Premier League Awards For Matchday 1: Best Goal?

Matchday 1 Awards

Finally, here we are once again!

The Premier League is back and so is our customary Premier League awards article, singling out the best (and sometimes the worst) performances and moments after every weekend of action.

The wait over the summer was well worth it as the EPL 2025/26 season kicked off at Anfield with a topsy-turvy 4-2 win for the hosts against Bournemouth.

Saturday was more one-sided, with big wins for Manchester City, Sunderland and Tottenham, before Sunday brought us the first big game of the campaign, with Arsenal narrowly beating Manchester United at Old Trafford.

There was also the matter of top division football returning to Elland Road on Monday night, when Leeds showed their mettle by winning 1-0 against Everton.

As usual, you can click here to check out all our Premier League Recaps 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

There were a fair few great individual performances this weekend, so this award could arguably go to four or five different players, but we’re picking Tijjani Reijnders of Manchester City.

The midfielder capped an impressive display against Wolves with a goal and an assist, but it was his overall controlling play from the middle of the pitch that really impressed us.

Just goes to show that he wasn’t voted the Serie A Midfielder of the Season for nothing.

Best XI

GK – David Raya (Arsenal)

RB – Rico Lewis (Manchester City)

CB – William Saliba (Arsenal)

CB – Daniel Ballard (Sunderland)

LB – Gabriel Gudmundsson (Leeds)

CM – Tijjani Reijnders (Manchester City)

CM – Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham)

CM – Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)

RW – Mohammed Kudus (Tottenham)

ST – Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest)

LW – Cody Gakpo (Liverpool)

Best Goal

There is no way that this award is not going to Richarlison for his second strike against Burnley. The first one was a very satisfying sweeping volley, but his (somewhat) overhead kick is the sort of thing that makes us football fans go crazy.

Have a look!

Richarlison goal of the season already? | Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Burnley | Premier League highlights

Best Game

Liverpool vs Bournemouth was exactly what we were hoping for to really get the excitement levels through the roof. You want to put your best foot forward at the start of the new season and, while maybe neither the Reds nor the Cherries did so, the Premier League surely did.

90th Minute Drama! Highlights | Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth

Best Stats

Posting this without comment, courtesy of @OptaJoe on Twitter/X.

21% – James Milner was the only outfield player born in the 1980s to appear in the Premier League yesterday, while 21% of the other players (31/150) who featured on Saturday weren’t even born when he debuted on 10 November 2002 for Leeds. Veteran.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

Manchester United fans feel aggrieved that William Saliba’s late challenge did not result in a penalty and they might just be right about it.

We feel that the decision to not award a spot kick was the right one because that would have been a fairly soft foul, with Matheus Cunha also leaning into the challenge, so we’re marking this as a good decision.

Best Substitution

Has to be Chiesa, right?

An 88th minute victory-clinching goal from a player who had been linked with an exit all summer long? This is proper Prem drama!

Funniest Moment

Funny if you’re not a Villa fan, that is.

We have zero clues about why Ezri Konsa was so incensed with the referee when he got his marching orders against Newcastle. His outburst, while amusing because there was no need for it, is something we don’t enjoy seeing on a football pitch though.