August 2026 seen the return of club football in dramatic fashion, with the dust settling on the World Cup drama from the summer, this last month has had the excitement of a new season, unpredictability of several clubs across the Premier League and the underlying transfer sagas continuing to develop. As a result, in just a few games this season, we’ve had a few big performances to pick from for our POTM award to kick-start the new season.

Rayan Cherki is yet to play a full 90 minutes in his opening 2 games, being used from the bench for a cameo against Bournemouth in the opener, but used from the start and withdrawn against Crystal Palace. Despite this, 2 assists in his first outing were complemented by 2 goals in his second, a real reflection of how impactful and yet largely underrated Cherki remains within the Premier League and Manchester City hierarchy.

If you have any thoughts on our selection for POTM, or have your own selection, then get in touch with us on our social media platforms Bluesky (@NextGoalWinner) or Instagram (@NextGoalWin) and our YouTube channel (@NextGoalWinner).

Match By Match

August 23rd: Manchester City 2-1 Bournemouth – Starting the season from the bench, Cherki was introduced to the game in the 63rd minute to replace Nico O’Reilly, and by full-time his 2 assists had not only put Manchester City level, but produced the winning goal in the 91st minute. Despite only having 30 minutes on the pitch, Cherki produced his 2 assists, created the most chances of any player (4) and maintained a 93% pass accuracy in his late cameo, earning a respectable 8.3/10 FotMob rating.

August 28th: Crystal Palace 1-4 Manchester City – After being used from the bench in the opener, Maresca started with Cherki in the no.10 role and was certainly rewarded for his decision as Cherki managed 2 goals in this clash, bringing his goal involvements to 4 at this very early stage of the season. With Cherki producing the 2nd and 3rd goal, he ensured the game was out of reach of Palace to maintain their perfect league start. Although withdrawn before the end of the game, Cherki created the joint-most chances (3), completed the joint-most dribbles (3), maintained 93% pass accuracy, 100% shot accuracy and covered just shy of 10km, earning a man of the match 9.1/10 FotMob rating.