The Good, The Bad

The tops and flops from the Premier League weekend.

There were plenty of twists and turns in the Premier League this weekend.

Late goals ruled, with Wolves, Everton, Bournemouth, Brentford and West Ham all benefiting.

Arsenal and Liverpool played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in Sunday’s headline fixture — a result that certainly suited Manchester City, who were wasteful but got the job done against Southampton.

Here, we look at the good, and the bad, from this weekend’s Premier League action.

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THE GOOD

Cole Palmer had to face the “flat-track bully” criticism after he struggled to influence proceedings against Liverpool last week, and while he could certainly have been better at Anfield, the idea that this 22-year-old isn’t one of the best players in the country at the moment is balderdash. Palmer’s sweeping, long-range pass that paved the way for Chelsea’s opener against Newcastle United on Sunday was sublime. With one, effortless moment, Palmer split open the Magpies, teased Fabian Schar into trying to intercept and set Pedro Neto free to square for Nicolas Jackson. Having already seen a goal disallowed early on, Palmer then drilled in what turned out to be Chelsea’s winner just after the break — his seventh league goal of the season already.

Credit: Instagram - @chelseafc

Beto rescued a point for Everton against Fulham at Goodison Park, and while Marco Silva was fairly peeved that his team had not seen out a win they would have been worthy of, Beto’s chaotic cameo ultimately dragged the Toffees to a draw. He was in the right place at the right time to head in from Ashley Young’s cushioned cross, one of the only moments of quality Everton produced (Sean Dyche is fortunate not to be included in the latter section of this piece, it’s safe to say). Beto has hardly had a kick this season, and that is understandable given he is simply not a player that has proved he can be trusted to help hold onto a lead or a share of the spoils. But when called upon, he delivered, and there can be no doubting his desire to make the most of his Everton adventure; whether he will be good enough in the end, time will tell.

everton

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Nottingham Forest have somewhat gone under the radar, but after a settled summer transfer window and some excellent work from Nuno Espirito Santo, they are proving to be the division’s surprise package. They sit seventh following Friday’s 3-1 win over Leicester City, with Chris Wood’s second-half double doing the damage at the King Power Stadium, against former Forest boss Steve Cooper. There is chaos off the pitch, with owner Evangelos Marinakis issued with a five-game ban for allegedly spitting towards match officials, but on it, Nuno is doing a brilliant job. His team are organised, have a clear structure and, in Elliott Andersen, have a youngster their fanbase have quickly got behind (and one that Newcastle’s supporters are no doubt missing). After two years of frantically scrapping at the wrong end of the table, four wins, four draws and just one defeat from their opening nine games suggests this campaign will, at the very least, see Forest be clear of danger.

THE BAD