Gameweek 24 of the Premier League concluded on a positive note for the city of Manchester with both City and United triumphing over Swansea and Leicester City respectively. The 24th round of fixtures was in stark contrast to the fixtures played out in midweek. The entire goal tally of the previous gameweek was 19 while that number was reached in this gameweek’s first four listed fixtures itself.
In total, this gameweek resulted in 34 goals, a massive swing in favour of the attacking units in the league. As the games across the league racked up goals, there were a few resolute defensive performances by the likes of Sunderland, Hull City, and West Brom.
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There were quite a few splendid performances that have missed the cut for this week’s best player tag like last week’s winner Gylfi Sigurdsson who was once again brilliant against Manchester City, Gabriel Jesus who grabbed a brace including the winning goal against Sigurdsson’s Swansea, Henrikh Mkhitaryan who led a dominant United side against the reigning champions.
Others who missed out were Hull’s defensive duo Andreas Rannochia and Harry Maguire who led from the back against Liverpool, Pedro Obiang who assisted for West Ham’s equalising goal and scored the go-ahead goal against Southampton, Jermaine Defoe who as usual, was on hand to bag a brace against Crystal Palace and M’Baye Niang who set a goal up for Troy Deeney and scored one himself against a determined Burnley unit.
On the opposite end, a few of the players who were fortunate to avoid the worst player title this week are Arsenal’s attacking trio, Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil who went missing during their loss against Chelsea, Bournemouth’s shot-stopper Artur Boruc who conceded six goals primarily because of the awful performance by his team’s back line.
Others like Petr Cech who gifted the third goal to Cesc Fabregas, killing off any possible comeback from Arsenal and Simon Mignolet who once again flapped at a bouncing ball from a corner before it was tucked away by Hull’s debutant Alfred N’Diaye were lucky to not be named the worst player of the week.
Honourable Mention for the Best Player of the Week – Lamine Kone
While a lot of positive discussions has been focused on Jermaine Defoe’s brace and Sunderland destroying former manager, Sam Allardyce’s Crystal Palace, the 4-0 victory was scripted by Lamine Kone. The 189 cm tall Sunderland centre-back pounced on the loose ball off a poor punch by Wayne Hennessey from a free kick to volley home in emphatic fashion.
The Ivory Coast international who was the catalyst in the club’s survival last season scored his first goal of the season and was brilliant at the back as well, ably supported by new signing Brian Oviedo and goalkeeper Vito Mannone.
Kone received a rating of 9.2 from whoscored and a performance score of 137 from Squawka for an outstanding overall display, leading Sunderland to a massive win against their fellow relegation contenders. With nine clearances, three interceptions, 4 successful aerial duels, 0 fouls and surprisingly 3 completed take ons to add to that splendid goal, Lamine Kone is unlucky to have missed out on the top spot this week.
Honourable Mention for the Worst Player of the Week – Wayne Hennessey
On the other side of the field, Crystal Palace had a nightmare first half conceding four times, three of which came in the last five minutes of the half itself. Hennessey was directly responsible for the first as he could not hold onto Kone’s initial header and fumbled it back to him.
While N’Dong’s long range effort was an exquisite finish, Hennessey’s poor footwork left him with no chance. Jermaine Defoe’s first of the brace was difficult to reach to but for his second, Hennessey was beaten on the near post itself. Although Artur Boruc and Bournemouth conceded six this week, Hennessey’s performance was clearly worse of the two.
Worst Player of the Week – Jeff Hendrick
Jeff Hendrick’s started the match against Watford in the Burnley midfield and was done with it in five minutes for a horrendous tackle on opposing wing-back Jose Holebas. A studs-up challenge on Holebas’s shin was followed by a red card for the Irish international.
Although, a lengthy discussion can be made on the colour of the card he deserved and especially on the consistency of refereeing in the league (Juan Mata remained on the pitch for a similar tackle on Jamie Vardy) but a dangerous tackle should leave him with no complaints.
As for the effect his sending off had on the result, it put Burnley on an 11 vs 10 mission for 85 minutes in an away game. They were instantly put into a defensive mode by Hendrick’s rash moment.
Best Player of the Week – Romelu Lukaku
In a week of several incredible individual performances, one performance that stood out was that of Romelu Lukaku. The catalyst in a thumping 6-3 win over Bournemouth, Lukaku breached the opposition net four times and created one for James McCarthy as well.
In half a minute of the commencement of the game, Lukaku received the ball on the edge of the box and curled it past Boruc for the opening goal even before Bournemouth could have had a touch on the ball. For Everton’s second, the Belgian took on a couple of Bournemouth’s defenders near the corner line, zipped past them and slid the ball into the path of McCarthy who with a slice of fortune managed to put the ball past Boruc.
A Bournemouth defensive error allowed Lukaku to receive the ball in the box unmarked resulting in his second on the night. For the third, Lukaku layed out the ball wide to Seamus Coleman, followed through into the box and smashed in the volley for his hat trick killing off Bournemouth’s comeback into the game.
Barkley’s intelligent back heel pass into the path of Lukaku led to his fourth goal as he slotted the ball past Boruc once again, becoming Premier League’s top goalscorer this season. A performance score of 155 and a rating of 10 from whoscored puts him on the top of the list for this gameweek’s best performers.
