The Premier League spoiled us once again this week, providing drama, late goals, red cards and shocks at every turn. The best league in the world lived up to its label once more.

During every gameweek, there are always a few moments that either the main TV cameras don’t catch, or don’t consider important at the time, and some achievements receive recognition while others are totally overlooked.

There are always moments, players, and even entire games that go under the radar, so this piece is dedicated to bringing you all the drama that you may not have heard about this weekend.

5. Brentford and Ipswich Towns’ First PL Meeting

If you have a friend or family member who is indifferent towards footballs, just show them this game, or more specifically, this image:

I missed it, but what a game at the Gtech! Brentford edged Ipswich 4-3 with Mbeumo's 96th-minute heroics stealing the show. The xG chart highlights Brentford's relentless attack (3.94 xG) and Mbeumo's penalty plus last-minute winner. Great performance from Wissa, while Ipswich's… pic.twitter.com/s7i1zSNHDt

— Sertalp B. Çay (@sertalpbilal) October 27, 2024

A match featuring seven goals, own goals, penalties, and a red card to top it all off, it was a Premier League fixture for the ages. It was the first time Brentford and Ipswich had ever played each other in the Premier League, making it the 937th different head-to-head in the 33 seasons since the league was reformatted.

And what a first edition of the fixture it turned out to be. Ipswich, winless after 8 but threatening on the counter-attack, led 2-0 after half an hour thanks to finishes from Sammie Szmodics and George Hirst, aided in part by poor Brentford defense.

However, just before half-time, the Bee’s finally started to buzz, as Vitaly Janelt’s low cross was turned home by Yoane Wissa, who just a minute later was threaded through on goal again. Ipswich keeper Arijanet Muric saved his initial attempt, but the ball ricocheted into the net off the unfortunate Premier league debutant Harry Clarke, whose nightmare afternoon had only just started.

Half time came and went, and just six minutes into the second period, Clarke made a mess of tracking Keane Lewis-Potter into the box, needlessly bringing him down and giving away a penalty, which the ice-cold Bryan Mbeumo converted with ease.

The final nail in the coffin for Clarke came just 18 minutes after the penalty incident, as Lewis-Potter once again caused him issues, prodding the ball away from Clarke’s last man challenge on the edge of the area. The outcome was inevitable, and Harry Clarke had sealed his place in Premier league folklore after having what is possibly the worst debut the division has ever seen.

Brentford forced Muric into a few sharp saves, and had it not been for Kosovo international , Ipswich could easily have conceded seven or eight. However, the Bee’s just couldn’t finish off the Tractor Boys’, and it almost cost them three points.

In the 86th minute, Leif Davis found space on the left flank, and whipped a delicious ball to the edge of the six yard box. Waiting there was the in-form Liam Delap, who with the deftest of touches, flicked it past Mark Flekken to drag Ipswich back into an unlikely tie.

They must have thought they had earned their fifth draw of the league season, as after five minutes of stoppage time, the score was still 3-3. However, as he so often does, Mbeumo came up clutch for them again. Cutting in from the left flank, he lifted a lovely cross in towards the back post.

This cross was different though, and as it curled through the air, it drifted further and further from the heads waiting in the box, and Muric, caught off guard by the ball’s trajectory, could only watch it float into the bottom corner to hand Brentford the latest of winners.

'In it goes from Mbeumo, astonishing' 🙌

Bryan's late winner 👇 pic.twitter.com/DROqVv64i9

— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) October 26, 2024

Even then action wasn’t over; Brentford gave the ball away near their own corner flag a minute later, and Delap, Ipswich’s most dangerous player, saw a speculative effort from a tight angle fly towards the top corner. It would have been one of the goals of the season, but luck was on Brentford’s side, and the shot smacked off the post to save their blushes.

A chaotic, frenetic, and bonkers game, Brentford and Ipswich personified what the Premier League is all about: it is never over until the whistle blows.

4. Chelsea’s Unusual New Record

Chelsea are a team on an improving trend under new coach Enzo Maresca. There is no doubt that they are looking more assured on the ball and seem more familiar with the tactics given to them pre-game, and this is no doubt down to their exceptionally young squad having such a tricky experience building season last campaign.

Coming under fire at different flashpoints throughout the 2023/24 season, many forgot how young Chelsea’s exceptionally expensively assembled squad actually were at the time. With many of them now having a full season of Premier League football in the tank, they now look like a side coming of age.

