The 2022/2023 Premier League season is now into its fifteenth game week, and the entertainment continues to be relentless and thoroughly enjoyable.

As a result, we will be breaking down each round of fixtures by picking out 3 of the biggest talking points, covering the biggest results, goals and general talking points from the week. We then will round off by picking our player of the week and game of the week based on what we saw in that round of games.

Let us know over on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) if you have seen anything in a game that you think we should be talking about, or have anything to share from what you’ve seen at a game that week. Any funny stories, tactical analysis or general comments will be featured.

The Entertainers

4-1 vs Fulham, 5-1 vs Brentford, 0-0 vs Manchester United, 1-0 vs Everton, 2-1 vs Tottenham Hotspur, 4-0 vs Aston Villa and now 4-1 vs Southampton… Newcastle are certainly challenging for Europe this season, and in their last few games, they are doing so with style.

With another 4 goals, and 4 separate scorers, Howe has worked wonders on this side to get them so defensively sound, but now also unlocking the attacking potential this squad possesses. It will be interesting to see how well Newcastle cope with the international break this winter as it could be a huge benefit if many of their players are to miss the World Cup selection, while breaking up this impressive run of form may have a negative effect.

No matter what happens in the new year, this run is making Newcastle fans believe again, and that’s a fantastic thing to witness for the sake of the league.

Good Evening Emery

Aston Villa have a new manager in charge, and Unai Emery is well-versed in English football, hence why it took just 1 game to lay down what he expects of his players, and for them to dominate a woeful Manchester United team, winning 3-1 in front of a packed Villa Park. Despite the controversy of Ronaldo’s early departure against Spurs, he was starting up front as captain for this one, however with Bruno Fernandes out suspended they were lacking the cutting edge, and even their attacking firepower couldn’t ever really get past the highly impressive and clearly determined Villa side.

Whether or not this is a new manager bounce, we will see shortly as thankfully for Manchester United, they will be facing Villa again in a few days, this time in the Carabao Cup, so we will see if they both use the same game plan (I imagine Man United’s may change), but it will be a cracking fixture nonetheless.

Jacob Ramsey, Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins deserve special mentions for their performances, despite the Ramsey OG, he made up for it with a goal and assist in the right next also.

Pep Guardiola Time

Okay I know this one’s a big silly of us, but any time a Manchester team score a last minute winner, it has to be mentioned. This City side are already playing the role of ‘chaser’ in the title race, and with Arsenal winning a big 3 points against Chelsea, City looked like they were going to fall further behind, until a last minute foul on De Bruyne allowed Haaland to continue his impressive scoring stats and grab the winner with the final action of the game.

These 3 points do allow City to keep the pace with Arsenal even at this early stage, and we may well look back at that penalty as a huge factor in their title success if they can catch their North London opposition.

Before moving on we must also acknowledge Fulham’s solid performance, and they’ll feel unlucky to have lost this, despite their goal also coming from a spot kick. With Cancelo getting an early red card, it felt like Fulham had the desire and belief they could win the game, and of course Manchester City are a danger even with just 10 men, but Fulham deserve huge credit.

Matchday 15 Player of the Week: Miguel Almirón With yet another goal in a big Newcastle win, Almiron won’t want the World Cup break to ever arrive with the run he is on. For Newcastle who had been doing so well defensively, getting a player like Almiron to hit this rich run of form, things can only get better.

Matchday 15 Game of the Week: Leeds United 4-3 Bournemouth Although we haven’t gone into too much detail with this game, a 7 goal thriller between 2 sides struggling near the bottom of the table is pure entertainment, and in front of a raucous Leeds home crowd, this one had everything you could want from a game of football, and Leeds build on their win over Liverpool with another 3 points to start easing the pressure on Jesse Marsch.

Let us know over on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) what you made of the fifteenth round of fixtures, and what you’re looking forward to in the next game week.