Ste McGovern
Every week we reward the best – and worst – of the Premier League action, and this week’s awards ceremony features Jurgen Klopp going head-to-head with Roy Keane, Jamie Vardy slaying Man City, Riyad Mahrez’s greatest strike, and why Frank Lampard needs to look in the mirror.
Moment of the Week
Jurgen Klopp has done a Manchester United on it and won after the final whistle with his post-match interview on Monday Night Football, when he had a bite at Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane. The Liverpool boss was not having the Corkman’s implication that Liverpool were in any way sloppy during their 3-1 win over Arsenal.
🗣️ "Did Mr Keane say it was a sloppy performance? Maybe he is speaking about another game…" 👀
Jurgen Klopp v Roy Keane 🍿 pic.twitter.com/MIw47L6N0o
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 28, 2020
Player of the Week
At 33 years of age Jamie Vardy is still going strong and banging in hat-tricks against the best the Premier League has to offer. Yes, two of his goals were penalties, but it’s the efficiency of his play these days that impresses the most.
The English striker took just 21 touches on Sunday (and two of them were from the tip-off), the least of anyone who started the match, made just nine passes and took three shots. Meanwhile, Man City’s stand-in striker, Raheem Sterling, took 47 touches and had the same of amount shots, but no goals.
Vardy has touched the football just 58 times this season, the second lowest among players to have featured in 200 or more minutes thus far (Aaron Connolly has the fewest touches with 53 in 208 minutes). That means he is taking just 11.6 touches per goal. Now that is economical.
How we all reacted yesterday 🤯 pic.twitter.com/gaogZtexRU
— Leicester City (@LCFC) September 28, 2020
Add in that delightfully cheeky finish for his second goal and you can’t but give this award to the Leicester City forward.
Honourable Mentions: Jarrod Bowen; Callum Robinson.
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Goal of the Week
This Riyad Mahrez goal looks better with each additional viewing. What a belter.
"It's perfect – what a goal." 😍
Wait for the reverse angle of this Riyad Mahrez strike…🤤🎥
📺 Watch on Sky Sports PL
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📲 Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/fSDVET4Lp9— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 27, 2020
Honourable Mentions: Marcus Rashford, Man United (vs Brighton); Jarrod Bowen, West Ham (vs Wolves).
Pass of the Week
Another man of the match performance from Everton new boy James Rodriguez saw the Colombian provide an exquisite pre-assist in the lead up to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal against Crystal Palace. The vision and accuracy he has is something to behold.
James ➡️ Coleman ➡️ Calvert-Lewin ➡️ 🥅#CRYEVE pic.twitter.com/z8HauLEBEt
— Everton (@Everton) September 26, 2020
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Miss of the Week
Pablo Fornals probably couldn’t believe his luck when Rui Patricio palmed Mikhail Antonio’s shot right into his path, standing just eight yards away from an open goal. Unfortunately for the Spaniard if there had been two nets on top of each other he might still have struggled to score, so poor was his effort on goal. Luckily for him, West Ham won 4-0 anyway.
Stat of the Week
Good to know.
First time Leicester have started a season with three wins since the year water skiing was invented
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) September 27, 2020
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Howler of the Week
Miscontrolling the ball and getting pickpocketed for a goal is not the debut Thiago Silva had in mind.
Oh no Thiago Silva 😲
The Chelsea captain gifts West Brom a second on his Premier League debut
📺 Watch on Sky Sports PL
📱 Follow #WBACHE here: https://t.co/UOi15qT9KW
📲 Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/RJkPZAXSwl— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 26, 2020
Donkey of the Week
Frank Lampard got just about everything wrong when his Chelsea side faced relegation battlers West Brom – the formation, tactics, substitutions – and yet he couldn’t help but point out the “pure mistakes” which cost them goals, taking the onus off of him and putting it squarely on his players.
Of course, there’s not much any manager can do when a hugely experienced defender loses the ball in front of goal, or when a full-back heads it back into danger, but Lampard was as much at fault for the 3-3 draw against the Baggies as the players were.
Why did Timo Werner look like he didn’t know what his position was? Why were the full-backs charging forward to leave two slow defenders stranded on an island? And why throw on every attacker with no one to feed them the ball? No, this was not just down to the players, Frank.
🗣️ "It is two points lost"
Frank Lampard was left frustrated by 'pure mistakes' which led to Chelsea having to come back from 3-0 down at West Brom
More: https://t.co/JWqkj9oKaF pic.twitter.com/panC99C6FA
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 26, 2020
Read: Why Duncan Ferguson was the best and worst of us
See Also: The problem with Solskjaer’s legendary status at Old Trafford