Winning 2-1 in a hotly contested home battle against Newcastle, Chelsea once again showed their hand, and indicated that they have more than enough to challenge for Champions League places this season.

It was a mature performance, one that allowed very little in terms of Newcastle opportunities, and the manner of the performance is what made it remarkable, as Chelsea started what is their second youngest Premier League lineup ever, with an average player age of just 23.3.

For the game against Newcastle today, Chelsea (23y 89d) have named their second-youngest starting XI in a Premier League match, with an average age of 23 years, 89 days.

Their only younger XI was fielded in December 2023 vs Crystal Palace (23y 21d).#CHENEW pic.twitter.com/Pr5wGLYHwF

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) October 27, 2024

In the process, they also became the first Premier League side ever not to start a player aged 28 or older in their first eight league games of the season. Tosin Adarabioyo, who they brought in on a free transfer from Fulham in the summer, is the oldest player the Blues’ have fielded this season, aged a spritely 27.

The young talent they have is exceptional: Madueke, Palmer and Caicedo are just 22, and a host of players including Levi Colwill, Malo Gusto and Romeo Lavia are aged 21 or younger. Even Enzo Fernandez, Nicolas Jackson, Pedro Neto and Mykhaylo Mudryk are under 24. The quality of these players at such a young age is a quality very few other sides have.

While Chelsea’s squad still has a lot of maturing to do, the amount of level-headedness they already have is remarkable, and the fact that the players they have are only going to gain more experience leads me to believe that the Blue’s have a very bright future.

3. Diogo Dalot’s Woeful Miss

The misery never seems to end for Manchester United fans. Already on a bad run of form before their Sunday fixture with West Ham, there were big hints that the game could be do or die for manager Erik Ten Hag, after achieving just one win in their last eight games in all competitions.

However, from the outset, United performed like they had a point to prove. Garnacho saw an attempt crash against the bar after less than two minutes, shortly before Rasmus Hojlund, Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes saw excellent chances pass them by.

However, by far the best opening of the game, and the one that summed up United’s season so far, fell to Diogo Dalot after half an hour.

Fernandes found himself with the ball and in a pocket of space in the midfield, and Dalot had made one of his trademark wide-forward runs. Fernandes lofted a beautiful pass that met Dalot’s stride, and the Portuguese full-back prodded it past the on-rushing Lukasz Fabianksi, giving himself an empty net to aim for.

Despite the ball bouncing and defenders rushing back to try and rescue the situation, any striker in the world scores the opportunity 10 times out of 10. Unfortunately for the Red Devils’, Dalot is not renowned for his finishing.

Attempting to side-foot the ball at the top of the bounce, he could only watch in horror as the golden opportunity was sliced high and wide of the gaping goal.

🚨🗣 - Alan Shearer at half-time:

"Dalot's miss is one of the worst misses in the Premier League era.

"We'll be talking about this in 20 years time." pic.twitter.com/TIQRkF7AI0

— UF (@UtdFaithfuls) October 27, 2024

Dalot collapsed to his knees in despair, and I imagine that should there have been sufficient leg room in their seats, most of the United fans would have joined him. United players all over the pitch held their heads in their hands.

While United didn’t realize it then, that missed chance would come back to haunt them, as in the second minute of added time, West Ham were awarded a contentious penalty (something we’ll come back to later), which Jarrod Bowen duly converted, handing United their fourth defeat in the league already.

Ten Haag may not have much time left at Manchester United, but he might as well spend what time he does have on finishing drills.

2. Van Dijk mocks Arsenal’s “Injury Crisis”

Undoubtedly Sunday’s most mouth-watering game, Arsenal vs Liverpool played out exactly as an early season title chasing clash should, with both teams keeping their foot on the gas throughout.

With the game ending 2-2, the result reflected the pattern of the game pretty accurately. However, we are not here to focus on the game itself, but on what was going on in the build up. Let’s just say Virgil Van Dijk had done his homework.

Prior to the game, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta had made much of missing key players through injury, including maestro-captain Martin Odegaard, while star center back William Saliba was suspended after his red card against Bournemouth. However, despite the standing of both injured players, they were the only two injuries afflicting the Arsenal squad, something Virgil Van Dijk drove home in a post match interview.

In fairness, Arsenal did lose a further two defenders, Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber, during the game, but Van Dijk was solely focusing on Arteta’s pregame statement.

