Weekend awards: Best goal, team performance, impact sub and more!

Football writer Adrian Kajumba looks at the standout players and moments from Matchweek 22.

Best team performance - AFC Bournemouth

The stage was seemingly set at St James’ Park for another notable Newcastle United occasion, against depleted AFC Bournemouth. 

The in-form Magpies were chasing a club record 10th win in a row, and Alexander Isak was aiming to score in a ninth successive Premier League game in his pursuit of Jamie Vardy’s record of 11.

Except the visitors did not read the script. Instead they tore it up with one of the performances of the season, not just from them but any side, making Bournemouth’s 4-1 win at Newcastle arguably even more impressive than Manchester City’s 6-0 success at Ipswich Town.

The final 4-1 scoreline was just reward for a fine display from Andoni Iraola’s side and especially praiseworthy given how reduced his resources were.

In the absence of 10 senior players, including nine through injury, Bournemouth had no established striker, midfielder Lewis Cook played as an emergency right-back, and had only seven outfield substitutes, most of whom were predominantly untried youngsters. 

Impressively, the Cherries made light of their lack of numbers. 

They were on the front foot all over the pitch from the off, playing with an intensity Newcastle could not cope with as they repeatedly showed why they top the Premier League charts in categories such as regaining possession and turnovers ending in shots, especially in the build-up to Justin Kluivert’s second and third goals. 

Bournemouth also nullified Isak, limiting the league’s most in-form striker to just one shot on goal in a near-faultless and complete display. 

"This performance has been as good as I’ve seen from a lot of teams this season," former Premier League defender Stuart Pearce said. 

Bournemouth's PL stats 24/25

Best individual performance - Justin Kluivert

Kluivert has established himself as an expert penalty taker but he proved against Newcastle that he can be just as effective from open play. 

Before Bournemouth’s trip to Tyneside, he had scored six penalties in the Premier League - the most by one player this season - and only one other goal.

However, the Cherries' top scorer boosted his total for 2024/25 to 10 - equalling his best league tally for one season - with a hat-trick of clinical open-play goals at Newcastle.

Kluivert scored with all three of his shots at St James' Park as he netted his second away hat-trick of the season, following his historic treble of penalties at Wolverhampton Wanderers in November. 

He also became just the seventh player in Premier League history to score two away hat-tricks in a season. 

With an assist for Milos Kerkez's strike too, Kluivert became the first Bournemouth player to be involved in four Premier League goals in one match.

Bettering the record of his decorated dad Patrick, who scored one Premier League goal at St James’ Park as a Newcastle striker, in one afternoon was the icing on the cake for the Bournemouth forward. 

Kluivert junior said with a smile: "I heard I had more goals than him here already, so that is one win over him."

Players to score two away PL hat-tricks in same season

Best result - Ipswich Town 0-6 Manchester City 

Pep Guardiola dismissed suggestions his Man City side were back after their 4-1 thrashing of West Ham United at the start of January. 

Ominously, he was far more upbeat after they swatted away Ipswich 6-0 a fortnight on, a result voted the best of the weekend by Premier League fans on our new WhatsApp channel. 

"We got some good results lately but our games were not like this," Guardiola said. "Hopefully this can be the beginning, a little bit, of us recognising ourselves, who we are."

With star men Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland back in form, Man City did indeed look much more like their old selves as they climbed back into the top four on goal difference thanks to the biggest win of any Premier League side this season. 

Haaland's back in the scoring groove

De Bruyne claimed two assists against Ipswich, making it four in his last three appearances.

Foden has six goals in his last six appearances following his double at Ipswich, and also teed up Mateo Kovacic's strike.

Meanwhile, Haaland celebrated signing his 10-year contract last week by scoring another goal to make it four in his last four matches.

Man City remain 12 points off leaders Liverpool but are regaining confidence and are no strangers to sprints in the second half of the season, which their rivals will no doubt be wary of. 

Best impact sub - Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)

For most of the season, Darwin Nunez has not been exactly what Liverpool have needed - but he was certainly that against Brentford. 

Prior to Saturday, Nunez had scored only twice in this Premier League campaign and had admitted "the truth is that I’m going through a rough patch."

