Premier League winners and losers: Villa, Konate, Soucek, Newcastle, Brentford, Ugarte, Frank and more | OneFootball

Ibrahima Konate and Manuel Ugarte have become significant problems for Manchester United and Liverpool. But Tomas Soucek and Brian Brobbey are flying.

Premier League winners

Aston Villa

An emphatic response to a difficult afternoon against Liverpool, above whom they have leapt in the Premier League table.

Emi Martinez was the perfect pantomime villain to epitomise the “madness” of their approach at Anfield, then part of the inspiration behind a stirring win against a similar style of team a week later.

His penalty save – and prior stops – helped invigorate Villa and give them a far more stable foundation upon which to build. Unai Emery righted some tactical wrongs in terms of passing out and nullifying an opponent’s strength instead of playing to them. And the Emi Buendia redemption arc and Donyell Malen goalscoring streak continues apace.

Villa kindly gave everyone a month-long head start but do appear to be very much back. They are in the form of title contenders if not the position.

Manchester City

Not entirely sure how Pep Guardiola has done it or indeed whether he actually even meant to, but Manchester City have a world-class full-back tandem from out of nowhere.

They have won 12 of the 13 games Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly have started together at right and left-back, drawing the other 0-0.

Tomas Soucek

For the first time since November 2023, West Ham have come from behind to win in consecutive Premier League games. It should surprise precisely no-one that Soucek scored the late clinching goal in both of those victories. The second was even against Burnley in a delightful quirk.

He also started both matches, making his transition from bona fide regular to goalscoring substitute even more impressive. In a couple of half-hour cameos Soucek has helped salvage West Ham’s season.

It might be a role he will become familiar with if Mateus Fernandes and Freddie Potts continue to thrive in midfield, but Soucek will “do for the team whatever” he can to help, because he is a lovely boy.

Brentford

Two points off what is likely to be a Champions League qualification place, in a cup quarter-final and with wins over Aston Villa, Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle this season, it does seem as though Brentford have entirely nailed their managerial succession plan.

That is an immense credit to Keith Andrews, but also to a squad which could have fallen apart after losing its captain and two main goal threats in the summer.

Andrews commended the “selflessness” which he feels typifies this team, especially in how the attacking players “defend, how they recover back, how they do the basics of the game that are absolutely needed”.

It is a Brentford hallmark. Igor Thiago is putting up the closest resistance to Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race but the Brazilian has also made the most tackles (15) of any orthodox Premier League centre-forward this season by a mile. The next best is actually Kevin Schade, who has made eight in just three games playing through the middle.

Chelsea

If it’s credit they want for beating the league’s managerless bottom side on course to lower the bar for historic awfulness, they have come to the wrong place.

But they are third and have spent the least time trailing of any Premier League side so far this season so that’s something. And Estevao is several brands of mustard.

James Garner

“I see Alex Scott has been called up by England so I would have thought Jimmy Garner’s form as a midfield player wouldn’t have been a million miles off that either,” said the admittedly slightly biased David Moyes of a player who has outlined his seasonal objective “to get there or thereabouts with the England squad”.

Garner is doing his candidacy no harm as a remarkably versatile and durable 24-year-old playing regularly for a team just outside the top half.

The talent pool is realistically far too deep for him to make a splash but Everton are benefiting from his ambition. Garner has not missed a single minute all season in all competitions and was central to a tactical shift Moyes finally implemented against Fulham.

Tim Iroegbunam was trusted to provide energy and perhaps the single greatest assist in Premier League history, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall embracing an all-action, duel-winning role further forward as Garner brought far more balance to the team when making his first start at right-back in over a year.

There were a couple of hairy moments up against Kevin but the slight defensive drop-off was justified by the control and influence he offered going forward. Garner ranked first for touches, passes, carries and shots in a quietly accomplished performance.

