The good 😀, the bad 😕 and the ugly 👹: The joy of Sané, Özil and Hazard | OneFootball

One managerial departure, 22 goals, and countless ridiculous Chelsea transfer rumours – it’s just another weekend in the Premier League.

In between Chelsea being linked with Peter Crouch on Thursday and Ashley Barnes on Sunday we had nine games to focus on.

From those, here is the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

THE GOOD ?

Best team performance: Arsenal ?

With Alexis Sánchez off to Manchester, Aaron Ramsey ill, Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud injured, and no new signings (yet!), you would have been forgiven for expecting Arsenal to have a little trouble against Crystal Palace.

The game was, however, finished within 13 minutes. Nacho Monreal managed a goal and two assists before he was subbed off with an injury.

However, he wasn’t involved in the game’s best goal – that was a Mesut Özil-inspired work of art.

Just beautiful.

No Alexis, no problem.

Best player: Eden Hazard ?

We could’ve gone with Mesut Özil but we already gave Arsenal the performance of the weekend accolade. That leaves Eden Hazard with a clear run at best player.

Two goals and a sumptuous pre-assist for Willian, this was Hazard at his purest.

That was good enough alone.

Hazard’s two goals were the mark of a quality player at his very best as Chelsea finally scored in the Premier League again.

The Belgian was at his unstoppable best all afternoon.

Best assist: Leroy Sané ⚽

With Hazard and Özil contributing to the stunning goals above, we felt like the best goal of the weekend isn’t so much a thing. Best assist, now that’s a big prize.

Incredibly neither of the assists we’ve already looked at was the best. No, the best came from Leroy Sané.

The assist was Sané’s tenth of the season – he’s the youngest player to hit that mark since Opta started tracking all assists back in 2005.

Not only did he help Sergio Agüero to a hat-trick, he all but ended DeAndre Yedlin’s career in the process.

THE BAD ☹️

Worst team performance: Huddersfield Town ?

David Wagner’s Terriers are never defensive-minded but they struggled to get going at Stoke, who found new life under Paul Lambert.

The usual Huddersfield pressing game looked a little off the pace and they couldn’t get going with the ball either – they managed to complete just 55% of their passes all afternoon.

It’s no wonder they managed just six shots and, per Whoscored, had only seven touches inside the Stoke box.

With teams in the bottom half investing and just five points separating the relegation zone and tenth place, Huddersfield need to fix up quickly.

Worst player: Molla Wagué  ?

The defender foolishly fouled Jamie Vardy to give away a penalty, completed just 10 of 16 passes, and was subbed after an hour.

He made one interception and won zero tackles.

It was just Wagué’s fourth Premier League start and it doesn’t take much to figure out why.

Softest goal conceded: Jay Rodriguez v Everton ?

With Everton defender Ashley Williams dragged out of position to challenge for a ball he couldn’t win, West Brom’s Jay Rodriguez was left of acres of space to run into.

He did just that, was found by a pinpoint pass, and tucked the ball beyond Jordan Pickford with ease.

The worst imaginable start for the Toffees.

AND THE UGLY ?

James McCarthy’s horror injury – a complete accident – is something we never want to see. The Everton midfielder suffered a double leg fracture and faces a long road to recovery. We wish him all the best.

Ugly in a completely different way is Chelsea’s current transfer policy. They want a physical striker, we get it, but reported interest in Peter Crouch, Christian Benteke, Islam Slimani, and most recently Ashley Barnes is just bizarre. Unless they’re all an elaborate smokescreen for an Edin Džeko transfer, serious questions need to be asked.

Lastly, Marco Silva lost his job at Watford. The Hornets blamed it all on Everton’s approach for the Portuguese a few months ago. That just seems like some convenient finger pointing to us.