The best Premier League games of the season so far - as chosen by our writers (2024)

Newcastle United’s gloriously chaotic comeback victory over West Ham United provided the latest dramatic offering of an enthralling Premier League season.

Saturday lunchtime’s seven-goal thriller on Tyneside set an upbeat tone for the weekend’s action as top-flight football returned after the final international break of 2023-24. But was it the most exciting contest of the campaign to date?

We asked our writers to come up with their favourite games of the Premier League season so far. Give us yours in the comments section below…

Newcastle United 4-3 West Ham United

In the nose-bleed section of the Leazes End, West Ham fans were chanting “Olé”.

“Stand up if you’re 3-1 up,” they crowed. It was one of those dizzying, knife-edge moments at St James’ Park when the prospect of all-out collapse was not too distant. An entire season was “probably there and then,” Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff said.

Newcastle are the Premier League’s accidental entertainers. They are not supposed to be this open, this vulnerable, this chaotic, but their ridiculous, sapping injury list has robbed them of stability and it struck again when Jamaal Lascelles limped off after 17 minutes with what has turned out to be a season-ending ACL rupture.

At that stage, Newcastle were already leading 1-0 through Alexander Isak’s penalty. Head coach Eddie Howe’s “reset” during the international break was paying off. From there though, uncertainty spread like a virus. There were goals for the visitors from Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus and, early in the second half, Jarrod Bowen. West Ham were cruising, St James’ was cursing.

Howe’s team are special, though, in the purest sense of the word. Amid the bedlam, they trusted each other. “We had control. It was just about whether we could calm down,” said Longstaff.

They did, kind of. More players fell to injury, Isak converted a second penalty, two substitutes were substituted and Harvey Barnes, much missed over recent months because of, yes, injury, came off the bench and scored twice. Three goals in 13 minutes and still time for Anthony Gordon to be sent off for a second yellow card.

“Stand up if you’re 4-3 up,” Newcastle supporters sang.

A glorious mess.

George Caulkin

Tottenham Hotspur 1-4 Chelsea

A bonkers game that served up as much drama as a Prince Andrew interview.

Five goals, four more disallowed goals, a penalty, two reds cards, nine yellows and never-ending VAR chaos — this frenetic Monday night spectacle in early November was a classic.

Heading into the match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs, revived under new head coach Ange Postecoglou, had the chance to return to the top of the Premier League. And within minutes they were ahead thanks to Dejan Kulusevski’s deflected shot, before Son Heung-min had a goal chalked off for offside.

So far, so predictable. Yet chaos was to come.

Destiny Udogie somehow escaped a straight red for a two-footed lunge on Raheem Sterling before Mauricio Pochettino’s stuttering Chelsea then had two goals of their own disallowed following VAR checks. However, the second was brought back for a penalty, with Tottenham’s Cristian Romero sent off for a wild challenge, to level the match at the break.

Amid the madness, it was easy to forget that the home side’s James Maddison and Micky van de Ven, who had both started the season in wonderful form, had limped off injured.

In the second half, Udogie eventually saw red for another chop at Sterling. Unperturbed, Tottenham continued to play with an absurdly high line and defended valiantly until Chelsea finally made their two-man advantage count after 75 minutes through Nicolas Jackson.

Incredibly, Eric Dier thought he had equalised with a sublime volleyed finish that was also ruled out, before Jackson scored two late goals on the break to finish this crazy contest with a rather surreal hat-trick.

Tom Burrows

Wolves 3-4 Manchester United

There are two types of brilliant football games to watch.

The first sees players operating at their absolute best, competing for mastery over each other and showing you the heights that this sport can reach. The second is where a group of players — for some reason — cannot operate at their best and delirious chaos ensues.

Wolves 3 Manchester United 4 on February 1 was a stunning example of the latter.

Injuries and dysfunctional recruitment have meant Erik ten Hag’s plan to create the best transition team has gone awry. This season, United matches have often featured a chaotic 20 minutes where central midfield is more of a gentle suggestion than a tactical necessity.

United were 2-0 up at Molineux after 25 minutes and led 3-1 with 15 minutes of the 90 to go, but somehow drawing 3-3 five minutes into added time. And then… he arrived: Kobbie Mainoo twisting, turning and nutmegging defenders before curling a shot into the bottom corner to cap things off.

His celebration saw him put out a hand in a “Calm down” gesture before going for a knee slide and outstretching his arms.

A future superstar had arrived. It was time for United fans to get very, very giddy.

Carl Anka

Liverpool 1 Manchester City 1

At full time in this game three weeks ago, managers Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola could have linked arms, smiled knowingly at each other, gazed across the Anfield turf like two old shepherds and wistfully whispered: “Look at what we created.”

The latest, and possibly last, chapter in their rivalry was a fitting epitaph for what the pair have made over the past eight years.

