Weekend awards: Best match, comeback, pass and more!

Football writer Adrian Kajumba looks at some of the standout players and moments from Matchweek 9.

Best match - Brentford 4-3 Ipswich Town

“Let’s put it this way, when we play it’s very exciting,” Thomas Frank said after the latest match that proved entertainment comes virtually guaranteed at Brentford.

Along with record-breaking early strikes, goal fests have also been a feature of the Bees' season, with Matchweek 9 seeing another. This seven-goal thriller against Ipswich followed an eight-goal rollercoaster in their previous home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

On this occasion Brentford trailed 2-0, fought back to lead 3-2, were pegged back level at 3-3 late on - against 10 men - but rallied again to grab a dramatic 96th-minute winner from two-goal hero Bryan Mbeumo, earning their first ever Premier League victory from two goals down.

Mbeumo's late winner v Ipswich

There have now been 36 goals in Brentford’s nine league matches, an average of four per game. Only Wolves’ matches have seen more, with 37 scored at an average of 4.11 goals per match.

But, unlike Gary O’Neil’s side who have only netted 12 goals, Brentford have given as good as they have got, both scoring and conceding 18.

Twenty-four of those 36 goals have come in home contests, making visits to the Gtech Community Stadium well worth the money.

“It’s part of football, part of Brentford, part of the Gtech,” Yoane Wissa said of the breathless drama in their home matches. “We love that.”

Best comeback - Wolves

Given Wolves’ record when at least two goals down - losing each of their previous 30 such Premier League matches - it looked like game over when Evan Ferguson scored Brighton & Hove Albion’s second after 85 minutes at the Amex Stadium.

But on a Saturday when four of the five matches featured result-altering stoppage-time goals, Wolves scored one to complete the weekend’s best fightback and claim a first positive result from two behind since May 2022 against Chelsea.

After Rayan Ait-Nouri halved the deficit in the 88th minute, Matheus Cunha grabbed a dramatic equaliser in the third minute of added time.

Cunha's late leveller v Brighton

However, the Brazilian diverted all the credit to team-mate Tommy Doyle, who produced Matchweek 9’s best piece of defending moments before Cunha struck.

Doyle was Wolves' only outfielder back as FOUR Brighton players charged towards him.

But he held his nerve and showed impeccable timing to intercept Mats Wieffer’s attempted pass before launching the crucial counter-attack from which Cunha scored. 

“Tommy this goal is for you, it’s not mine,” Cunha said.

Persevering also paid off for AFC Bournemouth, Brentford and Everton, who all picked up points on Saturday thanks to goals beyond the 90th minute.

West Ham United joined them on Sunday after Jarrod Bowen’s 92nd-minute penalty winner against Manchester United, making this the weekend with the most goals after the 90-minute mark since Matchweek 30 in March last season, when there were also five.

Best goal - Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland’s winner against Southampton was not the most aesthetically pleasing goal he will ever score but it was yet another display of his remarkable ability to put the ball in the net whatever it takes.

Days after his head-high, backheeled volley in the UEFA Champions League against Sparta Prague, Haaland scored against Southampton by stabbing the ball into the ground and up into the roof of the net with the sole of his boot while falling backwards as Jan Bednarek tried to wrestle with him.

Haaland's winner v Southampton

Of all the chances Haaland had at the Etihad Stadium it turned out to be the one which seemingly left him in the least likely position to score.

Overall, Haaland had eight attempts on goal worth a combined Expected Goals (xG) total of 2.33 against Southampton - both season-highs for the Norwegian.

But his fifth-minute goal was his only return as scoring opportunities came and went, especially one in the second half which looked like a simple back-post tap-in.

At least his latest eye-catching goal prevented Haaland going four Premier League matches without scoring for the first time.

Best quote - Pep Guardiola

“I prefer when my players get the ball to the feet, not the teeth,” Man City manager Pep Guardiola said descriptively after his side’s narrow 1-0 against Southampton.

And that is why he was so full of admiration for Saints' brave, possession-based approach on Saturday.

Russell Martin’s side made life genuinely awkward for the champions, keeping the ball like few others do away against Man City, a factor in why the stroll to victory that might have been expected after Haaland’s early goal did not materialise.

“We struggled to regain the ball because they were really, really good,” Guardiola added.

No opposing Premier League team have recorded a better passing accuracy at Man City than Southampton’s 90.61 per cent since the start of last season.

And only Brighton, with 443, completed more passes as a visiting team than the 434 of Southampton.

Their composure, determination to retain possession - especially in potentially dangerous areas - and patterns of play to move the ball up the pitch were all things even the great Guardiola said he could learn from.

And while it is points that winless and bottom-of-the-table Southampton really need, such high praise might help keep the faith in Martin’s methods.

Best assist - Eberechi Eze

At the ninth time of asking Eberechi Eze created his first Premier League goal this season against Tottenham Hotspur - and his assist was worth the wait.

Eze showed brilliant awareness and a deft touch to flick Daniel Munoz’s cross to Jean-Philippe Mateta behind him, and the Frenchman fired Crystal Palace to their first league win of 2024/25.

Eze's sublime assist for Mateta

Head coach Oliver Glasner will hope that now triggers an upturn in form for both the team and Eze.

This was only his second Premier League goal involvement this season, following his equaliser at Chelsea in Matchweek 3.

Eze, admittedly, has been unlucky. He had a stunning free-kick ruled out at Brentford in Matchweek 1, for example. A tight offside call against Spurs led to another goal being chalked off.

But his assist on Sunday was an encouraging sign he has not lost confidence, as was a body swerve that bamboozled Spurs defender Pedro Porro before a second-half Palace penalty appeal.

There is also hope in how Eze’s 2023/24 season unfolded.

Nine matches in last season, Eze only had one more Premier League goal involvement (two goals and one assist) than he does now, and he ended the campaign with 11 goals and four assists.

Best pass - Cole Palmer

Cole Palmer keeps finding new ways to amaze and draw superlatives.

Against Newcastle United he scored the winner, his seventh goal of the season to go with his five assists, to keep him top of the Premier League goal involvements chart with 12.

Yet it was a moment that will not go down as a goal involvement, despite its huge importance to Chelsea’s opener, that was the moment of the match.

While running back towards his own box Palmer spun and fired forward a perfectly weighted pass that simultaneously teased and took out Newcastle’s Tino Livramento and sent Pedro Neto through to tee up Nicolas Jackson for a tap-in.

Palmer's pass for Chelsea's opening goal

It was an inspired pass which sparked comparisons with watching Chelsea icon Gianfranco Zola. Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher described Palmer as the best player in the Premier League, and co-commentator Alan Smith said it was the pass of the season.

Palmer revealed he quickly played the ball already knowing there would be space to exploit due to Newcastle’s high line.

Another Chelsea tactical tweak that paid off saw Palmer instructed to operate on the left flank more, with Reece James in an unfamiliar left-back role behind Neto.

Palmer helped connect everything together, and it was also from there that he picked up the ball to score the game's decisive goal.

Palmer's winner v Newcastle