Premier League Matchday 5 review: Liverpool take advantage

Jonathan Victoria • 23 Sep 2024 Features

We may be on for a good title fight this year…

Matchday 5 proved fairly exciting, with a blockbuster match coming as the final game of the weekend plus some other strong results.

Let’s get straight into it - here’s my Premier League Matchday 5 review, looking at the good, the bad and the ugly from the weekend, plus my picks for the Game of the Week and the 5-a-side stars.

The Good

Credit: Jackson grabs a brace! 🔵 | West Ham 0-3 Chelsea | Premier League highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, YouTube)

Chelsea looked vastly improved after last week’s uninspired victory, this time making the London Stadium their own by shutting out West Ham, taking a cool 3-0 win. 

They played as you’d expect a team with their firepower should play, working well as a unit and disposing of their opponent with ease. Hopefully, they’ll be able to carry it on, but they will surely be tested next week when they take on Brighton.

Liverpool also secured a healthy 3-0 win over Bournemouth, the Arne Slot era proving to be rather successful in its early days. Their win, along with the result of Arsenal-Manchester City, moves them up into second place, one point behind the leaders. If they hadn’t had that slip-up last weekend, they would be on top of the table now.

Aston Villa left it rather late to earn a comeback victory over semi-rivals Wolves. The result plus others around moves them into the third spot, one point behind leaders Manchester City.

Fulham also won by three goals to one, although in a surprise result as they sent Newcastle back home with nothing but more possession. A good performance from the London side.

And fellow Londoners Tottenham recovered from conceding in the first minute to win 3-1 against Brentford in a capital clash. Dominic Solanke also picked up his first Spurs goal since making his £55m move from Bournemouth.

Credit: Diaz at the DOUBLE! 🤩 | Liverpool 3-0 Bournemouth! | Premier League highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, YouTube)

The Bad

The bad this week is simply going to go to the six teams who remain winless this season, although one side doesn’t fully deserve to be here.

That side would be Crystal Palace, who played well and ground out a 0-0 draw with Manchester United. Dean Henderson was in fine form to keep out United’s seven shots on target and earn his side a point.

Leicester and Everton faced off and rightfully came away with a point each in their 1-1 draw. The same result came at St Marys as Southampton suffered a last-minute equaliser to cancel out young star Tyler Dibling’s first Premier League goal (keep tabs on the name but hands off).

As for Wolves, they’ve got some good talent in their side but they just can’t stop conceding. They sit rock bottom of the table but with the solace that Everton have exactly the same record - 0 wins, one draw, four losses with five goals scored and 14 conceded. 

Southampton are the other side in the bottom three, having only got one point so far. It could’ve and really should’ve been all three, but they didn’t defend well enough at the end to stop the equaliser, and remain in the bottom three. They’ve also only scored twice so far, and no, I shall not be using ‘we’ for the time being.

The Ugly

Honestly, this is one of those weeks where there really wasn’t anything ugly. There were a few questionable referee calls and missed VAR shouts over the 10 games, but nothing serious to talk about or put in this section.

Game of the Week

Credit: Stones 98th min equaliser in BLOCKBUSTER! 🍿 | Man City 2-2 Arsenal | Premier League Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, YouTube)

Without a doubt, the Game of the Week came courtesy of last season's first and second-placed sides, with Arsenal and Manchester City playing out a classic that is sure to make it onto the Premier League 2024/25 moments documentary.

Man City absolutely dominated the hosts on paper looking at the stats, but it was the Gunners who were in front for the majority of the match. They even came within a minute of stealing all three points.

This was certainly an entertaining game that deserves a second watch, so go do that now.

5-a-Side Stars

Before I name my team, I shall address last week’s mistake where I named six played in my 5-a-Side squad. I could try to save face and say one’s a sub, but instead, I’m going to put my hands up and say I thought it didn’t include the keeper and it was five outfield players. My mistake, here are my five stars this week.

GK: David Raya, Arsenal – In a game that featured the likes of Erling Haaland, Bukayo Saka and many more stars, Raya shone the brightest. Despite conceding twice, he pulled off nine saves and was in top form as a whole, earning Man of the Match honours for it.

MID: Morgan Rogers, Aston Villa – Sometimes you’ve got to go all-out attack in your 5-a-side, so no defenders this week. Rogers provided two assists and had five shot-creating actions - easily his best performance in a Villa shirt so far this season.

MID: Son Heung-Min, Tottenham Hotspur – While he didn’t get in on the goals in Spurs’ 3-1 win over Brentford but did chup in with two assists. They weren’t anything special, but without them and him in general, Spurs would be in a very different place.

MID: Luis Diaz, Liverpool – Two quick goals for Diaz add to his tally to bring him to five this season. He’s standing out as the Reds main man so far this campaign, and with the way he specifically has been playing, that’s sure to continue.

ATT: Nicolas Jackson, Chelsea – A brace and an assist for Jackson capped off a strong display for the Blues. He’s now got four goals in the five games so far.