Weekend awards: Best team goal, celebration, reaction and more!

Football writer Adrian Kajumba looks at some of the standout players and moments from Matchweek 13. 

Best-worked goal - Arsenal/Gabriel Magalhaes 

Gabriel Magalhaes did not just score Arsenal’s opening goal at West Ham United, he directed the successful set-piece too.

Firstly, Gabriel ran over to Bukayo Saka as he prepared to take the corner before passing on some instructions to his team-mates as he rejoined them at the back post.

Their combined movement then helped the defender to shake off his marker, Michail Antonio, and nod Arsenal ahead with their first goal in an impressive 5-2 victory.

Gabriel's goal v West Ham

Gabriel, who also won one of Arsenal’s first-half penalties from a corner, is central to the formidable reputation they have built up as set-piece specialists. 

It is therefore understandable why he had such a prominent role in the planning of their opening goal.

Since the start of last season, Arsenal have scored 20 times in the Premier League from corners - and Gabriel has netted five of them - the most by a team and a single player.

He is also among the Premier League’s best at making first contact from attacking corners this season, second on the list with 11 behind Tottenham Hotspur's Pedro Porro.

Gabriel's crucial first touches from attacking corners, including short ones, have resulted in his competition-high 10 attempts and three goals in 2024/25.

“He has a real belief [at set-pieces]," said manager Mikel Arteta. "The more it happens, the more you believe it. You can tell straight away from the body language of the player, how they communicate, that something is coming up.”

Most player/attacking first contacts from corners 24/25

This would include instances of short corners.

PL player shots/goals from corners 24/25

Best team goal - AFC Bournemouth/Milos Kerkez 

While Justin Kluivert's historic hat-trick of penalties at Wolverhampton Wanderers dominated the headlines Milos Kerkez’s goal in AFC Bournemouth’s 4-2 win also did not go unnoticed.

“The second [Bournemouth] goal could be goal of the month, honestly it’s that good,” former Premier League midfielder Danny Murphy said of Kerkez’s strike.

Six different players were involved as Bournemouth moved the ball from right to left via half-a-dozen passes, a nutmeg and back heel, before Kerkez’s thumping finish.

Kerkez's goal v Wolves

Bournemouth’s head coach Andoni Iraola gives Kerkez freedom to attack, wants him to overlap and, importantly, deliver quality once he arrives in those areas of the pitch.

His goal was the latest example of Kerkez doing just that in a 2024/25 campaign that has seen notable improvement from the exciting left-back. 

Adding his two Matchweek 10 assists against Manchester City to his tally - the joint-highest from a defender in a match since 2022/23 - Kerkez has now tripled his total of goal involvements from last season to three.

He has already matched his total of 12 created chances from the 2023/24 campaign, raising his per-90 figure from 0.55 to 0.98.

Kerkez's greater attacking involvement is reflected by further stats - he has increased his in touches in the box from 1.46 to 1.8, and his passes into the box from 2.96 to 3.6 per 90.

“I’ve been cutting his hair and since then he has been contributing to goals," joked Kluivert.

Kerkez stats comparison

Best individual goal - Cole Palmer 

The reaction of Cole Palmer’s team-mates said it all after he sealed Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Aston Villa with another stunning goal. 

Pedro Neto simply put his hands on his head in disbelief. 

And while Palmer ran off towards the corner to celebrate, Romeo Lavia walked the other way, flicking his hands up almost in incredulity at the finish the Chelsea No 20 had produced.

While falling backwards, Palmer somehow managed to curl the ball into Robin Olsen’s top corner.

Palmer's brilliant strike v Villa

With that Palmer’s drought, by his high standards, was well and truly over.

Before Villa’s visit he had gone three Premier League matches without a goal or assist for only the second time since his full Chelsea debut.

But Palmer set up Enzo Fernandez for Chelsea's second in the first half before becoming the second-quickest Chelsea player to reach 30 Premier League goals, doing so in 46 matches.

Now Palmer stands on the brink of more history. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink reached 30 goals in 41 matches but Palmer has the chance to beat the Dutchman’s club record for Premier League goals and assists in a calendar year.

Palmer has 34 in 2024, two short of Hasselbaink’s high of 36 in 2001. 

