Players from Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United are amongst this week’s heroes, while Crystal Palace’s chairman will go down as a villain.
Following the return of the Premier League after the international break, HITC Sport has taken a look at some heroes and villains to come out of the weekend’s fixtures…
Hero: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Kevin De Bruyne was fantastic in Manchester City’s 5-0 win over Liverpool, contributing two assists for Pep Guardiola’s men.
Villain: Referees
Liverpool’s Sadio Mane was sent off against Manchester City for an offence that was incredibly similar to the one that saw Newcastle United’s Matt Ritchie only booked in their victory over Swansea City one day later – with the lack of contact surely the only reason Ritchie did not also see red. Whatever you think of the decision, the inconsistency in the punishments has surely made the situation worse.
Hero: Pascal Gross (Brighton and Hove Albion)
Brighton and Hove Albion finally opened their Premier League account in the win over West Brom, and it was Pascal Gross who inspired that victory, scoring twice for the Seagulls.
Villain: Bournemouth
Crystal Palace and West Ham may have stolen the headlines with their starts to the season, but Bournemouth’s start has been just as poor with four defeats in four. A 3-0 loss to Arsenal has left them in the bottom three.
Hero: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Stoke City)
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting opened his account for Stoke City with a crucial brace in their 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
Hero: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Harry Kane’s brace in Tottenham’s win over Everton saw the striker score his 100th and 101st goals for Spurs. The fact that it helped Tottenham to an impressive win meant that it was an excellent weekend for Kane.
Hero: Watford
Watford are the surprise side that round off the top four in the Premier League after the Hornets picked up a 2-0 win away at Southampton at the weekend. Watford remain unbeaten this term.
Villain: Renato Sanches (Swansea City)
If you told a neutral watching Swansea’s clash with Newcastle that on the pitch was a Euro 2016 winner who is on loan to one of the sides from Bayern Munich, it is unlikely that they would have picked out Renato Sanches as being that player. The Swans loanee endured a disappointing debut to say the least.
Hero: Jamaal Lascelles (Newcastle United)
Jamaal Lascelles inspired Newcastle to an important 1-0 win over Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. Lascelles scored the Magpies’ goal and cleared a Tammy Abraham effort off the line during the game to give Newcastle their second win of the season.
Villain: Lee Chung-yong (Crystal Palace)
With Frank De Boer fighting for his Crystal Palace future, the last thing he needed was his own player gifting Burnley’s Chris Wood the only goal in Sunday’s game. Lee Chung-yong’s terrible backpass cost Palace dearly and they remain pointless in the division.
Villain: Steve Parish (Crystal Palace)
The defeat would prove to be the last of De Boer’s tenure at Crystal Palace as he was sacked on Monday. Despite the improvement in the performance against the Clarets, apparently four league games was enough for the Palace hierarchy to make a decision on De Boer’s future.
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