It’s time for the Premier League Weekly Awards, where The Football Faithful reward the very best and worst of England’s top flight from the week gone by.
Moment of the Week
Everton fans showed their solidarity with Moise Kean by hoisting a fan-funded banner that read “No al razzismo”.
"No Al Razzismo"
Everton fans show their support for striker Moise Kean
???? Watch Everton v Man City live on Sky Sports PL from 5pm pic.twitter.com/J2teX5A1EC
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 28, 2019
The former Juventus forward was on the receiving end of racist abuse in his native Italy last year after scoring against Cagliari.
Player of the Week
Manchester City‘s success on Saturday had many fathers, but the standout performance came from Riyad Mahrez.
The Algerian’s splendid free-kick goal aside, he ran the show at Goodison Park on the way to a 3-1 win and was back to the kind of form that won him the Player of the Year award in 2016.
This is why it’s handy having a £60m backup winger in the squad, slotting in without a bother in place of the injured Leroy Sané. If he keeps producing performances like that, it might make it very easy for City to sell their German wide forward in January.
Goal of the Week
The midfield enforcer isn’t known for scoring stonkers, but after the ball bounced in front of Wilfred Ndidi as he took a touch in the box, he swivelled and swung it towards the far corner.
Pass of the Week
One day, opposition teams will defend that right channel that Kevin De Bruyne continually finds space in to hit sumptuous assists. That day is not today.
Kevin De Bruyne is unplayable ????
???? Watch on Sky Sports Premier League
???? Follow #EVEMCI here: https://t.co/yUQM62hVi2
???? Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/S8LXsdi5hP— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 28, 2019
Miss of the Week
Ilkay Gundogan won’t want to watch this one back.
Miss of the season?
Ilkay Gundogan smashes the bar from THREE yards out!
???? Watch on Sky Sports Premier League
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???? Download the @SkySports app! pic.twitter.com/2zJ26X7imd— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 28, 2019
Howler of the Week
At what point does Mauricio Pochettino replace Hugo Lloris with Paulo Gazzaniga? The Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper’s brain short-circuited at the weekend to gift Southampton a goal.
Spurs are up to 4th… But they did their best to give Southampton a hand on Saturday
Watch all of Saturday's Premier League goals here: https://t.co/eTAXmNGBmt pic.twitter.com/ea2s3fCrqd
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 29, 2019
The Frenchman has now made nine errors leading to goals since the start of the 2016/17 season – only Asmir Begovic (10) has made more – not including the howler he made in last year’s World Cup final.
Howler of the Week that wasn’t made by Hugo Lloris
Liverpool got lucky once again, as Dean Henderson laid an egg to hand the Reds a precious win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on Saturday.
Look away now Dean Henderson ????
Watch all of Saturday's Premier League goals here: https://t.co/eTAXmNGBmt pic.twitter.com/gFkCUXijS6
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 29, 2019
Stat of the Week
Make Britain great again.
12 – All 12 Premier League goals in games between Aston Villa and Burnley have been scored by British players – it is the only fixture to have been played this century to see as many as 12 goals exclusively by British players. Yesteryear.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 28, 2019
Donkey of the Week
Serge Aurier deserves to be castigated for his absolute foolishness at the weekend, getting two needless yellow cards in quick succession against the Saints, but there was no bigger donkey than Pep Guardiola.
The City manager defended a racist caricature that Bernardo Silva tweeted out last weekend; the Portuguese posted a picture of teammate Benjamin Mendy as a child alongside a character which appears on popular Spanish chocolates Conguitos with the caption ‘Guess who?’.
Then the Spaniard doubled down on his defence, only making the whole thing worse for himself by unhelpfully pointing out that Mendy and the caricature do in fact look alike. “It looked the same, it happens a thousand, million times with white people … It’s a cartoon and the face is quite similar.”
A pure face-palm moment from Pep, which also put another one of his players in an awkward position. Raheem Sterling – who has been very vocal about racist abuse in the past year – came out in Silva’s defence, but with the manager coming out to bat so hard for him, he was hardly going to contradict his boss.
"I don't think Man City have handled it well"
Victor Anichebe feels more should have been done regarding Bernardo Silva's racism row this week
More: https://t.co/4XcOhJvqhk pic.twitter.com/bKpkRwmDbo
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 28, 2019
After City’s 3-1 win over Everton, Victor Anichebe spoke well on the whole debacle, noting that the club should have dealt with it better than they did. Guardiola (and by extension City) has taken a bad situation and made it worse than it needed to be.
See also – Premier League weekend: Five things we learned