Brian Brobbey

The Dutchman would not be the first player to belatedly vindicate Erik ten Hag’s desperation to overpay for someone from Ajax. But unlike Antony, it does seem as though Brobbey is made for Premier League life.

In the space of a fortnight he has muscled in on a pair of Big Six defences to earn Sunderland an extra three points in stoppage time.

Only two players who have yet to start a Premier League game this season have still managed to score or assist more than a single goal. While Federico Chiesa labours to prove something to Arne Slot, there is little doubt that Regis Le Bris fully appreciates the “different profile” his chaotic Mr. Brobbey offers.

Nottingham Forest

It would be a gross understatement to suggest Nottingham Forest had struggled to make an impact off the bench this season despite spending £192m on their squad.

Jaydee Canvot

At a time when Crystal Palace sorely need viable rotation options, the emergence of a 19-year-old who can flourish on his full Premier League debut against a bitter rival is sorely welcome.

The Marc Guehi injury is frustrating but if the logic behind keeping him and writing off a £40m pay day was to give Canvot the time and space to develop and learn, it isn’t difficult to see where Oliver Glasner was coming from.

Even though that process was expedited somewhat, Canvot proved himself a player who can be tentatively trusted to perform at the necessary level already.

Eight clearances, three tackles, two interceptions and even four fouls committed nowhere near danger – three were in Brighton’s final third and the other was on the halfway line – combined with composure and security on the ball suggests Palace might have found another defensive gem who is perfectly attuned to their needs.

Thomas Frank

He might not feel like a winner – and certainly wasn’t in the traditional sense – but that felt uncomfortably Nuno at one point.

Spurs fans turned on their overpromoted Portuguese coach during a home defeat to Manchester United in October 2021, when Lucas Moura was replaced by Steven Bergwijn at 1-0 down to loud boos.

Mathys Tel came on for Xavi Simons to a similar reaction in the same circumstances, but scored five minutes later to trigger what should have been a transformational comeback.

Richarlison is hilariously cursed so it was ultimately only good enough for a draw, but it was a reminder to the supporters to keep, as Guglielmo Vicario said “cooler heads” and offer “a bit more help during some situations from the stands”.

Wolves

That is some absolutely textbook caretaker managering, down to a team selection which ticked some fan-service boxes – Jackson Tchatchoua at right-back, Marshall Munetsi and Jhon Arias dropped, the club’s two best players actually playing and a teenage academy graduate being given the first substantial Premier League minutes of his career – a much-improved first half in terms of spirit and application, and an eventual and entirely inevitable defeat before immediately handing the mess over to a doomed permanent appointment.

Godspeed, *checks notes* James Collins. The nondescript name is a sublime touch.

Premier League losers

Ibrahima Konate

It cannot be often that a visiting player makes the most passes of anyone at the Etihad. But then that was part of the plan for Pep Guardiola: he identified Konate as a weak point and specifically ensured the ball was funnelled out to him as often as possible.

Only four players in the entire league have made more errors leading to an opposition shot this season. And going by the statistics, Konate did not add to that tally against Manchester City. But he did make the biggest mistake leading to a penalty, deflected the first goal in off his head after barely jumping, and welcomed Jeremy Doku inside like an old friend to score.

Konate was dreadful and Liverpool should start confiscating everyone’s phones so they can block Duolingo.

Leeds United

The only team to have played as few as three games against sides in the current top half, which will be immediately amended after the international break with fixtures against 6th, 2nd, 3rd and 8th.

Sunderland are the only side other than Leeds to have already played Burnley, West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Wolves, and their promoted brethren have not only fared better in those games, but they are picking up points Leeds can only dream of from teams higher than mid-table.

Newcastle

Considering Eddie Howe “almost could have taken anyone off” in the insipid defeat to West Ham, it was curious to see him instead basically give those players a clean slate against Brentford.

The Newcastle manager insisted after yet another defeat having led that “I’m never going to do the same thing continually and expect a different result”. But the same players who had failed the previous week were trusted to deliver here.

