Football writer Ben Bloom analyses an exciting weekend of Matchweek 25 action, including a big win for Manchester City plus Everton’s revival continuing under David Moyes.
There were nervy moments for both, but title-chasing Liverpool and Arsenal both emerged unscathed from a weekend that saw third-placed Nottingham Forest falter.
An Omar Marmoush-inspired Manchester City thrashed Newcastle United to move into fourth spot, while Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United to add more misery on Ruben Amorim’s injury-hit side.
A gutsy performance from 10-man Ipswich Town secured a draw at Aston Villa, which was the only point earned by any of the bottom five clubs.
Less than a week after sending Chelsea out of the FA Cup, Brighton & Hove Albion completed a quickfire double over the Londoners with a comprehensive win that saw Enzo Maresca’s side relinquish their top-four spot.
A wonderful Kaoru Mitoma opener preceded Yankuba Minteh’s double, as the hosts secured their first Premier League home win in six attempts.
Mitoma’s goal – which followed a sublime piece of control from goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen’s long ball – was his third in his last five Premier League appearances, as many as he had managed in the 33 matches before that.
Watch Mitoma’s goal
The defeat continued Chelsea’s increasingly patchy run. Maresca’s team are now winless in five Premier League away matches, while they have picked up only nine points from their last nine league outings.
It is a stark contrast to the start of the campaign, where Chelsea took 34 points from their opening 16 matches.
The visitors controlled possession for long periods and attempted 717 passes to Brighton’s 320, but struggled in Nicolas Jackson’s absence, with Christopher Nkunku and Cole Palmer alternating as “false nines”.
Indeed, they failed to direct a single shot on target in a Premier League match for the first time since September 2021.
Besieged by injury and shorn of attacking options, Mikel Merino proved Arsenal’s unlikely hero to keep pace with Liverpool at the top of the table.
The visitors had to bide their time against a stubborn Leicester City resistance, but substitute Merino struck twice in the final 10 minutes to show his worth as a makeshift striker.
Arsenal’s three senior attackers – Raheem Sterling, Ethan Nwaneri and Leandro Trossard – were unable to make the breakthrough, as the Gunners started a Premier League match without any of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus or Kai Havertz for the first time since the 2020/21 campaign.
Merino replaced the ineffective Sterling after 69 minutes and quickly made his presence felt deployed in the centre-forward role, nodding in the outstanding Nwaneri’s cross before soon adding a second.
Thirteen of Arsenal’s 51 Premier League goals this season have come from crosses, the most in the division.
While Arsenal’s unbeaten Premier League run of 15 matches is their longest since 2010/11, relegation-troubled Leicester have lost nine of their last 10 encounters, and gone 18 games without keeping a clean sheet.
Struggling Ipswich produced a battling rearguard performance to take a point from their trip to Villa Park despite playing more than an hour with only 10 men.
Former Villa defender Axel Tuanzebe was shown a second yellow card late in the first half, but the visitors then took an unlikely 56th-minute lead courtesy of Liam Delap.
Ollie Watkins equalised 13 minutes later for Villa, but they found themselves facing an inspired Premier League debutant in Ipswich goalkeeper Alex Palmer, who was signed from West Bromwich Albion earlier this month and did not allow another of Villa’s 25 shots past him.
Palmer saved superbly from Morgan Rogers in the first half, produced a great one-handed stop to deny Marco Asensio, and saved the best for last when somehow keeping out Marcus Rashford’s deflected cross in stoppage time.
This was the first of five matches in only 14 days for Unai Emery’s team, who have not won any of their last four Premier League games.
Goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Calvin Bassey helped Fulham to a deserved win over high-flying Nottingham Forest, whose top-four credentials are about to be put under a severe test.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side thrashed Brighton 7-0 in their last Premier League outing, but were a shadow of that side at Craven Cottage ahead of meetings with Newcastle, Arsenal and Man City in their next three league matches.
Nuno paid the price for sticking with the same back-five set-up that beat Brighton, with Fulham head coach Marco Silva stating that he anticipated Forest’s formation leaving space out wide.
They exploited it to full effect, attempting 24 shots and hitting the target 10 times.
Fulham now have 39 points after 25 matches; converting to three points per win, only in 1959/60 have they had more at this stage of a top-flight campaign.
Forest’s sole joy came from Chris Wood, who now has eight goals in his last seven Premier League appearances, taking his tally this season to 18.
If Marmoush had quietly impressed without setting the Premier League alight since joining Man City last month, he ensured no opposition team will take his presence lightly from now on with a brilliant 14-minute hat-trick.
The Egyptian struck three times in the first half to break his scoring duck in some style, following Paulo Wanchope (against Sunderland in 2000) in notching his first three Premier League goals for City as a hat-trick.
Those strikes put the match to bed early, with James McAtee adding a fourth late on in a confidence-boosting win ahead of their UEFA Champions League playoff second leg at Real Madrid this week.
