It was a weekend of surprise results as a number of struggling teams ended losing streaks and the league leaders dropped points for only the second time this season. Here’s a round-up of the biggest talking points and the best stats.
By Sam McGuire, Premier League expert
Awoniyi haunts former club
Taiwo Awoniyi has just three goals for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League this season but two of them have been winners. He scrambled the ball past Alisson Becker on Saturday to give Forest all three points against Liverpool as the team that had been rooted to the bottom of the table climbed level on points with Leeds and Wolves.
Awoniyi was a Liverpool player for six seasons but work permit issues meant he never turned out for the Reds. He was given the nod by Steve Cooper to lead the line at the Forest Ground this weekend and he repaid the manager’s faith. Only Mohamed Salah and Fabio Carvalho (both four) had more shots than the 25-year-old while teammate Dean Henderson was the only player to have a higher FotMob rating (8.4 to 8.2).
Magic Miguel continues fine form
Miguel Almirón scored one goal in the Premier League last season. He scored what turned out to be the winner against Spurs on Sunday to take his tally for the campaign to six. The 28-year-old has five in his last five starts for the Magpies and his goals are one of the reasons they now find themselves in fourth place in the Premier League.
He took six shots against Tottenham Hotspur in what was a productive display. Almiron also won 100% of his tackles and recovered the ball on six occasions as the team with the best defensive record in the league limited Antonio Conte’s men to just one goal.
Only four players have more goals than Almirón this term.
A post-Gerrard Aston Villa
Heading into the match against Brentford, Aston Villa had won just two of their 11 matches in the Premier League this season. They were on a four-game winless streak and had scored just once in that period.
At Villa Park on Sunday, they were 3-0 up inside of 14 minutes and they eventually coasted to a 4-0 win over the Bees in what was one of the most dominant performances of the season. They racked up an extraordinary xG total of 2.87 in a ridiculously one-sided game as Danny Ings, Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Buendía and Leon Bailey all impressed in a much-changed starting XI.
The Gunners are firing blanks
Arsenal remain top of the league by two points following a 1-1 draw with Southampton on Sunday afternoon. However, Mikel Arteta’s side aren’t looking quite as sharp as they were earlier on in the season. Gabriel Jesus is now three Premier League games without a goal and for a second successive match, the Gunners failed to create chances with an xG value of over one.
They were held to an xG total of 0.99 by Southampton and this arrived just a week after Leeds limited them to 0.55. Arsenal are struggling to turn their dominance into goals and this wasn’t a problem earlier on in the season.
The Haaland Show resumes
After a blank at Anfield last week, Erling Haaland was back amongst the goals as Manchester City returned to winning ways against Brighton. The reigning champions ran out 3-1 winners at the Etihad with Haaland netting twice to take his tally to 17 (SEVENTEEN!) in the Premier League.
The goal machine had just three shots on Saturday, a relatively quiet afternoon for the No.9 in that regard, but he did also create a chance on his way to an 8.8 FotMob rating.
(Images from IMAGO)
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