Another weekend, another terrific showing of Premier League football. It would’ve been almost impossible to top the entertainment value of last week, but Matchweek 10 wasn’t too far off of its predecessor, with Arsenal vs Liverpool leading the way as expected. The Gunners’ thrilling 3-2 win felt like one of the most significant moments of the season so far, but the North London side weren’t the only ones to dazzle over the weekend, with the likes of Manchester City and Newcastle United putting in scintillating displays en-route to thrashing victories.
Elsewhere, Tottenham returned to winning ways with a hard-fought victory at Brighton, and incredibly, each of Manchester United, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Bournemouth all won despite conceding the first goal in their respective games.
As always, from the ten matches that took place, we will pick one outstanding goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward and manager to make up our Premier League Stars of the Week.
Stars of the Week: Matchweek 10
Goalkeeper: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur)
After suffering a humbling defeat in last week’s North London Derby, Tottenham instantly bounced back in the tricky test of Brighton and Hove Albion away from home, emerging as 1-0 winners courtesy of Harry Kane’s goal.
In such a tight affair, you have to have your goalkeeper on top form, and Hugo Lloris certainly played his part between the sticks to help Tottenham over the line. The Frenchman made four saves in total, including a sharp stop from Danny Welbeck to preserve his side’s lead and the clean sheet.
It may not have been his busiest afternoon of the season, but after making a crucial error in last weekend’s defeat to Arsenal, Lloris showed a lot of character to bounce back quickly and look more like his usual self here.
Defender: Joao Cancelo (Manchester City)
Manchester City are evidently a team sky high on confidence at the moment, and continued their fine form with another dominant yet expectedly routine win over Southampton, a team that the champions actually failed to beat last season.
So far this season it has been Erling Haaland getting all of the headlines, and understandably so, but this victory was powered neither by Haaland or Kevin de Bruyne, but by Joao Cancelo. The fullback was in imperious form against Southampton, opening the scoring with a majestic solo goal in the first half, and rounding it off when his low cross was converted by Haaland on 65 minutes.
On top of that, the Portugal international achieved 90% passing accuracy, maintaining his usual control and style to ensure that City were barely threatened defensively by the Saints.
Midfielder: Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle United)
A series of frustrating results feel like ancient history for Newcastle United now, with the Magpies achieving their second heavy victory in a row with a 5-1 drubbing of Brentford at St James’ Park.
Fan favourite Bruno Guimaraes was so often the creative spark and goal-scoring threat in the Newcastle midfield towards the end of last season, and against Brentford on Saturday the Brazilian was back to his best. Guimaraes opened the scoring for Newcastle after 20 minutes with a pinpoint header, and later re-established his side’s two goal lead early in the second half with a fantastic finish from outside the box. His contributions didn’t just come in an attacking sense though – he also made four tackles throughout the game to extinguish the Brentford threat.
In a game like this, it’s no surprise that a player of Guimaraes’ quality ended up being the difference maker.
Forward: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Arsenal’s high-octane, action-packed victory against Liverpool was powered by an electric display by the front four, who collectively played brilliantly to help the team get over the line.
However, the biggest difference maker was arguably Bukayo Saka, who once again stepped up to the mark in a big game. The England winger latched onto Gabriel Martinelli’s low cross right on half time to ensure Arsenal went into the interval with the lead, and later converted a high-pressure penalty to give his side the lead once again in what would eventually prove to be the decisive goal.
Already seemingly one of the leaders in this young Arsenal team, Saka delivered when his team most needed it here, and his brace here helped the league leaders seal a famous win – their eighth of the season already in the league.
Manager: Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)
As always, the Manager of the Week award wasn’t short of candidates, with Newcastle’s Eddie Howe being a particularly strong contender this time around, but this week the honour goes to Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta for making a dent in his side’s terrible recent record against Liverpool.
When Arsenal deviated slightly from their regular XI to start Takehiro Tomiyasu at left back, there was visible concern from Arsenal fans, fearing that Arteta may have overthought his way into a trap in the same manner that his former mentor Pep Guardiola has at times been guilty of. Instead, it turned out to be a masterstroke by the Spaniard, with the Gunners doing just about enough to dampen Liverpool’s powerful attacking threat whilst going toe to toe with the visitors to emerge victorious.
This felt like a seismic moment in both Arsenal’s season and the reign of Mikel Arteta so far. Make no mistake; the Gunners are title contenders.
