Matchday 5 Awards

The fifth round of games of the 2024/25 season is now done, so today we are giving out our Premier League awards!

In the biggest game of the matchday, Manchester City welcomed Arsenal and it finished all square, Crystal Palace managed to hold Manchester United to a 0-0 draw, Everton and Southampton are no longer point-less, while Liverpool and Chelsea both registered 3-0 wins.

You can also click here to check out all our reports from this weekend’s action.

So who gets our awards this week? Read on to find out.

Best Player

Even though we could give this one to Luis Diaz for his quick-fire double for Liverpool against Bournemouth, our award goes to Nicolas Jackson for his own brace against West Ham.

This is a player who has gotten a lot of stick last season but is out to prove his worth in 2024/25. He now has four goals in five EPL appearances and, interestingly, has more Prem goals from open play than highly regarded attackers such as Alexander Isak, Mohamed Salah or Cole Palmer since the beginning of last season.

Will he give Haaland a run for his money for the Golden Boot? Probably not, but it’s still a nice story to follow this season.

Best XI

GK – Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)

RB – Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

CB – Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa)

CB – Gabriel (Arsenal)

LB – Destiny Udogie (Tottenham)

CM – Tyler Dibling (Southampton)

CM – James Maddison (Tottenham)

RW – Iliman Ndiaye (Everton)

ST – Jhon Duran (Aston Villa)

ST – Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea)

LW – Luis Diaz (Liverpool)

Best Goal

This one goes to Liverpool’s Darwin Núñez and we don’t think many can disagree. The bend he put on the shot for the Reds’ third goal against the Cherries was just perfect. Not to mention that this finish – and from that angle – comes from a player supposedly low on confidence after barely getting a look in during these early stages of the season.

https://x.com/LFC/status/1837597673982927226

Just great.

Best Game

Manchester City vs Arsenal lived up to its billing, especially for that intense first half. It had a bit of everything: high tempo, chances, great goals (welcome to the big time, Mr. Calafiori) and even a red card for Trossard.

A HARD-FOUGHT POINT IN MANCHESTER 👊 | HIGHLIGHTS | Manchester City v Arsenal (2-2) | Premier League

We thoroughly enjoyed it, including the drama of the dying moments when John Stones equalised for the hosts to send the Gunners back to London with one point instead of three.

Best Stats

Brentford broke a Premier League record when they scored the earliest ever combination of opening goals in successive matches. Mbeumo’s volley against Spurs on Saturday went in after 23 seconds, while Wissa had scored against City last round after 22. They are also only the second team in EPL history to open the scoring in the first minute of two consecutive matches. Sadly, the Bees have no points from these two games to show for their early endeavours.

Arsenal’s Kai Havertz has not made a single successful pass in yesterday’s game, becoming the first ever Prem player to do so while playing an entire game.

And you know what’s even weirder? Havertz’s teammate Jurrien Timber also failed to complete a pass in this game despite starting it and playing until the second minute of second half injury time.

Jhon Duran has yet again come off the bench to score for Villa. He now has a goal for every 80 minutes played in the league this season, with only Haaland having a better ratio (one goal every 79 minutes). The definition of a super-sub.

Best/Worst VAR Decision

Ok, not exactly a VAR call since it would have been a second yellow, but we’ll rant about this one here regardless.

The problem was not necessarily Trossard seeing a second yellow for his foul late in the first half of the City vs Arsenal game. But we are really scratching our heads trying to understand why City’s Ruben Dias was not sent off for a very similar offence while also on a booking.

Make it make sense.

Best Substitution

For all of Arsenal’s efforts to hang onto a draw, it was John Stones who came on for City and snatched an equaliser in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

Say what you will about the Englishman, but he has a knack for important goals. His last three for City have been against either Arsenal or Liverpool.

Funniest Moment

We leave you with James Maddison admitting that he cost his mum Fantasy Premier League points.

https://x.com/SpursOfficial/status/1837560376696754669

She’ll probably still keep him in her FPL team, but he might not get his favourite dish for dinner.