Premier League Awards For Matchday 2: Best Sub?

Matchday 2 Awards

Only the second weekend and things are getting serious!

We witnessed some great performances this round, with Arsenal demolishing Leeds, Spurs doing what Spurs do best (shock Manchester City) and Everton inaugurating their new home ground with a win over Brighton.

Elsewhere, Brentford claimed a narrow (and surprising) win over Villa, Chelsea came from behind to tear West Ham apart and Crystal Palace drew 1-1 against Nottingham Forest in a fiery encounter.

We also had plenty of controversies, with Fulham feeling very hard done by the referees allowing Manchester United’s goal to stand and more than a few talking points in the Newcastle vs Liverpool clash.

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

Man City outcast Jack Grealish registered two assists in Everton’s 2-0 home win over Brighton and it looks like the revival is on.

It always seemed certain to us that he will use this season-long loan to get his career back on track, but perhaps we didn’t expect things to kick off so early in the campaign.

Good on you, Jack!

Best XI

GK – Jordan Pickford (Everton)

RB – Jurrien Timber (Arsenal)

CB – Cristian Romero (Tottenham)

CB – Marcos Senesi (Bournemouth)

LB – Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal)

CM – Joao Palhinha (Tottenham)

CM – Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle)

CM – Jack Grealish (Everton)

RW – Joao Pedro (Chelsea)

ST – Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal)

LW – Brennan Johnson (Tottenham)

Best Goal

Unfortunately for West Ham, Lucas Paqueta’s opener against Chelsea on Friday evening did not amount to much result-wise, but it sure made for great viewing.

The Brazilian took it upon himself to drive forward and shoot from distance, leaving everyone at the London Stadium once again stunned by his quality.

Paqueta vs chelsea – YouTube

Best Game

While the weekend brought a fair few games that were not that exciting, yesterday’s contest between Newcastle and Liverpool at St. James’ Park more than made up for that.

There were plenty of interruptions, sure, but when the ball was in play, the tempo was relentless and it was clear that all of the players involved were outright refusing to go down without a fight, regardless of the scoreline.

Liverpool were 2-0 up as early as the opening minute of the second half, but 10-man Newcastle rallied and equalised, only for Rio Ngumoha to come off the Liverpool bench and seal the win in the 10th minute of injury time.

Pure cinema!

LATE RIO NGUMOHA WINNER! Newcastle 2-3 Liverpool | Highlights

Best Stats

Is it too early for Manchester United to start panicking? Ruben Amorim has the exact same Premier League win percentage (24.1%) as Neil Warnock, who was relegated from the division twice.

Since the start of the 2023/24 season, Jack Grealish has more assists at the Hill Dickinson Stadium (two) than at the Etihad (zero).

Speaking of the Everton vs Brighton game, Iliman Ndiaye’s opener means that he is now the scorer of the final goal for the Toffees at Goodison Park AND the first goalscorer at their new home stadium.

There were no fewer than 19 fouls in the first half of the Newcastle vs Liverpool game, the most in any first half of Premier League football this season, and the most in a first half of a game between these sides since March 2006 (22).

Best/Worst VAR Decision

There were a couple of dodgy calls this weekend, but none more so than Mr. Kavanagh & Co.’s decision to let United’s goal stand against Fulham after a blatant, two-handed push from Leny Yoro to the back of Calvin Bassey.

Yes, it is true that shoves and grabs happen all the time when corners are taken, but this one was as obvious as it gets and it certainly interfered with play, as Bassey was unable to challenge for the ball as a result of this push.

Best Substitution

So many contenders here… Emile Smith Rowe scored the equaliser for Fulham less than two minutes after coming onto the pitch. 15-year-old Max Dowman was a bright light for Arsenal against Leeds and obtained a penalty for his efforts. Will Osula scored Newcastle’s equaliser despite the numerical disadvantage.

But the award this week goes to Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha. The 16-year-old had to be patient, waiting for roughly six minutes on the sidelines to be introduced because Newcastle were getting set piece after set piece and Arne Slot wisely followed the old adage of not making subs when defending a dead ball situation.

But when the teenager came on, he made the most of the one chance that came his way, scoring Liverpool’s winner with a beautiful curling shot from inside the box after a silky smooth passage of play.

Take a bow, lad!

Funniest Moments

Viktor Gyokeres displayed his barber’s best day of work after scoring from the penalty spot against Leeds United.

Then there was this Everton fan doing his best to help Pickford keep out Welbeck’s spot kick. The Toffees’ goalie definitely owes the man a pint.

And we can not skip Gary Neville making excuses for Bruno Fernandes’ missed penalty vs Fulham by saying that the referee unnerved United’s captain when he bumped into him. Even funnier, Fernandes used the same line of reasoning in his post-match interview.