Matchday 21 Awards

And with that the midweek matchday is done.

We had an entertaining North London Derby which saw Arsenal get within four points of Liverpool, who drew with now-top four contenders Nottingham Forest.

Graham Potter’s first EPL game in charge of West Ham brought a 3-2 win against Fulham, while Manchester City failed to make it four wins in a row by drawing against Brentford.

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

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

Best Player

There can only really be one contender for this award. Manchester United’s Amad Diallo showed once again why he is the man of the moment for Amorim’s side by netting a hat-trick against Southampton and saving his team from a mortifying defeat against Southampton.

It was 1-0 for the Saints until the 82nd minute, when the Diallo show started. He finished off a solo run to net the first one and took advantage of some extremely poor defensive play on Southampton’s part for the third, but his second goal was the pick of the bunch. A quick pass to Christian Eriksen, who played the ball back to Diallo with a dinked pass that left no chance for the visitors’ defence, finished off by Diallo with a first-time volley.

Outstanding performance from someone who is shaping up to be United’s main man for the next decade.

Best XI

GK – Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest)

RB – Tino Livramento (Newcastle)

CB – Nathan Ake (Manchester City)

CB – Gabriel (Arsenal)

LB – Antonee Robinson (Fulham)

CM – Carlos Soler (West Ham)

CM – Sandro Tonali (Newcastle)

CM – Alex Iwobi (Fulham)

RW – Amad Diallo (Manchester United)

ST – Alexander Isak (Newcastle)

LW – Phil Foden (Manchester City)

Best Goal

Carlos Soler’s first-time volley that opened the scoring for West Ham against Fulham was a sublime strike and it wins our Best Goal award this week.

It just might represent the turning point in West Ham’s season now, giving their fans confidence that Graham Potter is the right man to steer the ship in the long term.

Paquetà Fires Hammers Back to Winning Ways 🔥 | West Ham 3-2 Fulham | Premier League Highlights

Best Game

This one goes to an enthralling contest between Brentford and Manchester City which ended in more disappointment for the reigning champions.

While the first half was alright, but lacking any major developments, it all roared into life after the interval. Phil Foden’s brace seemed to send City on their way to another much-needed three points, but Thomas Frank’s men had other ideas. Yoane Wissa cut the deficit in half in the 82nd minute before Christian Norgaard headed in the equaliser in the second minute of injury time, much to the delight of the home support.

Properly entertaining stuff.

DRAMA as Nørgaard and Wissa score late! | Brentford 2-2 Manchester City | Premier League Highlights

Best Stats

Amad Diallo’s hat-trick has generated a whole host of interesting stats. The 22-year-old is now the second-youngest player to score a Premier League hat-trick for United after Wayne Rooney (21 years and 4 days).

Perhaps even more impressive for Amorim’s club is that Diallo is the third player in the competition’s history to score three times in the last 10 minutes of a game. The other two? Also Manchester United players: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (vs Forest in 1999) and Rooney (vs Hull in 2010). Fergie Time at its best.

Alexander Isak has now scored in eight consecutive Prem games, becoming only the fourth player ever to do so, after Ruud van Nistelrooy (twice, once 10 and once eight), Jamie Vardy (also twice, including the competition record of 11) and Daniel Sturridge.

The Moyesiah has returned. When he joined Everton for his first stint, back in 2002, David Moyes was the youngest ever EPL manager at only 39 years old. Fast forwarding to 2025, he is the oldest manager in charge of a Premier League team at the moment. Time flies.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

We felt that nothing too controversial happened from a refereeing perspective this matchday, but Enzo Maresca might disagree.

Best Substitution

This might just be the best substitution of all time, not just this matchday.

Liverpool were in dire need of a spark as they were 1-0 down to Nottingham Forest when Arne Slot rolled the dice with a double substitution, bringing Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate off for Kostas Tsimikas and Diogo Jota as Liverpool were getting ready to take a corner kick.

The Greek left-back was tasked with taking the set-piece and Jota headed in what ended up being a simple routine. It was the first touch of the ball in this game for each player, less than half a minute after their introductions.

https://x.com/Squawka_Live/status/1879281902320025893?mx=2

Funniest Moment

Pep Guardiola was understandably frustrated with the way his team let a two-goal lead slip against Brentford and it looked like goalkeeper Stefan Ortega was the main target of his ire.

While getting shouted at is not the most fun thing in the world, the combination of anger and love for his player is still something that we had a bit of a chuckle at.

https://x.com/i/status/1879289110105657476

Poor guy, not knowing what to trust: the volume of Pep’s voice or the warmth of his hugs.