Premier League Matchday 14 review: Goals aplenty on Sunday

Monday 4 December 2023 by Jonathan Victoria  Features

The Premier League hasn’t been half bad recently, has it? Crazy goals, all-time classic matches, all wrapped up with some terrible officiating as always!

Check out our Premier League Matchday 14 review, where we’ll give you our thoughts on the good, the bad and the ugly from the weekend, plus the biggest winners and the star player.

The Good

It’s another week where the fans seemed to be the biggest winners. 24 goals on Sunday alone with four out of the five games hanging in the balance right up until the final whistle made for some cracking entertainment.

As for specific teams, Arsenal remain at the top of the table with their 2-1 win over Wolves. They almost ended the weekend with a three-point lead, although Liverpool were able to find two late goals to steal the win away from Fulham and make it a two-point lead instead.

Speaking of, that was some goal by Alexis Mac Allister. A rocket from some ways out, it will be in contention with Garnacho’s goal last week for goal of the season.

Newcastle also helped themselves out tremendously by beating Manchester United. It takes them above the Red Devils in the table and boosts their chances of capitalising on some possible misfortunes of those ahead to remain in a Champions League spot for next season.

The Bad

Speaking of Man United, they slumped to another loss away from home against a top-nine club. Why is that specific stat so important though? Because since Erik Ten Hag took charge, they have lost 10 of their 11 fixtures against a top-nine club away from home, with the only other result being a draw.

Sheffield United can also end up in the bad, as they were beaten down once again by Burnley, losing 5-0 to send them bottom of the table.

The Ugly

There was nothing really ugly by any teams, but referee Simon Hooper was up to his antics again, this time in the Manchester City and Tottenham game.

The match itself was brilliant, but Hooper decided to cost City the chance at a win by calling for the advantage and then blowing his whistle when City played said advantage.

Alright, that’s a bit of an oversimplification of what happened. But it was a very questionable call from him that sent the City players ballistic, especially Erling Haaland who is facing an FA charge for criticising the ref on social media after the game.

It’s the latest in an ever-growing list of game-deciding blunders that Hooper has made. He started with not awarding Wolves a clear penalty against Man United that led to their loss, then followed it up by that farcical Tottenham vs Liverpool VAR call (he does get a bit of a pass on that one since it was a VAR error, but he was still in charge).

Lucky for him, he will not be facing another weekend at home as the Premier League has already ruled in his favour and he will be back in action on Wednesday for Sheffield vs Liverpool.

Biggest Winners

There was no big standout biggest winner this week, although we’ll give the props this week to Everton. They don’t look ready to take the 10 point deduction sitting down, both in the courts and on the pitch.

The fan's protest was strong again and the team went out to do right by them. It may not have been a dominant win, but at the bottom of the table, you’ll take three points however you can get it.

Star Player

Enzo Fernandez

Chelsea’s record signing is the sole star player this week. Two vital goals from him helped his side to an important 3-2 win over Brighton, moving them closer to European contention.