Asked whether Liverpool sensed anxiousness from Arsenal after another player (Gabriel) went down injured, Van Dijk bluntly responded: “Another player? They only have two injuries! They played a very strong team, and you know, injuries are part of the game.”

'Another player? They only have two injuries!' 😬

Virgil Van Dijk's response when asked if Liverpool felt any anxiety from Arsenal after 'another injury' to Mikel Arteta's side 🍿 pic.twitter.com/cXrs6UA0Kv

— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) October 28, 2024

Chastening words indeed, but not entirely incorrect. Liverpool’s own injuries put even further into picture how well off Arsenal actually are. The Gunners were missing two players before kick-off, while Liverpool had five first teamers absent through injury, including summer signing Federico Chiesa, and starting striker Diogo Jota.

The points were shared, but Liverpool most certainly won the war of words. Mikel Arteta may think twice in future before announcing an “injury crisis” to the press again.

1. VAR

Once again, VAR was a major talking point of the weekend, no more so than in the dying minutes of West Ham’s win over Manchester United.

The out of form Hammers’ would have been holding out for a bit of luck to fall their way during this game, as they haven’t looked likely to come by a result any other way, and on this occasion, the footballing gods listened.

In the 92nd minute, a bouncing ball in the United box fell for Danny Ings, who was at close quarters with United center back Matthijs De Ligt. Both went for the ball, and the next part comes down to objectivity.

My view of the controversial penalty decision between @WestHam and @ManUtd @premierleague #Penalty pic.twitter.com/1ZGUjQw1YA

— ⚽ Gary Davis ⚽ (@Booteful_Game) October 27, 2024

Some have said that De Ligt gets his knee to the ball before bundling into Ings, which constitutes a legal tackle. However, others postulate that the movement on the ball is down to the spin it took off the turf. If this is the case, then De Ligt has missed the ball, and in crashing into the West Ham striker, gives away a perfectly clear penalty.

There just simply wasn’t an angle that made it clear to referee David Coote whether De Ligt grazed the ball or not. Importantly, his initial on field decision was to wave away the penalty claims and let play go on, which begs the question as to why VAR recommended that he overturn his decision.

It was a 50/50 challenge sure, and West Ham could have felt hard-done-by if they weren’t given the penalty, but initially there didn’t seem to be enough evidence to overturn the decision. So when Coote turned away from the VAR monitor and pointed to the spot, Erik Ten Haag was apoplectic. When Bowen converted the penalty he was even more so, and had strong words in his post-match press conference.

🚨🗣 - Erik ten Hag on the penalty against West Ham:

"This is the third time I feel real injustice this season, and it has a big impact on our team, and where we are in the ranking (league).

"This is NOT right."pic.twitter.com/OpALthz6bL

— UF (@UtdFaithfuls) October 27, 2024

Bournemouth will also feel that they suffered injustice at the hands of VAR during their visit to Villa Park, where they drew 1-1 to Aston Villa.

They had two penalty claims in the second half, decisions that, should they have been reversed, would have seen Bournemouth pick up a huge away win.

The first was for a Matty Cash challenge on Antoine Semeneyo. With Cash sliding towards him near the byline in the box, Semeneyo shifted the ball away and went down. Slow motion replays show that while it would have been soft, Cash didn’t touch the ball and did make slight contact with the left foot of Semeneyo. The Bournemouth forward was booked for simulation afterwards, a decision he would’ve felt was unfair.

The next should almost certainly have been a penalty. A cross came in from a corner, and Villa winger Leon Bailey seemed to have everything under control. In the right spot, and able to watch the ball all the way through the air, it looked to be a very straight forward headed clearance.

However, Bailey somehow miss-judged it, and the ball ended up dropping in front of him and seemingly onto his hand, and was shepherded behind by a Bournemouth player for another corner.

Just rewatching the highlights from yesterday and saw the handball penalty shout again…

I mean isn’t it obvious? #afcb pic.twitter.com/qmE1glDDPa

— Inside AFC Bournemouth (@InsideAFCB) October 27, 2024

While the Bournemouth players appealed, and VAR did check it, they saw nothing untoward about the attempted clearance and waved play on.

It once again brings into question the consistency of VAR. Penalties have been given for a lot less the Leon Bailey’s error, and they have also been denied for a lot more than West Ham’s late winner.

VAR can no doubt be a huge asset in the Premier League, but it has time and time again shown that it is unreliable, and can lead to mistakes and misinterpretations. There is still room for it in the game, but surely some in the English FA are getting fed up with the controversy at this point.