
Gameweek 24 promised a lot of drama, and it delivered. There were heartfelt moments, outrageous goals, late-minute goals, red cards, referee drama, and even a brief wrestling match in the Chelsea vs West Ham game. And to top it all off, it was goals galore as well, 34 goals were scored over the course of 10 matches, an average of 3.4 goals per game. Here are all the winners and losers from the gameweek's action.
Liverpool had their foot on Newcastle's neck almost from the moment Anthony Gordon scored the first goal, and they eventually ran out 4-1 winners. It was a 5-star performance by Liverpool: Wirtz continued a run of good form, Salah got in on the goal-scoring action, and Ekitike continued building his case for leading the line when Isak returns with two beautifully taken goals. But no one was more impressive than Ibrahima Konate. The Frenchman has had a difficult season so far; he has been the culprit for some of Liverpool's defensive woes this season, and some fans had started to turn on him, especially given that he's likely to leave for free in the summer to Madrid. Add to that the fact that this is his first game of football since his father died and you can see why it was expected to be a difficult game for the Frenchman. However, he rose to the occasion splendidly. He barely put a foot wrong in 90 minutes, and then, very deservedly scored a goal to wrap it all up. Alisson running the length of the pitch to hug him was my favourite thing this weekend.
So many interesting things are going on in the Premier League at the moment, and even more is going on under the radar. For example, most people don't realise that Brighton is having a really bad season. They're currently 13th on the table with 31 points, just 5 points ahead of relegation threatened clubs like Leeds and Nottingham Forest. And to make matters worse, they've won only once in their last 12 games; that's at least three months of Premier League football without a win. For a club like Brighton, once expected to be a disruptive force to the "big 6", these are abysmal standards. It probably hurts even more knowing how close they were to winning a game for the first time in a while against Everton on Saturday until Beto scored a 97th minute equaliser to grab a point for Everton. Fabian Hurzeler is losing the fanbase with every game that extends the rotten winless run.
Arsenal and Arteta desperately needed a reset in the Premier League. On a three game winless run, goals drying up, tongues wagging, a once solid defence leaking goals, and then to make matters worse, Bukayo Saka got injured during warm up. Leeds were on a serious run of good form at home too, taking points off the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea at Elland Road in the weeks prior. However, the Gunners stepped up to the occasion in style. They scored 4 goals, kept a clean sheet, and players like Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres got much needed goal contributions in the Premier League. Oh, and Gabriel Jesus scored as well for good measure. Mikel Arteta knows that his team needs to go on a run now, and this is a great platform for them to build on.
Every week that passes proves one thing: Premier League football is more difficult than it's ever been, just ask Manchester City and Aston Villa. For the past two months, every time they seem like they have an opportunity to close in on Arsenal, something comes up. This gameweek, Manchester City went to play Tottenham, their voodoo team, and even though they were comfortably 2-0 up at halftime, Tottenham came back to tie the game at 2-2. It's impossible to explain why Spurs are City's boogey team in footballing terms; it doesn't matter how bad Tottenham are, when it's time to face City, Dominic Solanke will find a Puskas-worthy goal in his locker. As for Aston Villa, they went off to face Brentford with a team that boasted names like Tammy Abraham and fell to a 1-0 defeat. I'm sure Emery is relieved to have so much-needed reinforcement, but I'm not sure throwing them straight into the fire was a good idea. Either way, my point stands: Premier League Football is difficult.
Things seem to be turning around slowly but surely at Vitality. Victory over Wolves at the weekend meant back-to-back wins for The Cherries in the league since September. It also means that they've lost just once in the last five games, winning three games, and drawing the other. For a while there, it seemed like things had run away from Andoni Iraola, and losing Antoine Semenyo in January did not help. But the club has strengthened, signing Fraser Foster, Alex Toth, and Rayan to give Iraola a larger squad to pick from as he attempts to reverse the downward spiral and push the club back towards mid-table and even a possible late push for Europe. So far, things seem to be working out that way.
Who knows what might have happened if West Ham had held on after going 2-0 up against Chelsea? Perhaps it would have been the platform for them to build on and pull off one of the greatest relegation escapes of all time. Unfortunately, we'll never know, because Chelsea came back to win 3-2 thanks to a stoppage-time goal by Enzo Fernandes. That defeat will come as a heavy, bitter blow for West Ham as they now head into a very tricky run of fixtures while still 5 points adrift of safety. Nuno Espirito Santo has to find a way to rally the troops and keep morale high

Gameweek 24 promised a lot of drama, and it delivered. There were heartfelt moments, outrageous goals, late-minute goals, red cards, referee drama, and even a brief wrestling match in the Chelsea vs West Ham game. And to top it all off, it was goals galore as well, 34 goals were scored over the course of 10 matches, an average of 3.4 goals per game. Here are all the winners and losers from the gameweek's action.