But at Brentford, "it was his day,” Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk said. 

Nunez came off the bench to score two stoppage-time goals in a reminder of the key role he could still have.

Liverpool racked up 37 shots, a competition record for an away side, also equalling their own record set against Everton in 2016. 

Yet it was only thanks to the last two from Nunez that they broke Brentford’s resistance. 

Nunez's double strike v Brentford

He might prefer a more prominent role but Nunez has proven game-changing abilities late on, having been involved in more Premier League goals as a substitute with 11 (seven goals, four assists) than any other player since his June 2022 arrival. 

A third of his 24 Liverpool league goals, eight, have come after the 76th minute while no player has scored more than his three away winners in the Premier League after the 90th minute.

Nunez also gave Liverpool a different, and ultimately decisive, threat by occupying a more central role than the man he replaced, Luis Diaz, as their two touch maps highlight.

The value of Nunez's presence in the middle of the penalty box, compared to Diaz’s favouring of the left, was underlined by the positions from where the sub scored his two goals. 

When Nunez has scored his PL goals for Liverpool

Best goal - Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton)

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored a goal against Tottenham Hotspur that belied his form, as the striker set Everton on their way to a stirring first win since David Moyes returned to the club.

The fact Calvert-Lewin had not scored a Premier League goal since September against Aston Villa would not have been obvious from the the way he gathered in Idrissa Gueye’s pass and brilliantly twisted Spurs’ defence inside out, before confidently slotting Everton into a 1-0 lead.

Calvert-Lewin's superb strike v Spurs

The goal ended a 16-game drought for Calvert-Lewin who was hungry for more after that.

He had five further attempts against Spurs and his final total of six was his most shots in a match since having the same number against Newcastle in December 2023. 

Calvert-Lewin’s individual display was reflective of an overall encouraging performance from Everton as they inflicted a 12th league defeat of the season on Spurs, the first time they have suffered that many in their opening 22 matches since 1997/98. 

Everton’s attacking threat was much-improved with Calvert-Lewin’s goal being the first of two from open play against Spurs, the first time they have scored that many open-play goals in one match this season.

Best goalline clearance - Ola Aina (Nottingham Forest)

Nottingham Forest have a number of names on their list of star performers this season, and right-back Ola Aina is certainly among them.

Aina is the only outfield player in Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad who has been ever-present in the Premier League.

Forest's top starters 24/25

And vital contributions in the last week from Aina, which have been worth three points in Forest's surprise top-of-the-table push, have further highlighted his importance. 

An 88th-minute goalline clearance denied Mohamed Salah a winner in Tuesday’s City Ground match against leaders Liverpool which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Aina then topped that with an even more spectacular effort against Southampton, readjusting his body to turn and hook Jan Bednarek’s header off the line when the ball seemed to be past him. It prevented Saints completing a stunning late comeback from 3-0 down.

Aina's amazing goalline clearance

That followed Aina producing his first Premier League assist of the season, as he set up Chris Wood for the third Forest goal that eventually proved to be the winner.

Aina's assist for Wood v Southampton

Alert Aina’s intervention against Southampton was no fluke. 

He has now made three goalline clearances in 2024/25, the joint-highest in the Premier League this season. 

Best quote - David Moyes

It was a designated "Retro Day" at Everton on Sunday as they dedicated the game against Tottenham Hotspur to celebrate the club's past and their supporters rolled back the years with one of their chants for returning manager David Moyes.

Goodison Park was rocking after a fired-up, first-half performance which also felt like a throwback to some of their best days from Moyes’s first spell in charge. 

After Everton raced into a 3-0 lead and the feel-good factor swept around the ground, the theme tune for the second half became a terrace song from the head coach's previous stint. 

"He’s got red hair but we don’t care, David, David Moyes," Everton fans sang, prompting a humorous response from Moyes, whose side held off a late Spurs fightback to win 3-2 and secure the Scot's first victory since his emotional comeback. 

"It was fabulous, the fans singing that song about me having red hair. It’s now grey hair. I don’t know if that works," he laughed.