Premier League Matchday 13 review | What did we witness?!

Tuesday 28 November 2023 by Jonathan Victoria  Features

Matchday 13 of the 2023/24 Premier League season was highlighted by one special moment from Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho, but was the rest of the weekend up to scratch?

Check out our Premier League Matchday 13 review, including the good, the bad and the ugly, plus the biggest winners and the star players.

The Good

Garnacho alone belongs in the good, or really in his own category of excellence. His goal in the third minute against Everton was stunning, reminiscent of club legend Wayne Rooney’s goal against Manchester City all those years back and had the whole football world talking.

It also helped his side to a confident 3-0 win over a hurting Everton side, a result which they needed - although it didn’t look great for manager Erik Ten Hag that they had arguably their best performance of the season when he wasn’t on the touchline.

Luton actually picked up a very valuable win, too. With Everton receiving a 10-point deduction and falling into the bottom three, the Hatters’ win gives them a bit of breathing room from the drop zone for now.

Bournemouth also gave their chances of survival a good boost with a solid 3-1 win over relegation candidates Sheffield United.

The Bad

Manchester City and Liverpool played out a rather subdued affair as they took a point home each. The only good that really came out of it was Erling Haaland scoring his 50th Premier League goal and the Reds preventing City from a 24th home win in 24 games this year.

It wasn’t that it was a bad game, it’s just that we’ve come to expect more from this fixture and it didn’t live up to it this time around.

Other than that there wasn’t too much bad - just straight to the ugly.

The Ugly

The ugly for this week stems from London as not one but two sides from the capital slumped to somewhat embarrassing losses.

This time a month ago, we were talking about Tottenham looking like proper title contenders. They were at the top of the table, playing good football. And now some injuries to key players have come along and they have proceeded to lose three on the trot.

All three losses have come from being in front as well, but this one against Aston Villa at home felt like the worst as statistically, they were the better side and just couldn’t get it done.

Away from their home ground, Chelsea suffered a devastating 4-1 loss at Newcastle. They were completely outplayed in the second half, and the red card for captain Reece James seemed like the icing on the cake.

Biggest Winners

Arsenal are going to take the prize for the biggest winners this week as their win over Brentford and the other favourable results put them back at the top of the table.

It wasn’t exactly a perfect performance, finding the winning goal in the 89th minute. But it was a hard-fought and deserved three points that puts them back at the forefront for the title race.

Star Players

While there were no absolutely special performances (just an incredible goal), these two players did help their teams to hard-fought wins.

Willian

The former Chelsea and Arsenal man now on his third London side kept his cool to score his second penalty of the night in the 94th minute to hand Fulham a well-needed win.

Joao Pedro

Brighton were given a scare from Nottingham Forest but Joao Pedro’s brace helped them earn three points away from home and keep them in contention for a European spot.

Alejandro Garnacho

Of course. Although shout out to Kobie Mainoo as well in the midfield for United. His first start but looked like he'd been there for years. A bright future ahead of him for sure.