Premier League Awards For Matchday 5: Best Goal?

Matchday 5 Awards

Another Premier League matchday is in the books and, as usual, there is plenty to dissect.

Arsenal and Manchester City played a 1-1 draw that needed a moment of brilliance from Gabriel Martinelli to ensure that Arteta’s men did not lose. Meanwhile, Manchester United finally managed two consecutive EPL wins at home for the first time since Ruben Amorim took over.

There was also the small matter of the Merseyside derby, which Liverpool won without relinquishing a 2-0 lead, which is something that had become a bit of a habit this season.

Elsewhere, Leeds won at the Molineux in a strugglers’ duel, Brighton and Spurs played out a 2-2 draw, Villa finally scored a Premier League goal in a 1-1 draw with Sunderland and Palace piled more misery on Graham Potter with a 2-1 win at the London Stadium.

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

Ryan Gravenberch played a blinder against Everton in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off, becoming the youngest player to score and assist in the same Merseyside derby for Liverpool in the Prem.

It was not just his attacking end product that earns him this award though. He put in a proper shift defensively as well, plugging up gaps all over the pitch to shield his defence, winning seven duels, making five tackles and being generally a force to be reckoned with in midfield.

Best XI

GK – Martin Dubravka (Burnley)

RB – Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest)

CB – Marcos Senesi (Bournemouth)

CB – Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa)

LB – Tyrick Mitchell (Crystal Palace)

CM – Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)

CM – Alex Iwobi (Fulham)

CM – Anton Stach (Leeds)

RW – Yankuba Minteh (Brighton)

ST – Hugo Ekitike (Liverpool)

LW – Noah Okafor (Leeds)

Best Goal

Anton Stach’s free-kick to complete Leeds’ comeback against Wolves at the Molineux was a thing of beauty. Struck with real purpose and heading into that top corner, it left Jose Sa with no chance despite his best efforts to get a hand to it.

Although Martinelli’s delicate finish to earn Arsenal a point against Manchester City was brilliant, there was simply no better goal this weekend in the Prem than the strike from Stach.

Wolves 1-3 Leeds United  | Premier League highlights

Best Game

Manchester United vs Chelsea is our pick for the Best Game award on matchday 5. Three goals, 2.26 xG in total might not sound too impressive, but the drama that this game provided was more than worth watching.

Two red cards, one of them after an early moment of absolute madness from Chelsea’s Sanchez, VAR checks, pouring rain ensuring thrills and spills aplenty… It was just the sort of entertainment that you would expect the Premier League to provide, especially when two of the ‘Bix Six’ come up against each other.

100 GOALS FOR BRUNO! | Man Utd v Chelsea

Best Stats

Plenty to unpack from last night’s headline game.

Erling Haaland’s opener against Arsenal in the ninth minute was the earliest that the Gunners have conceded in the Premier League since September 2024, which was also a ninth minute goal scored by Haaland.

Haaland’s goal now brings him level on 91 goals with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the highest scoring Norwegians in Premier League history. The difference is that the former United attacker needed 235 top division matches to reach this number, while the Man City number nine did it in only 102…

Only Brentford (eight) have dropped more points than Manchester City (five) from leading positions in Premier League matches this campaign.

Mikel Arteta is the first ever manager to go five consecutive league games unbeaten against Pep Guardiola.

Lastly from this game, Manchester City recorded a ball possession of 32.8% against Arsenal. This is the lowest ever figure posted by a team coached by Pep Guardiola.

Elsewhere, Bruno Fernandes has scored his 100th goal in all competitions for Manchester United, becoming only the fourth midfielder to do so after Bobby Charlton, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

We don’t really have a lot to gripe about this time, so instead we’ll praise VAR for intervening in the sending off of Reinildo. We didn’t exactly have Sunderland vs Aston Villa on our bingo cards as one of the most heated games this weekend, but this moment of madness cost the Black Cats their numerical integrity.

It was a petulant act that had nothing to do with football and we’re glad to see VAR stepping in to good effect here.

Best Substitution

It just has to be Martinelli, right? The Brazilian had been under fire from the Arsenal fanbase for a good year now due to some sub-par performances, but he popped up when it mattered here.

Coming off the bench in the 80th minute and scoring in injury time, he’ll be looking forward to more chances, especially after he scored and assisted off the bench against Bilbao in mid-week.

Funniest Moments

Guardiola dismissing the fourth official from the conversation with a peck on the cheek. That’s it.