The defeat was Newcastle’s third in their last four league matches, but their misery at the Etihad Stadium stretches much further. They have now lost 16 successive games at the stadium and failed to score on their last six visits.
AFC Bournemouth made light work of Premier League basement boys Southampton to move up to fifth, and only one point off fourth-placed Man City.
Goals from Dango Ouattara, Ryan Christie and Marcus Tavernier were enough to ensure the win, which extended their unbeaten run away from home to seven Premier League matches.
Christie – who has been reinvented from a winger to a central midfielder – was the star of the show, scoring and assisting in the same game for the first time on his 93rd Premier League appearance.
He provided a perfect cross for Ouattara to score his seventh goal of the season, ably deputising up front for the injured Evanlison and Enes Unal.
Southampton’s plight looks increasingly forlorn. After 25 matches of a top-flight season, only Sheffield United in 1975/76 had accrued fewer points than Southampton’s nine.
With the Premier League’s fastest starters up against the division’s slowest, there was likely to only be one outcome.
Kevin Schade’s fourth-minute goal means Brentford have now scored a league-high seven times in the opening 10 minutes of Premier League matches this season.
Conversely, no side has conceded more in the opening 10 minutes than West Ham United’s 10 – and they are yet to win a single match this season after shipping the first goal.
In fact, it could have been worse for the hosts in a distinctly poor first half, with Schade also hitting a post and Yoane Wissa having two goals ruled out for offside.
As it turned out, one goal was enough to secure Brentford a third consecutive away top-flight victory for the first time in their history – some turnaround after failing to win any of their first nine matches on the road this season.
West Ham have won just once in all competitions since Graham Potter took charge at the start of January.
Brentford are fast becoming something of a bogey team for West Ham, who have lost 75 per cent of their eight Premier League matches against the west Londoners – their highest rate of defeat against any opponent in the competition.
The Moyes effect continues to work its magic at Everton, as his side picked up their fourth win in six Premier League matches since he took charge last month – as many victories as former manager Sean Dyche managed in 19 matches.
Everton’s last six PL results
Everton’s most recent 13 points from a possible 18 ranks behind only title-chasing Liverpool and Arsenal (both 14) during that time, with a now forgotten relegation zone 13 points beneath them.
It was injuries elsewhere that handed him a starting role under Moyes, but Beto has seized that opportunity, scoring against Crystal Palace to take his tally to four goals in five league matches under Moyes – as many as he managed in 42 league appearances during Dyche’s reign.
Carlos Alcaraz, making his first start since joining on loan from Flamengo last month, then produced a winner in the 80th minute.
Palace, who were the better side for large periods of the game, had quickly levelled after Beto’s opener when Jean-Philippe Mateta scored his 11th league goal of the campaign. That moved the Frenchman level with Christian Benteke on 35 Premier League goals for Palace. Only Wilfried Zaha, with 68, has more.
Perhaps there are a few nerves, almost certainly there is some fatigue, but Liverpool remain in pole position in the Premier League title race after holding on to return to winning ways against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The hosts gained an early 2-0 lead through Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah to equal their longest-ever run of scoring at least two goals in 17 successive matches at Anfield in all competitions.
Diaz’s strike took him to nine Premier League goals in 2024/25 – his highest tally for Liverpool. Salah, meanwhile, has either scored or assisted 37 goals in 25 league matches for Liverpool this season. Only in 2017/18 did he exceed that haul, with 42.
However, it was a rather different story after the break, with Liverpool failing to attempt a single shot in an entire half for the first time on record (since 2003/04) in a Premier League match at Anfield.
Wolves showed resolve beyond their current league position, and Matheus Cunha set up an exciting finish with his beautiful strike soon after the hour. No other player has scored more Premier League goals from outside the box than Cunha’s five this season.
Try as they might, they were unable to find the equaliser, with Liverpool maintaining their seven-point lead at the top of the table.
A lone James Maddison goal proved decisive in a battle between two struggling high-profile clubs, as Man Utd’s plight worsened.
Returning from a four-week injury-enforced absence, Maddison struck after 13 minutes to give Spurs back-to-back Premier League wins for just the second time this season (as on this occasion, the first also came against Brentford and Man Utd). It was also Spurs’ first home Premier League victory since November.
Both sides enjoyed spells of dominance, with United posting 16 shots and an Expected Goals (xG) of 1.54. But they were unable to score for the 10th league match this season – the same number of blanks as bottom club Southampton.
United have now lost eight of their last 12 Premier League matches. Their overall total of 12 defeats is their most at this stage of a season since 1973/74, when they were last relegated from the top flight.
Faced with a steep injury list, head coach Ruben Amorim was forced to pack his bench with eight teenagers. One of those, Chido Obi-Martin became United’s third-youngest Premier League player (17 years, 79 days) to feature in a match, behind only Angel Gomes (16y 263d) and Shola Shoretire (17y 19d).
