The good 😀, the bad 😕 and the ugly 👹: Late goals and a whole lot of ugly | OneFootball

If nothing else, the Premier League never fails to entertain.

The quality is sometimes lacking, we’re not convinced anyone involved has the required competence and some games leave a lot to be desired. However, there’s always enough for us to bring you the good, the bad, and the ugly.

THE GOOD ?

Best team performance(s): Brighton, Burnley and Huddersfield ?

Call them the unlucky underdogs.

In a weekend when many of the top teams put in middling displays, some of the Premier League’s smallest clubs offered the most committed, enthralling performances.

Brighton and Hove Albion, Burnley, and Huddersfield Town all lost to harsh, unfortunate late goals against Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City, respectively.

However, they showed us the best of the Premier League, which is that with a bit of organisation and a bit of belief, teams with far lesser resources can compete with the giants.

For the neutral fan, it can be a lot more exciting to watch the minnows make the big boys swea than to watch Liverpool and Chelsea amble to a 1-1 draw. Brighton, Burnley and Huddersfield all continue to show that they deserve to be in the top flight.

An honourable mention goes to Southampton, who played very well in a 4-1 victory against Everton. However, Everton are awful and don’t have a manager and we can no longer give serious weight to good performances against them.

Best player: Marvin Zeegelaar ?

Last weekend, Zeegelaar’s Premier League debut saw him targeted by West Ham. Within 15 seconds, Andy Carroll had smashed him in the face. Welcome to England!

This weekend, Zeegelaar responded with a man of the match display. Welcome to England!

Heading up to Newcastle, where Carroll is from, Zeegelaar had to wear a mask in Saturday’s game. You’d have forgiven him for expecting similar treatment.

However, all that was brushed to one side as the 27-year-old delivered a match-winning performance. First there was the brilliant cut back assist for Will Hughes to score the opener.

After that, the Dutchman went on a brilliant run and delivered another dangerous ball, forcing DeAndre Yedlin to put it into his own net.

If this was anything to go by, Watford have made another brilliant signing.

Best goal: Gyfli Sigurdsson ⚽

We’re sorry, Xherdan Shaqiri. It should have been you. It was you heading into Sunday, but then this happened.

At least Everton fans had something to smile about on Sunday. A pathetic performance saw them lose 4-1 at Southampton but Sigurdsson’s equaliser just before half-time was a beauty.

Signed for a frankly mental £45m in the summer, Everton thought they’d be seeing this level of class every week. This was, however, the Icelandic’s first Premier League goal for the Tofees on his 12th appearance.

To be fair, it was almost worth waiting for. A superb dipping effort hit the bar, the post, and the bar again before finally crossing the line.

Now Sigurdsson just has to deliver with a bit more consistency. Otherwise, well, he might find himself in the Championship soon enough.

THE BAD ☹️

Worst team performance: Newcastle United ?

It’s now four consecutive defeats for Newcastle, who were brushed aside by Watford on Saturday afternoon. Things don’t look great for Rafa Benítez.

We have to say the Hornets have been excellent this season but a 3-0 defeat at home against a side hardly considered a Premier League power is simply not good enough.

When Mikel Merino and Jamaal Lascelles are missing, everything goes wrong at the back and in midfield. Newcastle can’t defend, can hardly build attacks and definitely can’t keep the ball.

Two shots on target all afternoon, Benítez has a hell of a lot of work to do.

Watford are currently what Newcastle should be aspiring to be but there are no signs of it happening anytime soon.

Worst player: Tiémoué Bakayoko ?

Signed in the summer for around £40m, Bakayoko has had a rough start to his Chelsea career. At first he was injured, then he was rushed back and had his manager admitting he didn’t want to sell Nemanja Matić – the man Bakayoko has replaced.

It isn’t getting much easier. Against Liverpool, the Frenchman won just one of three attempted tackles.

“Defensively he’s been an absolute disgrace today,” Rio Ferdinand told BT Sport at half-time, just moments before Bakayoko lost Mohamed Salah for the opener.

Incidentally, Chelsea looked much better after Bakayoko was replaced by Cesc Fàbregas, who performed brilliantly.

Despite all that, the midfielder still wasn’t responsible for the game’s worst moment, though. That award goes to Cahill…

Softest goal conceded:  Marc Albrighton v West Ham United ?

Not the start David Moyes had in mind as he took charge of his first home game as West Ham manager. Within eight minutes, Leicester were ahead.

After softly losing possession in midfield, Leicester found themselves in space out wide. From there, Jamie Vardy played a weak low cross that somehow caught everyone out.

First it snuck under Winston Reid, then Angelo Ogbonna completely fluffed an attempt to clear.

Albrighton was at the back post, free from the lax marking of Aaron Cresswell, and converted his first goal of the season with ease. Moyes really needs to sort out that defence.

AND THE UGLY ?

There was no shortage of ugly this weekend, starting with Friday night, when André Ayew tried to win a penalty with an awful dive.

“This one is definitely not a penalty,” Alan Shearer said on Match of the Day. “This is a dive. The unfortunate thing is that the panel cannot look at that. They should be able to.”

As no penalty was awarded, Ayew will not face any punishment.

We don’t know yet if there will be a punishment for Romelu Lukaku but this kick aimed at Gaëtan Bong was pretty ugly too.

Then there’s the slightly more comical sort of ugly – Ryan Shawcross gave us a fine dose of this with his miss at Selhurst Park.

Yeah, we don’t know how he managed that either.

And then there’s Adam Lallana’s new hairband. He’s not hurting anyone, we just aren’t fans.