After two weeks lost in the wilderness of the October international break, the Premier League returned in style this weekend.
The headline result was always going to come from Manchester United’s trip to Anfield, where Ruben Amorim’s side stunned many with a dramatic 2–1 that extended Liverpool’s losing streak to four games across all competitions.
Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all picked up big wins at the top of the table, while at the bottom, we saw Ange Postecoglou dismissed by Nottingham Forest and Nuno Espírito Santo, the man replaced at the City Ground, learn the full extent of the problems facing him at new employers West Ham United.
Looking back on all the action, here are FotMob’s top performing players from Gameweek 8.
Igor Thiago (Brentford): 8.6
Kicking things off is one of this round’s final performers. Brentford and Igor Thiago rocked up to London Stadium on Monday night to make light work of a truly sorry West Ham outfit.
Putting Nuno Espírito Santo’s side to the sword was Thiago, who fired against the bar early on but found the back of the net with a scrappy effort which was indicative of the good fortune his overall performance deserved—even if that deserted him just moments later when a delightfully dinked effort succumbed to a marginal offside call.
The Brazilian had a total of six shots during the game, just one fewer than the entire West Ham side managed across the full 90 minutes.
Eli Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth): 8.7
For the neutral viewer, the most fun to be found this weekend came at Selhurst Park, where Crystal Palace and Bournemouth played out a 3–3 thriller.
The latter were led by exciting young forward Eli Junior Kroupi. The 19-year-old had two shots, both of which were on target and both of which ended up in the back of the net, starting with an early header from close range and ending with an emphatic volley just before half time.
It was Kroupi’s first Premier League start since his £12 million ($16.1 million) switch from Lorient on Deadline Day and takes his tally to three goals in just 96 minutes of Premier League action.
Pedro Neto, Reece James (Chelsea): 8.8
Chelsea wreaked havoc down the right side of the pitch against Nottingham Forest in this weekend’s Premier League opener, and conveniently walked away from the match with the same rating.
Both players left the game with a goal and an assist to their names. Neto did the early work, setting up Josh Acheampong’s opening header before catching Matz Sels out with a quick free kick following a smart set-up by James.
The Blues captain rounded out the scoring with a thumping effort late on, capping off a 3–0 win which brought an end to Postecoglou’s time as Forest manager.
Nordi Mukiele (Sunderland): 8.9
A stop-start loan with Bayer Leverkusen last season clearly left most of the Premier League reluctant to take a risk on Nordi Mukiele, but their loss has been Sunderland’s gain so far this season.
The 27-year-old right back opened his account for the Black Cats in a hard-fought 2–0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, in which Régis Le Bris’s side had to spend more of their time defending their own goal.
Mukiele relished that challenge and led the game with a total of 15 successful duels, winning 10 in the air and five on the ground as he put his body on the line to keep Sunderland’s impressive run of form alive.
Danny Welbeck (Brighton), Erling Haaland (Man City): 9.1
Two goalscoring clinics were presented to fans on Saturday thanks to Brighton & Hove Albion’s Danny Welbeck and, of course, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.
Welbeck’s composure was on show as he finished off a perfectly timed run with a delightful chip over Newcastle United’s Nick Pope, and he stepped up when Brighton needed him most with a fantastic late effort to seal a crucial 2–1 victory.
As for Haaland, you should need no explanation of his quality at this point. The City superstar recorded goals 16 and 17 of his season against Everton, tearing the Toffees apart despite recording a match-low 29 touches.
Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace): 9.7
Leading a way by a comfortable margin is this week’s hat-trick hero, Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Kroupi’s doubled looked to have set Bournemouth on their way to a routine victory, but Mateta’s second-half heroics changed the story. He created his first tap-in with some sensational hold-up play shortly after the hour mark, and was celebrating his second just five minutes later to tie things up at 2–2.
Bournemouth looked to have won it thanks to Ryan Christie’s 89th-minute goal, but Mateta stroked home a penalty deep into stoppage time to rescue his side once again.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Seven Best Players From Premier League Gameweek 8.