The Premier League Awards: Mitrović, Demichelis & Brady

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports UK.

With the Premier League taking a wholly unwanted international break, we needed some good football and even better stories to tide us over for the next fortnight.

Fortunately, this weekend's fare was very decent indeed. It's still finely balanced at the top, with the leading trio all winning, and even more so at the bottom, where everything is still to play for. That's as long as you're not an Aston Villa player, or an Aston Villa fan, or Aston Villa's… you get where we're going with this.

But, for everyone else, hope remains a precious and tangible commodity. So this week, that's what we're going to concentrate on: the players who've provided some hope.

Here's the thing about Mitrović: nobody actually knows what he's about to do, least of all the man himself. Though far from prolific this season, his effort levels can't be questioned: he runs, he passes, he gets himself into the right sort of areas, and he tackles more than you'd probably want him to. Still, all of that has endeared him to a Newcastle fanbase who've been without an on-field extension of their passion for the game for far too long. In their first home match under Rafa Benítez (an enemy of football, but that's a story for another day), the Toon Army will have wanted nothing more than to beat Sunderland in this increasingly relegation-themed derby – but that would be easier said than done.

Facing the possibility of a seventh successive defeat to their neighbours, Georginio Wijnaldum tip-toed down the right flank and swung a high ball in towards the back stick. Being marked by DeAndre Yedlin, a man so short his kit comes in children's sizes, Mitrović had a clear run at the ball, sending it beyond the Sunderland 'keeper before wheeling away with his shirt swinging around his head. A near-miss with a pitch-invading fan followed – their romantic Bollywood-esque run into one another's arms spoilt by an untimely slip – but that made the moment even more memorable. Hope is hard to come by down that end of the league, but Newcastle got a renewed sense of it thanks to Mitrović.

The single worst individual performance since Iain Duncan Smith tried to play the caring Tory, everything Martín Demichelis went near at the weekend turned to shit. He was danced past by a child for the United winner, he played one of the worst backpasses of all time to injure his own goalkeeper, and couldn't come close to play in general without something going wrong. It was like Mr Bean had found his way on to the pitch.

While he killed any hope left in Manchester City, their titles ambitions now surely on hold until next season, he provided plenty of it for Manchester United. Louis Van Gaal's side needed something like this both to cheer them up, and give them a crack at the top-four. A career away from football might be an idea for old Martín now – may we suggest the Larry David role in an Argentinian remake of Curb Your Enthusiasm, perhaps?

Beyond their own fans, nobody actually cares about Norwich, do they? Stop pretending – you didn't even know they were in the league. You can't name any of their players. The only thing you know about the manager is that you think he's Scottish, but you can't be sure, because actually he might be Irish. Truth be told, all Norwich have given the Premier League in recent years is a pissed-up Delia shouting at her own fans; everything else has been entirely forgettable.

Like that one cousin you see at every other family gathering whose name you can't quite remember, Norwich might just be the most bland semi-consistent presence in Premier League history. It's sort of what West Brom used to be, but with more ambivalence. Yes, this Robbie Brady player may have given their fans renewed hope of survival by scoring the winner at the weekend, but is another season of Norwich in the top flight what any of us really want?

@bainsxiii