The final week of Premier League football before another international break hurtles over the horizon included all the extremes of a top-flight weekend.
From eye-gouging goalless draws to breathless comebacks, virtuoso excellence and vicious ineptitude, this gameweek had it all. What better time to put a two-week halt to the competition and resume England’s quest for promotion out of UEFA Nations League Group B2?
Before the focus has shifted entirely onto the intricacies of Greece’s defensive structure, here’s a look back at the best Premier League players from this weekend’s action.
When Jonny Evans penned a one-year deal to return to Manchester United in September 2023, he could scarcely have imagined that he would not only still be at the club 13 months later, but starting and outperforming the rest of his teammates.
During an aggressively dull draw with Aston Villa, Evans was integral to United’s unusually disciplined defence. The high-flying hosts were limited to just one forgettable shot on target as neither side came close to scoring.
Any meeting with Newcastle United is always an important occasion for Jordan Pickford, who spent the best part of 15 years on the books of fearsome northern rivals Sunderland.
An effusive entertainer at the best of times, Everton‘s number one was in his element after getting his knees on Anthony Gordon’s poorly struck spot-kick, celebrating a save which preserved Saturday’s goalless draw by pointing to his temple in front of a jubilant Goodison Park.
Sean Dyche admitted that Pickford has “had his fair share of question marks this season” but certainly provided all the answers against Newcastle.
Throughout the current Premier League campaign, stats show only three players have walked more than Virgil van Dijk. Liverpool’s unflappable skipper spends three-quarters of each game strolling around, chest out and head on a swivel, dictating and directing everything within his vast orbit.
Very little got past him in another comfortable victory for Arne Slot’s Reds. Crystal Palace briefly flickered into life only for the flame to be snuffed out by Van Dijk during a routine 1-0 win.
Phenomenal yesterday, Mikkel Damsgaard pic.twitter.com/t7IfrVD7b6
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) September 1, 2024
Thomas Frank provided the perfect summation of Brentford‘s attacking obliteration of Wolverhampton Wanderers in Saturday’s 5-3 thrashing. “Offensively – wow!”
At the heart of a record-breaking performance was Mikkel Damsgaard. Underscoring his innate dexterity with a highly valued layer of industry, the jinking Dane teed up two goals in a performance which prompted Frank to gush: “There’s something in this boy.”
No Rodri, no problem? Not quite. Manchester City’s soft centre was repeatedly pierced by Fulham’s Adama Traore, who conspired to miss three golden chances as the champions were fortunate to emerge with a 3-2 win.
Mateo Kovacic, one of Rodri’s potential replacements, showed the clinical edge which Traore lacked on Saturday (and throughout most of his career). Two crisp strikes from the edge of the box on either side of half-time for the Croatian papered over the cracks of a porous display.
Shortly before last season’s October international break, Kai Havertz was given a pity penalty in a hefty 4-0 win over Bournemouth. One year on, the ever-improving German was Arsenal‘s saviour rather than a sympathy case.
Finding the net for the seventh consecutive game at the Emirates Stadium, Havertz blasted Arsenal level three minutes after falling behind to relegation-favourites Southampton.
After watching his side come from behind to defeat newly promoted Southampton on Saturday, Mikel Arteta proudly declared: “This team finds a way.” That ‘way’ increasingly involves funnelling the ball to Bukayo Saka at every available opportunity.
Effectively up against two full-backs in the form of a Ryan Manning and Kyle Walker-Peters double-team, Saka had a hand in all three of Arsenal’s goals, teeing up Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli before adding a deserved final flourish himself.