With six Premier League matches left in 2024, it would be a major surprise if the Premier League player with the most goal involvements since his Chelsea debut (47) did not also top another list by the end of the year. 

Chelsea's next six PL fixtures

Chelsea

19:30 Wed 04 Dec SOU (A) 16:30 Sun 08 Dec TOT (A) 19:00 Sun 15 Dec BRE (H) 14:00 Sun 22 Dec EVE (A) 15:00 Thu 26 Dec FUL (H) 19:45 Mon 30 Dec IPS (A)

Chelsea

19:30 Wed 04 Dec SOU (A) 16:30 Sun 08 Dec TOT (A) 19:00 Sun 15 Dec BRE (H) 14:00 Sun 22 Dec EVE (A) 15:00 Thu 26 Dec FUL (H) 19:45 Mon 30 Dec IPS (A)

Best celebration - Oliver Glasner 

As Crystal Palace’s players mobbed goalscorer Daniel Munoz following his 94th minute equaliser against Newcastle United, suddenly a figure dressed in all black appeared among the red and blue shirts.

It was head coach Oliver Glasner, who made a surprise lung-bursting sprint down the touchline to join the Palace pile-on, earning a booking in the process. 

Munoz's goal and Glasner's celebration v Newcastle 

Glasner’s celebration was a reflection of Palace’s relief at rescuing a point from the 1-1 draw.

Nobody would have felt it more than right wing-back Munoz. 

He had missed two earlier chances, including a near open goal in the first half, before finally scoring his first Palace goal to lift them out of the bottom three. 

And Munoz deserved his goal-scoring reward for his persistence during an impressive all-action display. 

He had a joint-high three shots in the match and has kept getting into the opposition penalty area this season too.

Only Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol, with 44, has had more touches in the opposition box among Premier League defenders than the 42 of Munoz.

PL defenders with most touches in opp. box 24/25

Munoz was also key to Palace’s defensive effort and Newcastle being limited to zero shots on target. His 11 tackles at Selhurst Park were a Premier League record this season.

Best reaction - Pep Guardiola 

Pep Guardiola is in uncharted territory. Until now he had never gone seven matches without a win or suffered four successive league defeats as a manager. 

And Man City’s current struggles have given opposition fans the rare opportunity to taunt him about being “sacked in the morning” for the first time in his career.  

Guardiola’s face was a picture of surprise when he realised what Liverpool fans were singing.

He responded with a smirk and by raising six fingers to the crowd, a reference to the number of Premier League titles he has won.

Guardiola then did similar when he went over to his own supporters at full-time before, seemingly, sarcastically applauding in the direction of the other stands at Anfield as he walked off.

In general, Guardiola took the chants aimed at him on the chin.

“It’s part of the game. When you win you laugh, when you lose, they laugh and I have to accept it,” he said. 

But his response was also one of defiance as he took the chance to remind those relishing his difficulties of his considerable achievements.

Best performance - Kevin Schade 

It takes something special to take the spotlight away from Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo when Brentford play at home, but Kevin Schade managed it against Leicester City, when he scored a hat-trick and assisted once in Brentford's 4-1 win.

Wissa got his customary Gtech Community Stadium goal - his seventh out of eight Premier League goals at home this season, with no player in the league scoring more.

Though this was Schade’s afternoon. After setting up Wissa’s goal he went on to score his first career hat-trick, becoming the second player in 2024/25 to record four goal involvements in one match after Cole Palmer, who has achieved the feat twice this season.

Players with four goal involvements in one match 24/25

“I celebrated so much his first because I know how hard it’s been for him,” head coach Thomas Frank said of “shining star” Schade after Brentford’s 4-1 win. 

Injuries disrupted Schade’s first full campaign at Brentford in 2023/24 while he had been “getting on the end of a lot of chances [this season] but he just couldn’t score,” Frank explained.  

No Brentford player had missed more big chances this season than Schade’s five, but his fortunes in front of goal appear to be changing.

Ahead of Leicester’s visit, his previous Premier League goal was at Luton Town in April and before he broke his duck only Keane Lewis-Potter had recorded more shots (12) without scoring than Schade’s 10. 

But finally Schade’s luck in front of goal eventually turned.