Liverpool had their foot on Newcastle's neck almost from the moment Anthony Gordon scored the first goal, and they eventually ran out 4-1 winners. It was a 5-star performance by Liverpool: Wirtz continued a run of good form, Salah got in on the goal-scoring action, and Ekitike continued building his case for leading the line when Isak returns with two beautifully taken goals. But no one was more impressive than Ibrahima Konate. The Frenchman has had a difficult season so far; he has been the culprit for some of Liverpool's defensive woes this season, and some fans had started to turn on him, especially given that he's likely to leave for free in the summer to Madrid. Add to that the fact that this is his first game of football since his father died and you can see why it was expected to be a difficult game for the Frenchman. However, he rose to the occasion splendidly. He barely put a foot wrong in 90 minutes, and then, very deservedly scored a goal to wrap it all up. Alisson running the length of the pitch to hug him was my favourite thing this weekend.
So many interesting things are going on in the Premier League at the moment, and even more is going on under the radar. For example, most people don't realise that Brighton is having a really bad season. They're currently 13th on the table with 31 points, just 5 points ahead of relegation threatened clubs like Leeds and Nottingham Forest. And to make matters worse, they've won only once in their last 12 games; that's at least three months of Premier League football without a win. For a club like Brighton, once expected to be a disruptive force to the "big 6", these are abysmal standards. It probably hurts even more knowing how close they were to winning a game for the first time in a while against Everton on Saturday until Beto scored a 97th minute equaliser to grab a point for Everton. Fabian Hurzeler is losing the fanbase with every game that extends the rotten winless run.
Arsenal and Arteta desperately needed a reset in the Premier League. On a three game winless run, goals drying up, tongues wagging, a once solid defence leaking goals, and then to make matters worse, Bukayo Saka got injured during warm up. Leeds were on a serious run of good form at home too, taking points off the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea at Elland Road in the weeks prior. However, the Gunners stepped up to the occasion in style. They scored 4 goals, kept a clean sheet, and players like Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres got much needed goal contributions in the Premier League. Oh, and Gabriel Jesus scored as well for good measure. Mikel Arteta knows that his team needs to go on a run now, and this is a great platform for them to build on.
Every week that passes proves one thing: Premier League football is more difficult than it's ever been, just ask Manchester City and Aston Villa. For the past two months, every time they seem like they have an opportunity to close in on Arsenal, something comes up. This gameweek, Manchester City went to play Tottenham, their voodoo team, and even though they were comfortably 2-0 up at halftime, Tottenham came back to tie the game at 2-2. It's impossible to explain why Spurs are City's boogey team in footballing terms; it doesn't matter how bad Tottenham are, when it's time to face City, Dominic Solanke will find a Puskas-worthy goal in his locker. As for Aston Villa, they went off to face Brentford with a team that boasted names like Tammy Abraham and fell to a 1-0 defeat. I'm sure Emery is relieved to have so much-needed reinforcement, but I'm not sure throwing them straight into the fire was a good idea. Either way, my point stands: Premier League Football is difficult.
Things seem to be turning around slowly but surely at Vitality. Victory over Wolves at the weekend meant back-to-back wins for The Cherries in the league since September. It also means that they've lost just once in the last five games, winning three games, and drawing the other. For a while there, it seemed like things had run away from Andoni Iraola, and losing Antoine Semenyo in January did not help. But the club has strengthened, signing Fraser Foster, Alex Toth, and Rayan to give Iraola a larger squad to pick from as he attempts to reverse the downward spiral and push the club back towards mid-table and even a possible late push for Europe. So far, things seem to be working out that way.
Who knows what might have happened if West Ham had held on after going 2-0 up against Chelsea? Perhaps it would have been the platform for them to build on and pull off one of the greatest relegation escapes of all time. Unfortunately, we'll never know, because Chelsea came back to win 3-2 thanks to a stoppage-time goal by Enzo Fernandes. That defeat will come as a heavy, bitter blow for West Ham as they now head into a very tricky run of fixtures while still 5 points adrift of safety. Nuno Espirito Santo has to find a way to rally the troops and keep morale high

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another week, another gameweek recap. my favourite story of the weeK? ibrahima konate scoring on his return to the liverpool squad after his father's death. the stuff of dreams. https://paragraph.com/@thefalsenine/epl-gw24-winners-and-losers