Matchday 27 Awards
We can agree that it’s done, right? Arsenal have drawn against Nottingham Forest (and, for the second time running, we were correct in our predictions to stay away from that or to go with a draw or Forest to win), while Liverpool did not have much trouble in beating Newcastle at home. So now the Reds are 13 points clear of second place having played a game more. It’s very hard to imagine them bottling the title now.
Chelsea have managed to finally get a win, albeit over almost-relegated Southampton, while Brighton beat Bournemouth to improve their own chances of reaching a European spot in May.
In one of the more surprising results, Crystal Palace got only their third home win in their last 10 games at Selhurst Park, but what a win it was. And Manchester United somehow scraped by Ipswich in a game where they struggled, just as we expected them to do.
Elsewhere, Manchester City recorded a 1-0 win at Spurs, Everton snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat in west London and Fulham beat Wolves away, while West Ham beat Leicester 2-0.
As usual, you can 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 awards this time? Read on to find out.
Best Player
Ismaila Sarr’s performance for Crystal Palace against Aston Villa is what lands him our Best Player award for this mid-week matchday.
Scorer of a brace, while admittedly he could have had four goals, he was also at the heart of the midfield battle, putting in a very strong performance against the more fancied Villans to push his team to a well-deserved 4-1 win.
Best XI
GK – Mark Flekken (Brentford)
RB – Jake O’Brien (Everton)
CB – William Saliba (Arsenal)
CB – Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
LB – Marc Cucurella (Chelsea)
CM – Ismaila Sarr (Crystal Palace)
CM – Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool)
CM – Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)
RW – Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea)
ST – Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace)
LW – Justin Kluivert (Bournemouth)
Best Goal
Justin Kluivert’s long range strike for Bournemouth was just the sort of sublime finish that we appreciate, combining power and placement to make almost any goalkeeper a mere spectator.
After starting 2025 in impressive fashion, the Dutch attacker had gone off the boil a bit, with only one assist in his last four games, but this goal reminded everyone who needed it about his fantastic quality and why Bournemouth are doing so well this season.
It is indeed a shame that this strike did not translate into a positive result for the Cherries, but it was still a sight to behold.
Kluivert stunner not enough | Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 AFC Bournemouth
Best Game
We’re going with Spurs vs City for this one. Sure, United vs Ipswich was great, with nice tempo, plenty of chances, a red card, a brawl and everything in between.
But the sheer amount of chances created at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium left us all scratching our heads as to how exactly did it end with only one goal.
3.21 xG, 11 total shots on target, six big chances created and 52 total touches in the opposition box tell the story of a match with a lot of attacking intent and great tempo. Even if we only saw one goal that stood, we were still thoroughly entertained.
EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS | Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Man City | Haaland goal lifts City into fourth!
Best Stats
Just a short and shocking one here: Manchester United central defender Matthijs de Ligt has taken the same number of shots on target in the Premier League this season (eight) as either of the team’s strikers, Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee!
Best/Worst VAR Decision
We feel that nothing too out of the ordinary happened this matchday VAR-wise, so we will save our complaining (or maybe praise, who knows?) for the next one.
Best Substitution
Danny Welbeck came off the bench for Brighton in the 72nd minute of their south coast clash against Bournemouth and promptly scored the winner roughly three minutes later.
Putting ourselves in Hürzeler’s skin for a second, we would be quite proud of our inspiration.
Funniest Moment
It’s safe to say that Roy Keane is not a fan of Bruno Fernandes.
https://x.com/WeAreTheOverlap/status/1895043965662949490
This is a damning assessment from Keane, a former Manchester United captain, about the current leader of the locker room at Old Trafford. It doesn’t even matter if we agree or not, but what we can appreciate is the passion with which an Arsenal legend defends a United player.
Hard to see that one coming, right?