Premier League Matchweek 31 Awards
This midweek matchday has provided fans with plenty of talking points, late drama and top-shelf individual performances.
While we had our debates over who gets the nod for these awards, we need to admit that the biggest winners were indeed the fans, as the 10 games on offer over the last three days certainly lived up to the billing of the most captivating league in the world.
Here are our picks of the matchweek for the usual categories.
Best Player
Here we go. Is it Palmer? Foden? Or maybe Mac Allister? This was probably our toughest choice, but we must give the nod to Manchester City’s Phil Foden. His hattrick for the reigning champions showed everyone once again that he can come up trumps when his team needs him the most.
In their home game against Aston Villa, the Cityzens needed a spark after being pulled back to 1-1 in the 20th minute due to Duran’s goal. Up stepped City’s No. 47, with a goal to bring his team back in front in first half injury time, probably making Pep Guardiola’s job of delivering his half time team talk much easier.
Though the Englishman did not stop there. In the absence of De Bruyne and Haaland, he did not fold under the pressure, delivering a further two goals in the second half, with his last one a particularly satisfying long range strike.
Best XI
Our best XI for the latest round of matches is quite a mix, due to top performances from players in many different games.
GK – Jordan Pickford (Everton)
RB – Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest)
CB – Kurt Zouma (West Ham)
CB – Dan Burn (Newcastle)
LB – Rayan Ait-Nouri (Wolves)
DM – Rodri (Manchester City)
CM – Phil Foden (Manchester City)
CM – Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)
RW – Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
LW – Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal)
ST – Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest)
Best Goal
For the best goal of the matchweek, it’s really hard to look past Alexis Mac Allister’s thunderous shot to put Liverpool ahead against Sheffield United. He certainly has great technique striking the ball from distance.
Alexis Mac Allister wonder goal! | Liverpool 3-1 Sheffield United | Highlights
Best Game
Our winner in this category simply must be the last game of the matchweek: Chelsea vs Manchester United. It had everything: plenty of goals, comebacks, penalties, outrageous passing skills (welcome to the party, Antony) and more.
The ending of this game will certainly be talked about for years to come.
Best Stats
Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister scored or assisted in 6 games in a row now, becoming the first player to do so for the Reds under Klopp, as well as the first Liverpool player to achieve this feat since Steven Gerrard in 2013.
Chelsea equalled their best scoring run since December 2016, by finding the net in 13 consecutive Premier League games. The last time it happened, Hazard and Diego Costa, under the leadership of Antonio Conte, were leading them to the title.
One more about the Blues: Chelsea’s winner against Manchester United on Thursday was the latest winning goal in Premier League history, in the 11th minute of added time.
Best/Worst VAR Decision
For the second week running, VAR has not stood out in our book. There’s an old saying about football: at the end of a game, you should not remember who the referee was. VAR is finally achieving that in the Premier League.
Long may it continue!
Best Substitution
For this category we will make an exception and give out two awards this week, because both of these players made great impacts, coming into their games with the scores level and impacting greatly.
Justin Kluivert came on for Bournemouth in the 64th minute of their home game against Palace, and scored a quarter of an hour later. Iraola must be congratulating himself for this one!
Liverpool’s Andy Robertson was sent in by Klopp on the hour mark of their clash against the Blades. With the score at 1-1, following Conor Bradley’s unfortunate own goal, the Scotland captain was heavily involved in the build up to Mac Allister’s stunning goal, before providing a trademark assist for Gakpo’s 90th minute header.
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