- In uncharacteristic fashion, the majority of the day's picks came from the early 7:30am ET kickoff.
- Mike is probably wishing he picked anybody from Nottingham Forest or Liverpool. Hell, anybody else but Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha. The Ivorian had his lowest rated effort for Palace since getting sent off on Boxing Day last year versus Spurs. His 5.7 was more of an eye test than anything as his stats on the surface don't look nearly as bad as he was in the 3-0 defeat.
- Trevor probably wished he picked Zaha just so he didn't have to sit through the agony that was Virgil van Dijk's performance against Nottingham Forest in another capacity. VVD was mediocre defensively and couldn't get a header to at goal until the dying embers of the game only to see it saved by Dean Henderson (more on him in a bit). This was a very not ni.ce 6.9 rating.
- Chelsea and Manchester United's match was all about late drama. Ryan's pick Mason Mount did not get the Blues goal in the 1-1 draw but he did earn a 7.0 to start the light green portion of this recap.
- Bernardo Silva did contribute to one of Manchester City's three goals against Brighton & Hove Albion. Scott's pick assisted on Kevin De Bruyne's closer but also drew the foul to get Erling Haaland's second via a penalty to finish on a 7.2 rating.
- One of the lone bright spots to Liverpool losing to rock bottom Nottingham Forest was Andrew and Matt's joint pick Harvey Elliott. The youngest player on the pitch for the Reds was one of two, along with the oldest player James Milner, who didn't seem like they were running through quicksand. He deserved better with his delivery and guile on the field but at least this duo got a 7.6 rating here in the Challenge.
- But our top scorer on the day was once again our overall leader Pavli with Liverpool's keeper Alisson. Outside of a pinball goal and a late foul that negated a final chance in the opposition box, the Brazilian was arguably the Man of the Match when he probably should have had a breezy afternoon. The fact that he ended on a 7.8 is both a testament to how poorly the other 10 players played collectively just as much as how well he played.
- Optimally, it was once again a showcase performance for Dean Henderson, ball cap and all. He kept Liverpool from making it three wins in a week with 7 saves, including 6 from inside the box, the biggest of all being a pawing away of Virgil van Dijk's only header on target (despite having four of the fucking things) in the closing moments. An 8.7 could have been there for a fearless one.
Image Credits: Player Photos (Sofascore)