Winners and Losers: Premier League Gameweek 8

After so much wait due to seen and unforeseen events, the Premier League was back this weekend, and ohh, what a gameweek it was! The North-London derby, the Manchester derby, goals galore. So without further ado, here are this week’s Winners and Losers.

Also read: The Top Defenders In Europe’s Big 5 Leagues

Winners

Miguel Almirón

During City’s title parade, an intoxicated Grealish said that Mahrez should have been taken off the pitch because he was playing like Almiron. Well, the Paraguayan has more goals than both of them combined this season. Put some respect on the man’s name.

Almiron was sensational on Saturday, ripping Fulham’s back line to shreds. First, an audacious volley as the ball fell from the heavens, time stood still as Miguel’s sweet strike found the back of the net. As beautiful as the first was, the second was an easy tap-in at the far post to demonstrate his team’s dominance on the day.

Almiron ensured the travelling fans got their money’s worth as the Magpies leapfrogged Fulham into 7th.

Erling Haaland

Can anyone actually stop this man? Another match, another hattrick. He became the first player to score a hattrick in 3 successive home games. Not to mention he only just did it against their biggest rivals Manchester United.

And if you thought his prowess was just limited to goalscoring, Erling had something to show you. 2 assists and 3 goals in the demolition of United, he may actually be the best striker we’ve ever seen in the League in recent memory.

Fun Fact: he is 9 goals away from last year’s golden boot winning tally- there are 30 games left in the season. This man is built different.

Leandro Trossard

Star players leave, the manager leaves, yet Brighton keep on exceeding expectations, that’s just how it goes now, I guess. Trossard walked onto the Anfield turf and made it his own. A hattrick for the Belgian as he gave the Seagulls the lead twice and then the equalizer late on. If not for Alisson, he could have had a couple more.

Roberto De Zerbi also deserves a lot of credit as he got a result on his managerial debut in England. He has given the likes of Trossard, Gross, Welback, and MacAllister the freedom to express themselves, and they find themselves 4th in the table.

Losers

Casemiro

5 Champions Leagues, 3 La Liga titles, among countless others- only to be benched for Scott McTominay. What has his career come to? It’s not his fault that he isn’t being played by his manager, but looking at that performance by the United’s midfield, he certainly would have thought he’s better than that.

Coming on in the 60th minute when his side was already at 4-0 would have been difficult for him.

Start to life in Manchester has been difficult for the Brazilian as he has only started 1 game so far and lost that too. Ten Hag seems to prefer the duo of McTominay and Eriksen over him. Tough times to say the least.

Trent Alexander-Arnold

I feel like I’m punching a man when he’s down, but we need to address this. It’s the same old Trent once again leaking goals from his side of the pitch. It’s been happening all season, opposition teams have marked him as the weak link in the Liverpool back line and focused their attacks down his side.

Against Brighton, too he was at fault for 2 of the goals. Klopp seems to be defending Trent in the media better than he does on the pitch.

Trent has never been the best defensively but compensated for it with his insane attacking numbers. Now with the attacking numbers gone, there’s no excuse for the poor defending.

Bruno Lage

Is one loss too many for Lage? The 2-0 loss against West Ham took their dire form to one win in 15 matches and it turned out to be his final game in charge of Wolves. Playing good football without results is not good enough, and the board took the decision to sack him as the club sank into the relegation zone.

Lage made some big calls in the summer, like letting Coady leave, changing formation to a back 4, and spending close to £100m in the transfer window. But with nothing to show for it, the Portuguese departs after 16 months at the helm.