Our weekly Premier League awards honour the best – and worst – of the football action from the weekend.
Moment of the Week
Lads, it’s Tottenham.
That could have well have been Enzo Maresca’s message to his players after Chelsea went two goals down just ten minutes into their Premier League clash with Spurs in north London on Sunday. It was the perfect start for Ange Postecoglou’s men, yet with his side it never felt like the most secure of leads.
And so it proved. Chelsea scored four goals over the following 73 minutes to complete a stunning comeback and condemn their bitter rivals to a seventh league defeat of the season.
More importantly from their perspective, they leapt into second position in the table after Arsenal could only draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage. Title challenge incoming?
It would be remiss of us to ignore Bournemouth and Leicester City’s own come-from-behind heroics against Ipswich and Brighton respectively on what was a day of dramatics comebacks on Sunday.
Read – Premier League team of the weekend for GW15
Player of the Week
Jadon Sancho and Enzo Fernandez supplied real quality in front of goal when Chelsea really needed it, while Cole Palmer relied on penalties for his two goals. Sometimes performances can be overrated because of a converted spot kick, but the 22-year-old was nonetheless brilliant at Spurs yesterday.
No player created more than the England international’s four chances in the Premier League this past weekend, while it was his doggedness in the box that resulted in Fernandez’ go-ahead goal, even if it doesn’t officially go down as an assist.
And, of course, we can’t ignore his cool-as-you-like Panenka finish for his second penalty.
Panenka away to Spurs. It doesn’t get better than this. 😮💨#CFC | #TOTCHE pic.twitter.com/S3zdTgRNCD
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 8, 2024
That’s now 50 goal involvements (33 goals, 17 assists) in 48 Premier League appearances since joining Chelsea. Outrageous.
Goal of the Week
There were plenty of contenders for Goal of the Week over the weekend, but Tariq Lamptey deserves his flowers. We haven’t seen nearly enough of the former Chelsea man over the past few years, but he conjured up a moment of magic for Brighton against the Foxes, bending a superb strike into the far side netting.
What a goal from Tariq… 👏 @MonsterEnergy ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/2vWWXmySwx
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) December 8, 2024
Honourable mentions: Raul Jimenez, Jadon Sancho, Bryan Mbeumo, Yankuba Minteh.
Assist of the Week
Whenever someone asks “what is standing the ball up at the back post?”, show them Morgan Gibbs-White‘s cross for Chris Wood from Nottingham Forest’s win over Manchester United on Saturday.
The moment Woody became our all-time leading #PL goalscorer. 😍 pic.twitter.com/oUTzu1Zbwb
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) December 7, 2024
An absolutely perfect ball for the big man to get his head onto and somehow put into the far side of the net.
Save of the Week
Nobody can believe that Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak didn’t scored on Saturday after rounding Mark Flekken in front of goal. But the Brentford goalkeeper recovered brilliantly to hook the ball away from the Swede.
"Great recovery save from Mark Flekken!"
Simply superb goalkeeping from our No.1 🧤🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/eGzBx74L4Y
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) December 9, 2024
Stat of the Week
Following defeat to Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur have now lost a Premier League game after having been two or more goals ahead 11 times. That’s at least four more such defeats than any other side in the competition’s history. Spursy.
Tweet of the Week
Arsenal have become the masters of the set piece thanks to Nicolas Jover. But have they sacrificed general creativity to do so? According to Fotmob, the Gunners generated 1.73xG from set plays against Fulham, but only 0.29xG from open play.
Maybe Arsenal should get an open play coach
— cants (@cantseyy) December 8, 2024
Donkey of the Week
Lisandro Martinez could have easily taken this one after being at fault for two goals at Old Trafford, but Marc Cucurella entered meme territory for slipping twice against Spurs, gifting the Lilywhites their two early goals.
Have you EVER seen anything like that in the Premier League? 😳
Marc Cucurella slips not once, but TWICE in the build-up to Tottenham goals, prompting him to change his boots! 👟🫣 pic.twitter.com/jhORjfmiGC
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 8, 2024
The Spaniard immediately changed boots and went on to assist Sancho for Chelsea’s first goal. That studs swap will go down in Blues folklore.
Quote of the Week
“Like Cinderella, Cucurella is looking for a slipper that fits.” Take a bow, Peter Drury. That is one of your best lines as a commentator.
Read – Tweets of the Week: Dead manager bounce, Merseyside Derby off, Arsenal corners
See Also – The Football Faithful’s Advent Calendar: December 8th
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