against Brighton on Moyes’ 700th Premier League game was something that wasn’t entirely predictable.

Liverpool and Arsenal both won their games. While the Reds had a comfortable afternoon against Ipswich, Arsenal were made to sweat for a narrow win against Wolves, in large part due to a poor refereeing decision.

Meanwhile, Leicester beat Tottenham because, well, who doesn’t these days? And Manchester City came from behind to defeat Chelsea in an entertaining game.

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

And you can visit our YouTube channel for previews of each matchday, as well as predictions and hot takes on current EPL topics.

But back to the task at hand: who earned our Premier League matchday awards this time? Read on to find out.

Best Player

Alexander Isak’s two goals against Southampton put them on their way to avoid a shameful result against the league’s weakest side. As almost always, the Swede was at the heart of everything that Newcastle did well going forward, especially with some of his channel runs wreaking havoc in the Saints’ defence.

We can’t help but wonder how much longer Newcastle will be able to keep hold of him, especially if they don’t seal a Champions League spot this season.

Best XI

GK – David Raya (Arsenal)

RB – Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

CB – Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton)

CB – Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal)

LB – Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City)

CM – Sandro Tonali (Newcastle)

CM – Justin Kluivert (Bournemouth)

CM – Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool)

RW – Dango Ouattara (Bournemouth)

ST – Alexander Isak (Newcastle)

LW – Cody Gakpo (Liverpool)

Best Goal

Tonali’s goal to seal the victory for Newcastle capped off a sublime team move started by the Italian himself winning an aerial duel in the middle of the park and continued by some silky one-touch football from Isak and Anthony Gordon to send Tonali on his way.

The smoothness of the move, the confidence of all players involved in it and the composure of Tonali to stroke the ball past the Southampton goalie… It was all just so satisfying.

Southampton 1 Newcastle United 3 | Premier League Highlights

Best Game

Manchester City vs Chelsea offered plenty of talking points. Two of City’s three new signings were in the starting XI as Guardiola showed the world just how much he wants to turn the season around for his team.

However, just four minutes in, newly-signed defender Abdukodir Khusanov had already made an error leading to a goal and had his name taken by the referee. It was a nightmare start that could have been much worse but for some lackadaisical Chelsea finishing.

Instead, City roared back to life and equalised just before the break, completing the turnaround in the second half to leave Chelsea thinking what might have been. This also might provide the confidence springboard needed for the reigning champions to go on and seal a top four spot, at least.

Best Stats

Manchester City’s Ederson now has five Premier League assists, joint-most for a goalkeeper along with former England international Paul Robinson.

Since making his debut in the EPL in February 2023, no defender has more goal involvements than Tottenham’s Pedro Porro, who stands on 23 goals and assists (level with Trent Alexander-Arnold).

Ollie Watkins is now Aston Villa’s second-ever player to reach 100 goal contributions (61 goals, 39 assists) in the Premier League. The only other one is Gabriel Agbonlahor, but it is worth pointing out that Watkins did it in 108 fewer appearances than his predecessor.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

Seriously, Mr. Oliver, a straight red for Lewis-Skelly?

Ok, fine, to err is human, but that the VAR did not instruct you to go to the monitor for a review is just inexcusable. This is a decision that could well have ended Arsenal’s title bid then and there.

At the same time, we would like to point out that some of the abuse on social media directed at you is even more appalling and we sympathise with you and your family. Football is meant to be fun and no one deserves to receive death threats over it.

However, for the sake of the game we all love, we hope that you and your colleagues could do better than this.

Best Substitution

Riccardo Calafiori came on at half-time in Arsenal’s game at the Molineux and scored the only goal of the game in the 74th minute. This goal might prove invaluable in Arsenal’s quest for their first Premier League title in over two decades.

Funniest Moment

Yoane Wissa celebrating Bryan Mbeumo’s goal before the ball was even kicked showed levels of confidence that some people can only aspire to have in their friends and teammates. Especially since this was the second attempt, after the first one was missed by the Cameroonian winger, but the match officials decided that Palace players had entered the box before the penalty was taken.

Oh, and will Vardy trolling the Spurs’ fans again with his EPL title win ever get old?