Premier League Matchday 23 review

Jonathan Victoria • 27 Jan 2025 Features

Moyes’ Merseyside return proving fruitful so far.

I made my first trip back to St Mary’s since the middle of December to watch my Saints get beaten once again! 

Of course, that’s become the standard, but at least with the other 19 teams in the league, anybody can get something from anyone else.

Whether or not that makes sense is beside the point as matchday 23 provided another weekend with some surprises. Let’s see what I thought of the latest gameweek because I never really have any idea until I start writing these things!

The Good

Credit: Gakpo scores twice as Reds thump Ipswich | Liverpool 4-1 Ipswich | Premier League Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, YouTube)

I’m going down the table for my first props and looking at my biggest winner for the weekend, David Moyes and Everton, who claimed their second win on the trot and, more importantly, picked up the win in Moyes 700th Premier League match in charge.

I really liked that they went back to him. I grew up knowing Everton as a just-outside-Europe threat with Moyeseh at the helm. Glad to see him thriving once more (at least for now).

Further up the table, Liverpool did their thing again, comfortably beating Ipswich 4-1. Unfortunately for them, though, Arsenal didn’t slip up despite playing with a man down for almost half an hour as they managed to scrape a 1-0 win.

Manchester City didn’t let their loss to PSG in the Champions League midweek derail their Prem comeback train, beating Chelsea to return to the top four. 

I think, while they seem to be playing better than they had been over the end of 2024, it’s too big an ask to say they could hunt down Liverpool for the title. 

I saw Paul Merson point out that at this point last year, Liverpool had the league lead and still bottled it. But what Merson failed to point out is that at this point last year, yes Liverpool were on top, but only by two points and City had a game in hand. It’s a very different scenario this time around.

The Bad

Credit: Controversial Lewis-Skelly red as Arsenal edge past Wolves! 🟥 | Wolves 0-1 Arsenal | EPL Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, YouTube)

I’m not going to call it ugly this time because I think there were things worse than it this weekend, but VAR officials had another weekend to forget, mainly looking at the Arsenal game.

I was going to just put the fact that Arsenal now lead the league for most red cards with four, but really, I don’t think they deserved that red against Wolves.

I can understand where they were coming from for it, but I don’t think Myles Lewis-Skelly’s challenge deserved anything more than a yellow. We’ve seen worse not given a red, so I think Arsenal were done hard by there.

But I will point out how slow and inefficient VAR can be. At the Saints-Newcastle game, there were two separate instances where we were waiting what felt like forever with no information due to VAR checks.

The first time was for Alexander Isak’s penalty (I didn’t agree with it at first, but I can see it now), and the second was for our disallowed second goal late in the game. Both times we had to wait about five minutes for a decision. That may not seem like long to those outside, but when you’re watching a game, five minutes of nothing happening feels like an eternity.

Every season it feels like there’s changes to the VAR process that sets it back a considerable amount, leading to more stoppages and wasted time. Why can’t they just implement it the same way it is used in rugby or cricket, both of which have had video review systems for quite some time now that work properly.

The Ugly

Credit: Vardy inspires Foxes fightback to sink Spurs | Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Leicester | EPL Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, YouTube)

I think it’s time to put a very obvious ugly candidate in this section - Tottenham, of course. Who else could it be?

This run from Spurs is genuinely unbelievable. Every week I think to myself “surely there’s no way it gets worse, surely they’ll turn it around against [insert team],” and then we get to full time and they’ve lost again.

But this weekend's result might just be the worst of the lot. Going one-nil up to eventually lose at home to a relegation candidate side is appalling. Spurs fans have every right to boo, and while they can direct them at manager Ange Postecoglou, really the focus should stay on the problem child that has been the issue for far too long - Daniel Levy.

Although with that said, I can’t really talk considering my club’s potential history-making run of sugar-honey-iced-tea results.

Leicester picking up the win over Tottenham only adds to our relegation case. I keep telling myself that, while It’s basically over now already, if we could somehow go on a run of just three wins, we’re back in with a chance.

But that’s not happening, I know it. I’m not completely delusional. Plus, those nine points would still see us at the bottom, albeit if the others lost those three games, only one point back. 

But Leicester gaining three points this weekend means we’d ne two points away from safety and a further six on top of that from 16th. This is all a hypothetical in which the teams above us lose their next four games and we win ours, which is highly unlikely.

To be honest, I’m looking forward to Championship football again next year. Mostly so we don’t have to put up with any more of VAR’s bullsh…

Game of the Week

Credit: Ouattara hat-trick helps Cherries HAMMER Forest | Bournemouth 5-0 Nottingham Forest | EPL Highlights (Sky Sports Premier League, YouTube)

I’m giving it to Bournemouth this week for their stunning 5-0 surprise victory over high flyers Nottingham Forest.

I have no problem with Bournemouth or Bournemouth fans despite some trying to say there’s a rivalry between us and them. There’s not, and quite frankly I like Bournemouth, especially Justin Kluivert.

A hat-trick again for the side but not from the Dutchman this time as Dango Ouattara netted his first Premier League treble to halt the visitors unbeaten run at nine games (eight in the league).

Whether this result is the end of Forest’s fairytale run or if it’s just a bump in the road is yet to be seen. But it has opened the door to those chasing a top four spot and exposed their vulnerability.

5-a-Side Stars

Martin Dubravka

We’ve got a recognised goalkeeper! Having been at the game, I can say I was impressed with Dubravka. At 36 years old, he looked spritely, pulling off one brilliant save to keep his side cruising.

Riccardo Calafiori

Arsenal should really look to their defence for thanks in getting the result against Wolves. They’re the ones who had to withstand most of the pressure of being a man down for some time, but Calafiori especially deserves praise for not only handling the pressure, but for coming up with the winner.

Dango Ouattara

Of course he deserves a spot on the team this week. A first professional career hat-trick calls for this inclusion of high honour.

Cody Gakpo

Liverpool have a never-ending supply of scoring threats, and this week that threat was Cody Gakpo. Two goals and an assist for Mo Salah’s goal, he is more than deserving of a spot.

Alexander Isak

I don’t think anyone would deny Isak a place in the team this week. He bagged two of his team's three goals and looked class out there. To be fair, though, he did only really have to beat Jan Bednarek, and he’s not exactly the quickest.