Ste McGovern
We reward the best and worst of the Premier League action with our weekly awards, featuring Kevin De Bruyne’s record-breaking Sunday, Aston Villa avoid the drop, and Leicester City fall apart.Â
Moment of the Week
There’s nothing quite like a final day great escape, as Aston Villa ensured their place in the Premier League with a 1-1 draw against West Ham United. As you can imagine they celebrated the feat in the dressing room, with the Sky Sports cameras catching the entire squad breaking into a rendition of Sweet Caroline.
Roy Keane had the most Roy Keane reaction possible, which in turn led to the most Micah Richards reaction possible. Let’s hope these two do a lot more punditry together next season.
? "Celebrations a bit over the top"
Roy Keane's reaction to Aston Villa celebrating surviving relegation pic.twitter.com/4uf0FRiYhm
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 26, 2020
Player of the Week
No matter what the Football Writers’ Association tell you, Kevin De Bruyne is the best player in the Premier League. And he proved it with yet another stellar performance on Sunday.
The Belgian finally equalled Thierry Henry’s record of 20 assists in a single season, while his two goals brought his total goal involvements for the campaign to 30. His overall performance was incredible, with his desperation to break the record crystal clear; he made ten key passes against Norwich City, a record for a single match this season. He also made the most final third passes of any player in the league this weekend, completing 33 out of 44. Sublime.
Goal of the Week
And not only that, Kevin De Bruyne also scored the best goal of the week. An absolute corker.
It’s a beauty from Kevin De Bruyne! ?
A fantastic strike from the Belgian puts City two up!
? Watch on Sky 1 or Sky Sports Main Event Red Button
? Follow #MCINOR here: https://t.co/RLu7ogHziE
? Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/dAkmcIbTUU— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 26, 2020
Honourable Mentions: Divock Origi, Sadio Mané, Jack Grealish, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Miss of the Week
The outcome of today’s relegation battle could have been oh so different had Michail Antonio put away his gilded chance early in the first-half against Villa. The Englishman, who has been playing as a striker in recent weeks, has been in red hot form of late, so it was extremely surprising to see him miss form such a dangerous position.
Howler of the Week
After 24 rounds of matches, Leicester City were sitting in third place, 14 points ahead of Manchester United and cruising towards Champions League football. In the end, they finished fifth, four points off the Red Devils and forced to look forward to the Europa League instead.
Their position was finally confirmed when one of their most consistent performers in Kasper Schmeichel made a huge error late in the game, getting caught in possession by Jesse Lingard of all players to allow United double their lead.
Jordan Pickford also made a pitiful attempt at a save for Junior Stanislas’ goal to make it 3-1 to Bournemouth, although it was in vain as the Cherries were relegated nonetheless. One has to wonder how long Pickford will hold onto his number one spot in the England team.
Donkey of the Week
David Luiz is a lucky man in two ways this week; his concession of a penalty ultimately did not cost Arsenal against Watford, and Jonny Evans mistakes were even more egregious at the King Power Stadium, meaning the Brazilian is not this week’s Donkey.
The Leicester centre-back, along with Wes Morgan, gave away the penalty that handed his former club the lead, before getting himself sent off with a reckless challenge on Scott McTominay. Evans was already on a yellow card, but the tackle was so bad that the referee showed him a straight red.
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See Also: Henderson’s award, Leeds open top bus celebrations and Yaya’s comeback