Jean-Philippe Mateta
Star of the show in Saturday’s six-goal thriller at Selhurst Park was Jean-Philippe Mateta, with the in-form Frenchman scoring a hat-trick against Bournemouth which meant he hit the 50-goal involvement mark in the Premier League for the Eagles, courtesy of 43 goals and eight assists (51 in total).
The striker has scored two of Palace’s three Premier League hat-tricks, while courtesy of his late penalty strike, he was the first player to have his third goal of the game come courtesy of a 90th-minute equaliser since Somen Tchoyi in May 2011 for West Bromwich Albion against Newcastle United.
Alas, Mateta’s trio of goals was not enough to earn all three points for the hosts, thus becoming the first player to score a home Premier League hat-trick and not win since Andy Carroll in April 2016 in a 3-3 draw for West Ham against Arsenal.
Overall Mateta had six big chances in the game (scoring three), the joint-most in a Premier League game on record (since 2010-11).
Danny Welbeck
He may be in the autumn of his career, but at 34 years old Danny Welbeck is showing no signs of slowing down.
Against Newcastle on Saturday, Brighton’s veteran striker scored a match-winning double to make it four goals in his past three Premier League games, more than in his previous 15 appearances in the competition combined (three).
The former Manchester United and Arsenal man’s recent goals have tended to be game-changers, with 12 of his past 13 top-flight strikes either putting the Seagulls ahead (nine, including two at the weekend) or drawing the game level (three), with five of those goals winners.
Welbeck has Georginio Rutter to thank for setting up one of his goals against the Magpies, with four of the Dutchman’s five Premier League assists for Brighton coming for the former England striker, with all four putting Brighton ahead in the game.
In an all-round superb display, Welbeck also set up a joint-game-high three goalscoring chances for team-mates.
Erling Haaland
It would not be a Premier League weekend without another tour de force display from Erling Haaland, with the unstoppable Manchester City striker among the goals again on Saturday against Everton.
The Norwegian scored his 10th (and 11th) Premier League goals of the season, with this being the third earliest (MD8) a player has reached double figures in a campaign in the competition, with, you guessed it, Haaland himself also responsible for the other two (MD5 in 2022-23, MD6 in 2024-25).
With 11 Premier League goals under his belt already, Haaland has, incredibly, scored as many or more goals than 12 of the other 19 sides in the competition this season.
Haaland had Savinho to thank for setting up one of his goals on Saturday, with seven of the Brazilian’s 12 assists for Manchester City in all competitions coming for the Norwegian. Since the start of last season, only Jacob Murphy has assisted a specific team-mate more often among Premier League sides (nine, for Alexander Isak at Newcastle).
