Five Knee-Jerk Reactions to the Premier League Weekend

From more late John Stones heroics to Rasmus Højlund kickstarting Manchester United’s season, we react (all too quickly) to Matchday 8 in the Premier League.

Every Monday, we bring you a bunch of knee-jerk reactions to the weekend of Premier League football which we, as data people, should perhaps put a little more thought into.

But we will – as always – use some numbers to back up our conclusions, so they aren’t entirely without foundation.

Following an action-packed Matchday 8, here are our latest snap judgements on England’s top-flight football.

John Stones is the Premier League’s Best Clutch Player

When a team is in need, they usually look to a talismanic forward or creator-in-chief for a moment of magic. For Manchester City, it wouldn’t be surprising for their key man in those moments to be Erling Haaland or, in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne, one of their many, many other talented attacking midfielders.

But this season, John Stones has been City’s clutch player. With Sunday’s game at Wolves in its fifth and final minute of time added on at the end of the second half, it was once again Stones who popped up with a telling contribution.

Having scored what was at the time the latest goal of the season (and is now the third-latest) with his equaliser in September’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal (clocked at 97:14) – this weekend, Stones scored the sixth-latest goal of the campaign with the winner against Wolves (94:34).

Not only is he now responsible for two of the six latest goals the Premier League has seen in 2024-25, he is the only player in the whole league who has scored more than once after the 85th minute. And his goals – one equaliser and one match-winner – could have absolutely huge consequences in the title race.

Without those two Stones strikes, City would have three fewer points, and would be four points behind leaders Liverpool. They’d also be two behind Arsenal, who would have two more were it not for Stones’ late equaliser against them.

City could probably do without leaving it quite so late quite as often as they have done so far this season, but when they do, they have a clutch player to turn to.

Newcastle’s Lack of Goals is a Real Concern

With just eight goals scored in eight games this season and a blank in Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Brighton, Newcastle aren’t having the best time of it at the sharp end of the pitch.

Their only two goals in their last 404 minutes of action in all competitions have been penalties – one vs Man City and one vs AFC Wimbledon – and after losing this weekend, they have now gone four Premier League games without a win.

Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon were both guilty of missing huge chances against Brighton, and they were made to pay for their profligacy. Newcastle created chances worth 2.02 expected goals but failed to find the net even once, making it the second-worst underperformance compared to expected goals by any team in a Premier League game this season after Bournemouth’s -2.2 against Leicester before the international break.

This isn’t a problem specific to this weekend for Eddie Howe’s side, though. Over the course of the season, only Manchester United (-5.4) have underperformed their non-penalty expected goals total to a worse extent than Newcastle (-3.9).

You could view those numbers as a worrying sign of poor finishing ability, or as a positive indication that Newcastle are creating enough chances for results to improve. Whichever way you look at it, though, with pressure on Howe increasing, results probably need to improve pretty soon.

Rasmus Højlund Can Kick United’s Season into Gear

There’s a lot of negativity around Manchester United at the moment, but are things really that bad?

After battling back to pick up their first points from a losing position in a Premier League game this season with Saturday’s win over Brentford, United are 11th in the table, but only three points off the top six. They are only two points behind Tottenham, and three behind Chelsea, who certainly seem to have had a positive start to life under Enzo Maresca. Looking at the table with a glass-half-full outlook, United aren’t in the dire position some might have you think.

The return of Rasmus Højlund provides as much reason for optimism, and his well-taken winner this weekend gave a much-needed glimpse of what he brings to the team. United have scored just seven goals this season from 12.4 xG, giving them the worst record in front of goal in the top flight when looking at expected goals (-5.4 underperformance). Højlund’s finishing ability should help in that regard.

Arguably just as important, though, was the assist for the winner, provided by Bruno Fernandes. It was only the United captain’s second assist of the season, and given he is still without a single goal, he could do with upping his creative numbers. His perfectly weighted, deft touch to play Højlund in on goal should give him and his teammates a whole lot of confidence that he can get back to his best.

Dejan Kulusevski is the Premier League’s Most Underrated Player

Dejan Kulusevski’s move from the right flank to an advanced number eight position has been one of the biggest success stories of the season so far. He has become integral to how Tottenham function, and the addition of his strength, technical ability and game intelligence in central midfield have given Ange Postecoglou’s side a new dimension.

The presence of another creative midfielder in the middle was supposed to take some of the pressure off James Maddison, but Kulusevski has done more than that. He has now overtaken his teammate in terms of his importance to this team, and as much was confirmed this weekend when Maddison was hooked at half-time and Kulusevski, the scorer of Spurs’ first goal, went on to play the whole game.

Maddison hasn’t been at his best this season, but that hasn’t mattered, in part because Kulusevski has been so brilliant.

He works incredibly hard, covering more ground than any other player in the Premier League this season, running 12.5 km per 90 (min 300 minutes played), and carries a great deal of threat in the final third. He ranks fifth in the division and first for Tottenham for chances created (23), while only Brennan Johnson (26) has had more shots for Spurs than him (16).

His goal on Saturday to bring Spurs level came at a time when frustration and impatience was just starting to creep in at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and it gave his team the boost they needed for a second-half goal blitz to put West Ham to the sword.

He is having an exceptional season, and is quietly proving himself as one of the Premier League’s best players.

Dwight McNeil the No 10 Can Fire Everton Up the Table

Talking of positional switches working wonders, Dwight McNeil has come into his own since moving to a number 10 role for Everton. And once again this weekend, he made a telling contribution that was crucial to his side getting a big result.

After setting up Michael Keane for his sensational goal to put Everton 2-0 up at Ipswich, McNeil now has three goals and three assists in eight Premier League appearances in 2024-25. That means he has been directly involved in the joint-highest proportion of his team’s goals (66.7%) of all players in the Premier League this season (level with Mohamed Salah – 10 of 15).

McNeil spent the start of his Premier League career battling the drop with Burnley, and he hasn’t experienced much else since his 2022 move to Everton. He deserves to play at a top-half team at some point, and his form this season – along with Everton’s recent run of four games without a defeat – will be giving Sean Dyche’s team confidence that they can do more than just beat the drop this season.

He is also showing that he is technically adept enough to play in a central position, and if he doesn’t get Everton into the top half, maybe he’ll eventually start looking to get a move to a team that is more consistently battling away from the relegation zone.

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