Are You Not Entertained?
- Daniel Austin-Chukwu
- May 4, 2024
- 4 min read
We’re only a few games away from the end of 2023/2024 Premier League season and it’s been another fascinating campaign. From an entertainment perspective, I don’t think there’s a domestic league that can top the English top-flight, and this year’s edition has been a testament of that. Last minute winners, freak results, and goals galore, we’ve had it all. So, for this week’s post, we’re going to run down some of the best games of this campaign in my humble opinion.
Spurs 1-4 Chelsea (7th November 2023)
I can’t remember a more chaotic encounter than this trainwreck of a match between Spurs and Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. What made this game so mental was how Spurs came away from the night receiving more praise from the media than Chelsea, despite getting trounced in their own backyard. However, the scoreline itself barely tells the story. Spurs took an early lead through Dejan Kulusevski and looked set for a comfortable win. However, a Cole Palmer penalty levelled things up. And then things really started to hit the fan for Spurs.
They were reduced to nine men after Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie were sent off before Chelsea finally managed to put them away courtesy of a second half hattrick from Nicolas Jackson. Two things were most notable from the game. The first being Spurs’ complete naivety in persisting with their extremely high defensive line & the second being Chelsea’s inability to kill the game off, despite their opponents being two men down. One of the most bizarre 90 minutes of football I’ll ever see, but I’m not going to complain.
Chelsea 4-4 City (12th November 2023)
Chelsea are now two for two on my list, and funny how this was their very next match after their classic against Spurs. I didn’t really give the Blues much chance against the reigning three-time Premier League champions, but their performance showed that, when they want to, they can chop it up with the big boys. This game was filled with drama; VAR controversy, 2 lead changes and a last-minute equaliser. This was a great example of two teams going hell for leather to get the all-important three points.
When Rodri scored what looked like being a winner in the 86th minute to make it 4-3 to City, I thought that’s job done for them, as it’s rare for them to lead a game that late on and fail to take home the three points. As up and down Chelsea have been this season, they showed a lot of guts to come away with a point. You could tell that Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling both had a point to prove against their former employers. No matter who you were rooting for, those in attendance sure would have got their money’s worth.
Chelsea 4-3 United (5th April 2024)
As a United fan, this for me was when our season officially died, however looking at this game objectively, this had to make the cut. I won’t act like this match was great quality wise, but it’s the ending alone that, to this day, I still can’t truly believe. Chelsea quickly took a 2-0 lead courtesy of a Gallagher strike & Cole Palmer penalty. But United showed their powers of recovery by establishing a 3-2 lead, the pick of the bunch being a cool finish from Garnacho after an exquisite outside of the foot pass from Antony.
Just as the game was coming to an end is when madness descended upon Stamford Bridge. A 100th minute penalty from Palmer followed by a 101st minute strike from the same player completed one of the most dramatic comebacks in recent memory. This game represented the first time a team winning that late on (the 99th minute to be exact) ended up tasting defeat (it had to be United didn’t it). We’ve seen some crazy endings in the Premier League before, and this one is right up there.
Bournemouth 4-3 Luton (13th March 2024)
I appreciate that this list has been very top 6 centric so let me show some love to a clash against two teams in the bottom half of the league. Step up Bournemouth vs Luton. For the most part, these types of matchups can be quite cagey with neither team willing to give an inch. When Luton raced into a 3-0 first half lead, the game looked like it was over. Even when Bournemouth pulled a goal back it felt like more of a consolation than anything else. But this is the Premier League, we do things differently here.
The Cherries reduced the deficit further in the 62nd minute and then a double from Antoine Semenyo finished off the comeback to leave Luton devastated. This was only the fifth time in Premier League history that a team had won a match from 3-0 down. If there’s ever a game that is the epitome of “a game of two halves” this was it. What makes the English top-flight so great is there’s entertainment right across the league, the many reasons why we all love Premier League football.
This Week’s Hot Take
In terms of endings to matches, it’s hard to pick a season that has had as many crazy ones as this one has. Why have we seen some many frantic climaxes? I couldn’t tell you. Maybe it’s down to the increase in stoppage time or simply just teams not knowing when to say quit. It doesn’t matter what it is, the proportion of late goals being scored has been on the rise and I’m all for it. There’s a reason why the Premier League is known as being the most entertaining in the world, and this season continues to show that.
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