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Premier League winners and losers from Matchday 31: All the top teams drop points

And Donyell Malen finally scores in a Villa jersey.
Fulham got a big win at home against league-leading Liverpool
Fulham got a big win at home against league-leading Liverpool | Harry Murphy - Danehouse/GettyImages

Even Liverpool losing couldn’t inject any excitement into the Premier League title race, because Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, and Chelsea also dropped points. So who did win? Read on, intrepid internet user.

Premier League Winners

Fulham

What a three points they collected at Craven Cottage. Of course, it does help when the other team keeps giving you the ball in the attacking third. The Cottagers ruthlessly converted their chances and then withstood Liverpool’s inevitable assault in the final stages to run out with a 3-2 win and give another twist to the late-season drama.

Donyell Malen

That’s two goals in the last two games for Aston Villa’s winter transfer, and his second one got them a big win over Nottingham Forest. If this is the start of a scoring spree for the Dutchman, that is very bad news for everybody with Villa left on their schedule and also everybody chasing a Champions League place.

Niclas Füllkrug

He’s Germany’s starting center forward when he’s healthy, which hasn’t been often lately. However, he came off the bench for West Ham around the hour mark and within five minutes he powered home James Ward-Prowse’s corner kick to equalize against Bournemouth for his third Premier League goal. If he can end his first season in England with some more goals, all the Hammers fans will be saying, “He’s like a new signing.”

Evanilson

Scored both of Bournemouth’s goals in the Cherries’ 2-2 draw at Upton Park. The Brazilian striker may yet hit double figures this season, which would be impressive given the time he missed with a broken foot. 

Fabian Schär

Newcastle’s defender missed what would have been the goal of the season when he lobbed a shot from inside his own half over Leicester’s Mads Hermansen that hit the crossbar. However, that missed shot turned into a great pass, because the rebound came directly to Jacob Murphy for one of Newcastle’s three goals in a win over a Foxes squad that appears to have accepted relegation as their fate.

Wolverhampton

That win at Ipswich puts them nine points clear of safety with only seven matches to go. Other teams have imploded worse in the past, but Wolves don’t look like they’re due for one of those. The Premier League now looks like a safe bet to stay in the Black Country.

Brennan Johnson

Two goals against Southampton is still two goals, and that makes an even 50 Premier League goals for the Tottenham winger. That’s really good for a guy who’s not a real center forward.

Premier League Losers

Southampton

They are officially down. It is the earliest relegation in Premier League history. Ivan Jurić has been fired as coach, three months after he took over. Might as well enjoy the rest of the season, because the Saints will be slogging through the Championship come August. 

Arsenal

Yes, referee Darren England gave Everton a soft penalty that allowed Iliman Ndiaye to level the score, but once again Arsenal’s offense was blunted by the lack of a proper striker. I think I’ll be writing something like that again before this season is over. Anyway, the 1-1 draw took much of the sting out of Liverpool's loss. 

Nottingham Forest

Speaking of teams missing a real striker, Forest’s shooting was endangering the fans behind the goal in their loss to Villa. They shot the ball 19 times, and only three of those were on target. You have to think that the injured Chris Wood would have converted something in that game.

Manchester City and Chelsea

Their goalless draws on the road mean more to them than they do to their opponents, because they allow Aston Villa to pull within two points of them and Newcastle to shoot past them into fourth place. Newcastle have a game in hand, too. One and maybe both of you will probably have to settle for the Europa League next season.

Brighton

In a chippy game at Selhurst Park, they had one red card to Crystal Palace’s two, but they couldn’t make their numbers advantage count and wound up with one goal to Crystal Palace’s two.

Sepp van den Berg

Soccer coaches teach players to head the ball down when they’re in front of the other team’s net trying to score. That’s exactly what the Brentford defender did off a corner kick in the 80th minute against Chelsea, yet somehow the Dutchman managed to get his header to bounce off the turf and over the crossbar. This potential match-winner turned into an incredible miss that left the game scoreless.