It is no coincidence that one of the two changes Howe made to his starting line-up provided Newcastle’s best performance of a painful bunch. Harvey Barnes scored a wonderful goal in place of Anthony Gordon but beyond that, it was more of the same: a questionable keeper, a vulnerable defence, a weak midfield, an impotent attack and a team devoid of confidence.

The sack and relegation chat will carry through the black hole of an international break. Something is certainly not right. It is remarkably stark that having dropped the fewest points from winning positions of any Premier League club last season (seven), they have dropped the most so far this campaign (nine). This isn’t the Newcastle we know.

Fulham

Marco Silva looked genuinely broken, worryingly bereft of potential solutions to a seven-month Fulham malaise which has dragged them into their first Premier League relegation battle since their most recent promotion.

Since April 1 they have foolishly collected a single point more than their next opponents, despite Sunderland having played almost half the amount of games.

No team has lost more often in that time than Fulham, whose visit to Spurs the following week might tear a hole in the fabric of space and time considering the respective home and away form of those sides. The Cottagers have a single sorry point on the road so far.

Fulham again

You simply cannot lose 20 Premier League games to David Moyes. He hasn’t beaten any other team more than 12 times, ffs.

Manuel Ugarte

His personal goal difference is abysmal, beaten by just 35 players in the whole league, all of whom play for teams in the bottom five. Ugarte, a £50.5m midfielder for the side in seventh, has been on the pitch for four Manchester United goals and 11 against.

That is sometimes a coincidence and not his responsibility to bear. But against Spurs he was beaten by Wilson Odobert in the build up to the first goal and played Richarlison onside for the second.

It is genuinely borderline impressive to play 304 (30.7%) of a club’s 990 minutes but be present for 11 (61.1%) of the 18 goals they have conceded, even if not always – but usually – culpable.

And that omits the Grimsby Town defeat in which he was substituted at half time.

The Manchester United player with the best personal goal difference? Casemiro on +8. That reflects abysmally on the player who usually replaces him.

Mike Tresor

The bigger issue for Burnley is and was always going to be conceding goals, but ultimately when your otherwise excellent keeper flaps a couple into his own net there is no need for an extensive defensive post-mortem.

Far stranger is the £15.4m Belgian international elephant in the room. Tresor continues to await not only his first league appearance since joining the Clarets permanently in summer 2024, but his maiden league matchday squad.

Actual Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany suggested the Championship would be “a good step” for Tresor “into giving this team what we know he is able to give” after his struggle for minutes on loan in 2023/24. But Parker has given the 26-year-old one solitary hour of game time across three substitute cameos in the FA and Carabao Cups in the last 15 months.

Tresor got an assist in two of those games; only Quilindschy Hartman has set up more goals for the Clarets this season. Is that not an option worth exploring, especially after the chairman called him a “tremendous talents” who he would “love to see have the opportunity” at a fan forum last month? And if not, why not?

And far more importantly, how do Burnley have an eight-figure reserve with three years left on his contract?

Brighton

The last team yet to record a single consecutive result of any kind in the Premier League, which does sum Brighton up exceptionally well.

They have taken two points from the four games in which they have had more than 55 per cent possession this season, and ten from the four in which they have had 45 per cent or less. There are game-state intricacies to take into account but it does seem as though Brighton have a low block problem.

Bournemouth

There is a fine line between bravery and idiocy and Bournemouth have crossed it one too many times in a chastening week.

The vaguely good news is that 60% of the Premier League defeats Bournemouth have suffered this calendar year have come against three teams. The bad news is that they sort of do have to play Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City twice and should probably find a way to stop leaking goals against them.

Arsenal

Another title race in which they have taken an early lead against Manchester City, is it? If Arsenal are not ready for seven months of being accused of bottling it any time they draw away at an excellent team to end a run of consecutive wins, then they are in for a shock.