Premier League Matchday 24 review | Business as usual

Jonathan Victoria • 13 Feb 2024 Features

No real surprises this weekend.

After a high-scoring Matchday 23, this weekend was largely business as usual, with no massive surprise to speak of. The big boys were made to fight for their goals, but they got them in the end.

There were still a great number of goals, aided by one big scoreline in East London, just not as many as last weekend's total.

With that said, let’s dive into the Matchday 24 review, giving our thoughts on the good, the bad and the ugly, plus the biggest winners and star players.

The Good

Credit: Reds defeat Burnley to keep title fight alive! | Liverpool 3-1 Burnley | Premier League Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, Youtube)

Manchester City got the weekend started with a 2-0 win over Everton, with Erling Haaland bagging both goals. While it was a good result in the end, they were made to fight for it, not finding the back of the net for the first goal until the 71st minute. 

Liverpool also picked up a fairly routine 3-1 win over relegation candidates Burnley. Like City, their goals didn’t come so easily at first, but the result was still never really in doubt.

Chelsea were the same too, only finding the winning goals in added time. Not exactly a strong performance against a struggling Crystal Palace side, but a wins a win for the Blues.

Tottenham left their win to the last minute too, with a 96th-minute Brennan Johnson goal getting them the win over Brighton which with the result in other games moved them up into fourth place.

Newcastle escaped a scare against Nottingham Forest with thanks to Bruno Guimaraes’ double. It wasn’t their best performance of the season but they got the win nonetheless.

And finally, Manchester United dealt a blow to Aston Villa’s top-four chances with a late 2-1 win. Despite the stat sheet slightly pointing towards the hosts as the better side, United were the ones to get the late winner and all three points.

The Bad

Credit: Haaland double downs Everton! | Manchester City 2-0 Everton | Premier League Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, Youtube)

Things are looking increasingly more bleak for Everton, currently finding themselves in the bottom three and the potential of another 10-point deduction coming at some point, this year may finally be the season they can’t keep themselves up.

Losing to Man City isn’t exactly cause for concern - they are Man City of course - but the fact they have failed to win since mid-December is certainly not a good sign.

The Ugly

Credit: Gallagher & Fernandez complete LATE Blues comeback! | Crystal Palace 1-3 Chelsea | EPL Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, Youtube)

Things are getting ugly for West Ham. Five games unbeaten in the league, seven altogether now is not a good sign for them, mostly so for David Moyes.

There’s a lot of talk about Moyes losing his place as the gaffer, and unfortunately for him, there are several solid options out there who could come in and steer the ship through the rough waters better than him.

You could put Crystal Palace’s Roy Hodgson in the same boat. They have just four wins in their last 20 league games and currently find themselves hovering above the drop zone.

We don’t want to wish anyone to lose their job, although Palace could certainly do better than the 124-year-old former England manager and should let him retire in peace.

Biggest Winners

Credit: Arsenal HAMMER the Hammers | West Ham 0-6 Arsenal | Premier League Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, Youtube)

The biggest winner for this weekend also just so happens to be the side with the biggest win of the weekend. Arsenal dominated West Ham, winning 6-0 at the London Stadium.

It was a strong result from the Gunners, carrying on from beating league leaders Liverpool last week. They seem to be hitting a good stride right now which will be needed in the run into the title fight.

More importantly than just the result, the six goals they netted helped erase their deficit to Man City in terms of goal difference. The two are now level on everything, but the London side still find themselves behind as City have played a game less.

Star Players

Several players netted a brace this weekend and could’ve been included here, but we’ve chosen those who did more to aid their team to success. Here’s our picks for star players:

Connor Gallagher

Two goals from the Chelsea man but it was the effort he put in to help his team get the late win. He covered 13km throughout the match, more than anyone else over the weekend.

Declan Rice

While Bukayo Saka got two goals, Rice was the real star of the game in our opinion. With one goal and two assists up against his former club, the midfielder rivalled Martin Odegaard for doing the most to make the goals happen for the Gunners.