It was a week that had major ramifications (if some of them weren’t immediate ones) for the teams at the top of the Premier League standings. Let’s look at the latest twists in the tale of this season.
Premier League winners: Matchweek 25
Omar Marmoush
In a battle of Emirati money vs. Saudi money, it was an Egyptian player who starred as Manchester City crushed Newcastle. The new signing from Eintracht Frankfurt had looked good in his first two games for City without finding the back of the net. In his third match he bagged himself a first-half hat trick, with his first goal coming on a great chip over Martin Dúbravka off a goal kick by Éderson. (It was the Brazilian keeper’s third assist of the season.) One of the major factors behind City’s subpar season has been a failure to attract young talent good enough to replace the old guard, but Marmoush looks like proof that the front office can still bring them in.
Mikel Merino
Arsenal signed him from Real Sociedad to be a central midfielder, but the season-ending injury to Kai Havertz has forced Merino to play as a striker. The 6-foot-2 Basque came through with two goals in the last 10 minutes to give the Gunners the win at Leicester, while Ethan Nwaneri played well in place of the injured Bukayo Saka as well. Maybe their season isn’t over after all.
Guglielmo Vicario and James Maddison
The streaky Italian was back in net for Tottenham Hotspur and kept a clean sheet against Manchester United, while the fourth president of the United States — sorry, the attacking midfielder from Coventry — snaffled up a rebound to give Spurs the win.
Calvin Bassey
The Nigerian defender’s header gave Fulham a huge win at home against Nottingham Forest. Maybe the scoreline only slightly weakens Forest’s position in the top four, but it should be a giant morale boost for the Cottagers, who are now ahead of Aston Villa and just behind Newcastle in the standings. Who’d have thought?
Everton
Four points out of a possible six for the week, including a draw in the Merseyside derby. The relegation talk around Everton has quieted down, but the real prize for them will be getting their cross-town rivals good and mad, as Liverpool drew three red cards in the closing stages of that draw and coach Arne Slot admitted that Everton got in their heads. That will make life sweet for the Toffees.
Brentford’s defense
They came up with enough blocks to build their own council flats housing in Hounslow after West Ham’s halftime triple substitution resulted in some much-improved offensive play for the Hammers. All the Bees’ blocked shots, though, meant that Kevin Schade’s 4th-minute goal stood up to hand them three points.
Ryan Christie
His brilliant cross in the 14th minute got headed home by Dango Ouattara for Bournemouth’s first goal against Southampton. Then a scant two minutes later, the Scotsman lashed home a shot from the top of the penalty box, and those were all the goals the Cherries needed for the win on the road. Whisper it quietly, but if the season ended today, Bournemouth would be in the Europa League.
Premier League losers: Matchweek 25
Chelsea
It’s not often that the schedule gives you an immediate chance to avenge a loss, but six days after falling to Brighton in the FA Cup, the Blues had an opportunity to do just that in the Premier League. Instead, they made the Seagulls look like the team with title aspirations, as Brighton cut through their defense easily for a 3-0 win that could have been worse. The Blues didn’t even register a shot on target. Coach Enzo Maresca is right to be angry at his players, but isn’t it sort of his job to motivate them? Next week’s game against Aston Villa looms large.
Aston Villa
The soundtrack to that draw against Ipswich should be the fans at Villa Park saying, “What the hell?” After Ipswich’s Axel Tuanzebe gave his former team a lift by being sent off in the first half, Villa gave up a goal to Liam Delap and looked headed for a humiliating loss. They managed to equalize, but their 25 shots and 16 corner kicks didn’t lead to a winner. Alex Palmer had a great Premier League debut in Ipswich’s goal, but a Champions League side really should be more clinical.
Leicester City
Five straight home games without a goal, and they just lost to a team that stuck a random large guy up front. No wonder their fans are ticked.
Liverpool
Yes, Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucouré was baiting Liverpool’s fans, but Curtis Jones and the Reds’ coaching staff was all too ready to rise to it, and it’s not as if Doucouré had risen to the level of Diego Simeone grabbing his genitals at Juventus’ fans a few years back. Liverpool’s nervy win over relegation-threatened Wolves has steadied things somewhat, but we’ll see what further punishment is handed down to Liverpool ahead of their game next week against a Manchester City team that suddenly has their tails up.