Ronaldo heads Premier League winners and losers

Cristiano Ronaldo dominated Saturday but Thomas Tuchel and Luis Diaz both had excellent weekend. Spurs, not so much.

Winners

Cristiano Ronaldo

In an afternoon, Ronaldo doubled his tally of goals for Ralf Rangnick and perhaps proved a point to him: a restorative if unauthorised trip to Portugal may have cured his hip flexor injury, but perhaps he wouldn’t have started the Manchester derby anyway. But on his return, he shaped a game by willpower, relentlessness and timeless excellence in front of goal. United probably anticipated more such occasions when Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford; the broader picture is of his decline and their shortcomings. But for a one-off performance, it was extraordinary.

Now read 16 Conclusions from that game.

Andriy Yarmolenko

It was just his first Premier League goal of the season. It was also more than just a goal for Yarmolenko, who broke down in tears after opening the scoring against Aston Villa. Without his footballing talents, he might not have left his native Ukraine. Without a horrific war, Yarmolenko’s defining quest might have been his attempts to take over from the great Andriy Shevchenko as Ukraine’s record scorer. He has been less potent for West Ham in an injury-hit spell, but a reminder of his quality highlighted a far greater issue. The Premier League and its clubs can be wildly imperfect in other ways, some of them moral, but there has been something moving about many of the gestures in support of Ukraine and it was touching to see a Ukrainian score.

Thomas Tuchel

Kai Havertz’s winner against Newcastle was controversial, given the possibility that he should have been sent off long before then, but his recent renaissance is a tribute to Tuchel and well timed. Chelsea