Matchday 34 Awards
So Liverpool are now the Premier League champions after thrashing Spurs 5-1 at Anfield even though they only needed a draw to secure the trophy.
Ipswich are the final team to be relegated this campaign, making it the first time that all three newly-promoted teams head straight back to the Championship in back-to-back seasons. Leeds, Burnley and whoever else joins them, mind the gap!
The race for the Champions League places is white-hot, with Chelsea and Newcastle both winning their games this weekend to keep the pressure on Forest and Manchester City, who played an FA Cup semi-final against each other yesterday.
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
We’re going with Matheus Cunha for this week’s Best Player award. The Brazilian had a hand in all three Wolves goals that downed Leicester, scoring one and assisting the other two.
It was a majestic performance from a player at the peak of his powers this season, and one that will surely see a growth in the queue of suitors tempting him out of Molineux this summer.
Best XI
GK – Robert Sanchez (Chelsea)
RB – Kieran Trippier (Newcastle)
CB – Dan Burn (Newcastle)
CB – Carlos Baleba (Brighton)
LB – Ryan Sessegnon (Fulham)
CM – Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)
CM – Sandro Tonali (Newcastle)
CM – Matheus Cunha (Wolves)
RW – Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
ST – Alexander Isak (Newcastle)
LW – Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth)
Best Goal
Where do we even start… We were blessed with some amazing goals this weekend in the Prem, but unfortunately we can only give this award out to one of them.
And it’s Carlos Baleba’s unbelievable winning goal for Brighton against West Ham. With time running out for the Seagulls to complete their comeback (more on that in a bit), Baleba took a devil-may-care shot from waaay out. This is a goal that should be in Premier League video packages for years to come.
Carlos Baleba Winner Vs West Ham 😱 Fan POV #brighton #westham #pov – YouTube
We will go ahead and mention all the other fantastic goals we’ve seen this weekend and say that, if you care about football, you’ll look them up. Brighton vs West Ham treated us to a great opening goal too, also a shot from distance and also by a Brighton player, this time from Yasin Ayari.
There was also a great, great header from William Osula to put the final gloss on Newcastle’s win over Ipswich. Antoine Semenyo’s goal for Bournemouth vs United was set up by an outstanding backheel assist by Evanilson and last, but certainly not least, Alexis Mac Allister showed everyone once again that he only scores screamers when he thundered a long range shot into the Spurs net to complete Liverpool’s comeback and set his team on their way to the title.
Best Game
Sure, Liverpool vs Tottenham was great but, despite an early scare thanks to a Dominic Solanke goal, it wasn’t much of a contest, was it?
Our award for Best Game goes to Brighton vs West Ham for the sheer drama of that late Seagulls comeback, the quality of the goals, the topsy-turvy nature of the match and the fact that probably no one expected this to be just so entertaining.
Have a look!
EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS | Brighton v West Ham | Premier League
Best Stats
Just to put into perspective how bad the bottom three have been this season, it is the first time in Premier League history that all three relegated sides have been confirmed with four games still to go.
And it is also the first time that all three sides that came up from the Championship go back down in consecutive seasons: 2023/24 – Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton, 2024/25 – Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton.
Matheus Cunha needs one more goal this campaign to become the top-scoring Brazilian in a single season, after his 15th strike put him level with Roberto Firmino (2017/18) and Gabriel Martinelli (2022/23).
Mohamed Salah’s goal vs Spurs made him the highest scoring overseas player in Premier League history, standing now at 185 goals, one above Sergio Aguero and 10 ahead of Thierry Henry.
Best/Worst VAR Decision
It all seemed fine again, but we have to say that the Semi-Automated Offside Technology could do with some improvements. It seems like the time it takes for a decision is not much shorter than it was before its introduction.
Best Substitution
This one also goes to a Brighton player, with Brajan Gruda coming on in the 82nd minute of the game against West Ham only to notch two assists and play a huge part in the Seagulls’ comeback win.
Funniest Moment
Not necessarily funny, but definitely heartwarming to see Liverpool being able to celebrate a title win in front of their fans for the first time in 35 years.
Oh, and Curtis Jones accidentally kicking the ball into the ref’s face.
Not exactly heartwarming, but funny.