Premier League Weekend awards: Best comeback, training ground routine and more!

Best comeback: AFC Bournemouth

AFC Bournemouth’s status as the Premier League’s comeback kings has previously been made official.

Their turnaround of half-time deficits against Nottingham Forest, from 2-0 down in 2022/23, and Luton Town, from 3-0 down in 2023/24, saw them honoured with the Oracle Most Improbable Comeback award in each of the last two seasons.

It will take an extraordinary effort from one of the division’s other 19 teams to prevent them being crowned for a third year running after their historic fightback at Everton.

No team had ever been 2-0 down as late in a Premier League match as Bournemouth were at Goodison Park and then gone on to win.

Bournemouth found themselves staring at defeat in the 86th minute.

Even Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola admitted it would have been a deserved outcome, such was the dominance Everton had enjoyed.

But out of nowhere came a record-breaking recovery from the Cherries, who took advantage of a dramatic late drop in Everton’s energy levels.

The momentum shift was underlined by the shots on target count going from 8-1 in Everton’s favour to 6-0 in Bournemouth’s after the 86th minute.

And three of those late attempts were scoring ones, from Antoine Semenyo, Lewis Cook and Luis Sinisterra, transforming a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead during Bournemouth’s stunning nine-minute comeback.

“We have done it before and had some good comebacks,” Iraola said. “The spark of the first goal made us believe we could do it again.”

Best training-ground routine: Aston Villa

Aston Villa’s set-piece improvement has increased the profile of coach Austin MacPhee, with his inventiveness on show again in their 2-1 win at Leicester City.

The game’s opening goal was a brilliantly-executed and pre-planned routine.

While many were expecting a ball clipped into the penalty area from Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey and Ollie Watkins were lurking well outside the box and proved to be the players who needed watching.

With impeccable timing from all involved, and on Tielemans’ signal, the duo set off on runs into the box. Ramsey was the target for Tielemans’ forward pass, and his perfect first touch and momentum took him beyond Leicester’s defence, crossing for Amadou Onana to score.

Onana’s goal v Leicester

Almost inevitably, the TV cameras turned to MacPhee, who joined the club in August 2021 and has developed Villa into one of the most effective sides from set-pieces.

Alongside Nottingham Forest, they are leading the way for Premier League set-piece goals this season, with two.

Villa scored 14 goals from set-pieces in 2023/24, the joint-fifth highest in the division, while their total of 25 in all competitions last season was more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues.

Onana’s first goal for Villa goal was also from a set-piece, when he headed in a corner four minutes into his debut at West Ham.

“We work on set-pieces a lot,” said Onana. “It’s hours and hours of repetition, so I’m pleased it paid off.”

Best pressing: Brentford

The way Southampton play is no secret, with Russell Martin fiercely loyal to his beliefs, including passing out from the back.

It is up to their opponents to exploit it, as Brentford did so effectively at the Gtech Community Stadium.

The first two goals that took the game away from Southampton came after Martin’s side were hassled and hurried into errors just outside their own area.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis was dispossessed before Bryan Mbeumo’s first goal and then a mix-up between Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens led to the Brentford winger’s second.

On one hand they were defensive slip-ups from Southampton, on the other, credit is due to Brentford, who forced the goals, and other chances too, with their high-pressing approach.

Head coach Thomas Frank said: ”They made errors because we pressed them unbelievably well. I think we are one of the best teams to do the high pressure in the Premier League.

“The players are so committed and that is the reason why we capitalised on errors from Southampton.”

Brentford’s tally of high turnovers for the season reached 26 after their 3-1 win against Southampton.

That total is level with Bournemouth and behind only Manchester City (27), Liverpool (28), Everton (29) and Tottenham Hotspur (40).

And their lofty position of fifth in the Premier League’s high turnover table makes Frank well within his rights to highlight his side’s pressing qualities.

Most clinical: Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland is fitter than ever, his manager Pep Guardiola explained last week. At West Ham United there was further evidence that he is more ruthless than ever too.

Much is made of how involved the Norwegian goal machine is in matches, and he displayed more to his developing game than just his finishing ability at London Stadium.

But does it all matter when he can be as devastatingly match-defining as he was against West Ham?

Haaland needed only 21 touches to score his second successive Premier League hat-trick, with his final goal coming in a second half when he barely had a kick.

Haaland’s hat-trick v West Ham

And the stats for this campaign so far reveal that he is even more efficient than last season.

Haaland had 636 touches during his 2023/24 Premier League campaign, scoring a Golden Boot-winning 27 times at a rate of 23.5 touches per goal.

So far this season that figure is significantly down to 7.3 touches per goal, with his seven strikes coming from a mere 51 touches.

He has had by far the fewest of any player to have played the equivalent of three Premier League matches. Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak is the nearest, with 78.

Only 15 players have touched the ball less on average per 90 minutes than Haaland’s 17 times – and none have managed to rack up more than 45 minutes of action this campaign.

Yet there he is, streaking away already at the top of the scoring charts and, at his current rate, on course to score 89 times and shatter more records.

Most selfless player: Jacob Murphy

Jacob Murphy’s eyes must have lit up when he found himself through on goal late in the game against Spurs.

The game was locked at 1-1, Newcastle had been weathering a Spurs storm and suddenly he was presented with the chance to be the matchwinning hero after coming off the bench.

Team-mate Joelinton had spun away from James Maddison in midfield and fed a delightful defence-splitting pass through Spurs’ backline to set winger Murphy away.

He does not score all that often for Newcastle, having done so just 11 times in 153 Premier League appearances, and had yet to net this season.

With just Guglielmo Vicario to beat, Murphy would have been forgiven for trying to seize his moment in the spotlight by shooting.

But he had the presence of mind to spot the better-positioned Isak to his left and squared for the Swede to open his account for the season instead.

Murphy’s assist for Isak v Spurs

It was an unselfish, team-first gesture that is typical of Murphy – and did not go unnoticed by his head coach Eddie Howe.

“He will always try to make the right decision for the team rather than himself,” explained Howe. “It was a brilliant bit of play and gave Alex his first goal of the season, so I’m delighted for him as well.”

Most important touch: Declan Rice

One small flick of his right foot from Declan Rice, big repercussions for him and Arsenal.

They were enjoying the better of their battle with Brighton & Hove Albion until Rice gently nudged the ball away as Joel Veltman attempted to take a quick free-kick.

Having been booked just before half-time for a foul on Veltman, the second incident involving the Dutch defender soon after the restart earned Rice a second caution – and first red card of a career featuring 245 matches .

It was also a game-changing moment. Arsenal spent most of the remainder of the match defending and conceded a Joao Pedro equaliser.

They dug in defiantly after that to hold on for a point, but the game became far more uncomfortable than they would have wished after Rice’s dismissal.

Brighton laid siege to Arsenal’s goal, firing in 19 shots and having 76 per cent possession in the second half, compared with three shots and 53 per cent possession in the first.

And the impact of events at Emirates Stadium will be felt after the international break, with Rice now also suspended for the season’s first north London derby at Spurs on 15 September.

Rice was apologetic afterwards, saying: “I’ve touched the ball with the outside of my foot. This is the law of the game. If you touch the ball away, even a little bit, obviously it’s a red card, after my challenge in the first half.

“I just wanted to apologise to my team-mates, which I’ve done, and to the fans. I was lucky my team-mates really helped me out and we didn’t lose the game.”