Yes, there was drama (Nathan Ake sold Ederson short with a back pass and Alexis Mac Allister despatched the resulting penalty after a long delay) and controversy (Liverpool thought they should have had a last-minute penalty) but this match was all about the pure quality of top-level football.

Their genius even shines through set pieces, as witnessed by Kevin De Bruyne’s whip to the near post for John Stones’ opener.

The Premier League has always been incredibly watchable, but it was more so for the shenanigans and the noise rather than the technicality. That changed thanks to Klopp and Guardiola and this was Liverpool and City at their beautiful best.

Tim Spiers

Bournemouth 4 Luton Town 3

Many neutral fans had shifted their attention elsewhere as Luton travelled to Bournemouth on a cold Wednesday in March. With Atletico Madrid hosting Inter Milan in the second leg of a Champions League round of 16 tie, surely a bottom-half Premier League clash would not bring the same level of entertainment?

How wrong we were.

Luton surged to a 3-0 lead by half-time, exploiting wide areas in typical Rob Edwards fashion. Even the most faithful Bournemouth supporters must have thought that the second half would be simply playing for pride. Instead, within five minutes of the restart, an excellent individual goal from Dominic Solanke was followed up by two in three minutes by Illia Zabarnyi and Antoine sem*nyo to restore parity after 64 minutes.

sem*nyo wasn’t done there, as an 83rd-minute winner saw the 24-year-old thump the ball past Thomas Kaminski with his right foot, completing an unbelievable 4-3 victory as Bournemouth became only the fifth team in Premier League history to overturn a 3-0 deficit.

Mark Carey

Liverpool 4 Fulham 3

“I don’t think anyone would have thought before that Liverpool v Fulham will be a game that you will never forget in your life, but… you’re welcome,” beamed a jubilant Jurgen Klopp.

Trailing 3-2 at home in the 87th minute on December 3, Liverpool launched a stunning late revival. Wataru Endo scored his first Premier League goal with a classy finish from Mohamed Salah’s lay-off and then, seconds later, Trent Alexander-Arnold controlled a clearance and smashed the ball into the bottom corner to spark wild celebrations around Anfield.

It wasn’t just the late drama which made this contest so memorable but the sheer quality of the goals.

Midway through the first half, Alexander-Arnold’s curling free-kick hit the underside of the crossbar and went in off goalkeeper Bernd Leno. Former Liverpool youngster Harry Wilson equalised before Alexis Mac Allister restored the home side’s lead with a thunderous long-range strike. Goals from Kenny Tete and Bobby De Cordova-Reid put Fulham on the brink of inflicting a first home league defeat on Klopp’s side for 13 months before that incredible late show.

“I don’t think I ever saw a game with this amount of beautiful goals,” Klopp added. “We scored four worldies and were lucky in the end to win the game, and that tells you everything. An outstanding experience for everyone who was here.”

James Pearce

Chelsea 4 Manchester City 4

The November rain poured down. The ball skidded over the wet turf. Stamford Bridge crackled.

This game was a rollercoaster, from Marc Cucurella deciding a discreet pull on Erling Haaland’s shirt in the penalty box was the best course of defensive action, to Reece James being fit enough to fire free kicks on target.

Thiago Silva’s response to looking retirement-ready was rushing across the front post to head home an equaliser, while Raheem Sterling was liked enough by Chelsea fans to celebrate scoring – before swiftly remembering not to celebrate against his previous club.

Manuel Akanji equalised in added time to make it four first-half goals, before Erling Haaland’s crotch got the final touch as City’s lead was restored two minutes into the second half. Nicolas Jackson equalised but surely the inevitable was delivered four minutes from time, as Rodri arrived late on the edge of the box to fire in off the leggy leg of Chelsea’s previously mentioned 39-year-old Brazilian defender.

City led on three separate occasions but they did not win, thanks to one of their own.

Five minutes into added time, Armando Broja was taken out by Ruben Dias and Cole Palmer – a 21-year-old summer signing from the treble winners – delivered from the penalty spot. City’s boy is Chelsea’s man et cetera.

An instant classic of a game. A flash in the pan for Chelsea, and two points City may still regret dropping come May 19.

Michael Bailey

Luton Town 3 Arsenal 4

This was an extraordinary match. As much as Declan Rice’s stoppage-time winner ended up as the defining moment and a sign of Arsenal’s increased resilience, Luton’s performance was wonderful, also.

Too often these days, the smaller clubs in the Premier League approach these games looking daunted by a gulf in quality. But Rob Edwards and his Luton players seem to relish the challenge. This December night was another of those occasions when they fell just short, but it certainly wasn’t down to attitude or spirit.

Twice they came back to equalise before, tantalisingly, Ross Barkley thrust them into a 3-2 lead. That unlikely advantage was cancelled out just three minutes later by Kai Havertz before Rice’s decisive late intervention.

If Arsenal end up winning the 2023-24 Premier League, this victory, at a packed and partisan Kenilworth Road, will be one of those they hark back to.

Oliver Kay

(Top photos: Getty Images)