The many races in the Premier League took several new twists and turns this weekend. There were huge results which impacted the fights for the title and Champions League places as well as the relegation battle. Here are your ten best players from Gameweek 28, ranked.
1. Fofana silenced London Stadium
The glass-half-full situation for Chelsea is it appears one of their many, many young talents might actually be of Premier League quality. The glass-half-empty side is he’s currently not at the club.
2. Burnley threw away a precious two-goal lead away at West Ham and left London Stadium with only a point, but their opening goal was a beauty that will live long in the memory. Having sidestepped away from two West Ham defenders, he let fly from 25 yards and sent a high-arcing shot right into the top corner.
3. Van Dijk was imperious
There were doubts over Virgil van Dijk’s ability to continue playing at an elite level after a rather disappointing 2022/23 season, but he’s come roaring back this term and was at his best at the weekend. The Liverpool captain put in an inspired performance at the back in their pulsating 1-1 draw with title rivals Manchester City.
4. Johnson’s in fine form
Having grabbed two assists off the bench in Tottenham’s late comeback against Crystal Palace last week, Brennan Johnson was rewarded with a place in the starting lineup for Sunday’s trip to top-four rivals Aston Villa. The Welsh winger didn’t disappoint. He glided past wing-back Matty Cash in the first half though had little tangible impact. In the second half, he came alive. Johnson thrived while Villa collapsed and scored the second of Spurs’ four fine goals.
5. Everton couldn’t cope with Garnacho
Manchester United have lacked ingenuity, flair and threat all season long. It’s a good thing Alejandro Garnacho has been there to bail them out. Their 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday was fairly dull and lifeless. In fact, the visitors out-shot their hosts 23 to 15 and United were quite content to just weather that storm. Down the other end, they had Garnacho to thank for winning the decisive two penalties with his trickery, drawing fouls from James Tarkowski and then Ben Godfrey.
6. Jackson is turning a corner
Nine goals in 24 Premier League games. 12 in 31 in total for Chelsea since joining for £32m last summer. Is Nicolas Jackson turning a corner? Is he actually good? He certainly looked so in the Blues’ 3-2 victory at home to Newcastle on Monday, scoring a clever opener with a deft flick before carrying ball half the length of the pitch leading to the clinching goal.
7. Rice has redefined his role at Arsenal
Everyone knew Declan Rice was good when he was at West Ham. It was fairly general consensus that he’d be a success at Arsenal. How many predicted he would be the heartbeat of a side that’s moved to the top of the table in March, though? Rice continued his excellent scoring form with the opening goal in their 2-1 win against Brentford on Saturday, popping up with a powerful header to break the deadlock.
8. Endo impressed again
From a highly-coveted defensive midfielder to one few on these shores knew about when he arrived. Jurgen Klopp joked a few months ago that Liverpool were ‘lucky’ to have missed out on Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia to Chelsea because it allowed them to turn to the more senior Wataru Endo. The Japan captain was incredible once again against Manchester City, making the midfield battle his own despite the talent he had to contend with.
9. White was excellent at both ends
Perhaps the best way to summarise England’s right-back depth is Ben White has been bombed out of several squads and not much has been made of it. The versatile defender has come on leaps and bounds since joining Arsenal for £50m in 2021 – a fee which he is repaying plenty. White grabbed the assist for both of Arsenal’s goals against Brentford to move them to the top of the standings.
10. Another top performance from Palmer
Only one player has scored and assisted in the same Premier League game on at least five occasions this season. That man is Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who came up with one of each against Newcastle. His performances since heading to Stamford Bridge will surely be increasing the value of some of the other young players who barely get a sniff at Manchester City.
11. This week’s number one
It turns out Tottenham’s much-desired replacement for Harry Kane had been hiding in plain sight all along. Son Heung-min is the perfect number nine for Ange Postecoglou’s system – a dogged presser who leads by example and can finish from anywhere. The Spurs captain was the Premier League’s most prolific player this weekend, coming up with a goal and two assists as they put four past Aston Villa. READ THE LATEST FEATURES AND ANALYSIS FROM 90MIN
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