Premier League Weekend Awards: Comebacks galore and Palmer’s Panenka

Our weekly Premier League awards honour the best – and worst – of the football action from the weekend.

Moment of the Week

Lads, it’s Tottenham.

That could have well have been Enzo Maresca’s message to his players after Chelsea went two goals down just ten minutes into their Premier League clash with Spurs in north London on Sunday. It was the perfect start for Ange Postecoglou’s men, yet with his side it never felt like the most secure of leads.

And so it proved. Chelsea scored four goals over the following 73 minutes to complete a stunning comeback and condemn their bitter rivals to a seventh league defeat of the season.

More importantly from their perspective, they leapt into second position in the table after Arsenal could only draw with Fulham at Craven Cottage. Title challenge incoming?

It would be remiss of us to ignore Bournemouth and Leicester City’s own come-from-behind heroics against Ipswich and Brighton respectively on what was a day of dramatics comebacks on Sunday.

Read – Premier League team of the weekend for GW15

Player of the Week

Jadon Sancho and Enzo Fernandez supplied real quality in front of goal when Chelsea really needed it, while Cole Palmer relied on penalties for his two goals. Sometimes performances can be overrated because of a converted spot kick, but the 22-year-old was nonetheless brilliant at Spurs yesterday.

No player created more than the England international’s four chances in the Premier League this past weekend, while it was his doggedness in the box that resulted in Fernandez’ go-ahead goal, even if it doesn’t officially go down as an assist.

And, of course, we can’t ignore his cool-as-you-like Panenka finish for his second penalty.

That’s now 50 goal involvements (33 goals, 17 assists) in 48 Premier League appearances since joining Chelsea. Outrageous.

Read – ‘Special’ Palmer has ‘done more than Zola’ at Chelsea

Goal of the Week

There were plenty of contenders for Goal of the Week over the weekend, but Tariq Lamptey deserves his flowers. We haven’t seen nearly enough of the former Chelsea man over the past few years, but he conjured up a moment of magic for Brighton against the Foxes, bending a superb strike into the far side netting.

Honourable mentions: Raul Jimenez, Jadon Sancho, Bryan Mbeumo, Yankuba Minteh.

Read – Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend

Assist of the Week

Whenever someone asks “what is standing the ball up at the back post?”, show them Morgan Gibbs-White‘s cross for Chris Wood from Nottingham Forest’s win over Manchester United on Saturday.

An absolutely perfect ball for the big man to get his head onto and somehow put into the far side of the net.

Howler of the Week

While we’re on that, what in the blue hell was Lisandro Martinez doing for that goal? He was in the exact position to stop it from going in, but let it pass him by. Baffling.

Read – Dan Ashworth leaves Man Utd sporting director role

Save of the Week

Nobody can believe that Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak didn’t scored on Saturday after rounding Mark Flekken in front of goal. But the Brentford goalkeeper recovered brilliantly to hook the ball away from the Swede.

Read – Newcastle star delivers brutally honest verdict on Brentford defeat

Stat of the Week

Following defeat to Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur have now lost a Premier League game after having been two or more goals ahead 11 times. That’s at least four more such defeats than any other side in the competition’s history. Spursy.

Tweet of the Week

Arsenal have become the masters of the set piece thanks to Nicolas Jover. But have they sacrificed general creativity to do so? According to Fotmob, the Gunners generated 1.73xG from set plays against Fulham, but only 0.29xG from open play.

Donkey of the Week

Lisandro Martinez could have easily taken this one after being at fault for two goals at Old Trafford, but Marc Cucurella entered meme territory for slipping twice against Spurs, gifting the Lilywhites their two early goals.

The Spaniard immediately changed boots and went on to assist Sancho for Chelsea’s first goal. That studs swap will go down in Blues folklore.

Read – Maresca says Chelsea title rivals ‘probably won’t slide – like Cucurella!’

Quote of the Week

“Like Cinderella, Cucurella is looking for a slipper that fits.” Take a bow, Peter Drury. That is one of your best lines as a commentator.

Read – Tweets of the Week: Dead manager bounce, Merseyside Derby off, Arsenal corners

See Also – The Football Faithful’s Advent Calendar: December 9th

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