Premier League Match Week 18 Results: Aston Villa Tops Chelsea To Set Up Mid-week Showdown With Arsenal

Aston Villa continued its dominant form with a 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Ollie Watkins had a second half brace to overcome an early Chelsea lead as Villa kept pace with Arsenal and Manchester City. Manager Unai Emery’s side has now won 11 consecutive matches in juggernaut fashion across all competitions and remains just three points off the top of the Premier League table. Aston Villa will now visit the Emirates to face Arsenal on Tuesday in perhaps the biggest match to date of this Premier League season.

Martin Odegaard scored his first goal of the season and Arsenal benefitted from an opponents’ own goal for a fourth consecutive game as the Gunners defeated Brighton 2-1 and kept their advantage at three points over Villa and two points over Manchester City.

Manchester City got an 83rd minute winner from Rayan Cherki to defeat Nottingham Forest 2-1 at the City Ground. Manchester City has now won eight consecutive matches across all competitions while Nottingham Forest lost a second consecutive match for the first time under Manager Sean Dyche.

Liverpool, meanwhile, defeated Wolverhampton 2-1 to leap over Chelsea into the Premier League top four. The third consecutive victory for the Reds was keyed by first half goals by Ryan Gravenberch and Florian Wirtz. Woeful Wolves lost for the sixteenth time this season with the club’s two-point haul from its first 18 matches representing the worst start to a season in Premier League history.

Manchester United is now level on points with fifth place Chelsea after the Red Devils downed Newcastle 1-0 at Old Trafford. Wingback Patrick Dorgu’s first ever goal for the club was the difference as Manchester United’s defense was bolstered by the return of Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez from suspension and injury, respectively. Manchester United Manager Ruben Amroim also played Manuel Ugarte alongside Casemiro to shield his back line and deliver the club’s second clean sheet of the season. Manchester United notably won its first match without the injured Bruno Fernandes since March of 2022.

Incredible feeling to score my first goal at Old Trafford. God is good. Merry Christmas ⚽️🎁 pic.twitter.com/BzN27w0iqr

— Patrick Chinaza Dorgu (@PatrickDorgu13) December 26, 2025

Like Dorgu, Tottenham Hotspur’s Archie Gray also secured victory with his first goal for his club as Spurs handed Crystal Palace a third consecutive Premier League loss by a 1-0 score at Selhurst Park.

Sunderland remains undefeated at the Stadium of Light after the Black Cats drew with fellow promoted side Leeds 1-1 on Sunday. That unbeaten run will be tested this Thursday when Manchester City visits Sunderland. All three points seemed in reach for Sunderland on Sunday before Leeds’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored for the sixth time in his last six Premier League matches to give Leeds a valuable point in their battle to return to the Premier League next season.

Leeds is seven points clear of currently relegation bound West Ham after the Hammers’ 1-0 loss to Fulham. Raul Jimenez struck the 85th minute winner as the Cottagers extended West Ham’s winless run in the league to seven matches. Angry West Ham supporters chanted “sack the board” at London Stadium as the Hammers are in serious peril of going down for the first time in 14 years. The managerial appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo has been a failure to date as only Burnley and Wolverhampton have collected fewer points in the 13 matches since Santo took charge at West Ham.

Burnley did pick up a point for a second consecutive match in a goalless draw with Everton at Turf Moor. While the point could prove useful to the relegation fight, the Clarets have still not tasted victory for nine consecutive Premier League matches.

Bournemouth is also winless in nine Premier League matches after the Cherries were thrashed 4-1 at Brentford. Kevin Schade went for a hat trick in the Bees’ victory which pushed Manager Keith Andrews’ side up to eighth in the Premier League table.

Holiday congestion is now here with a full slate of mid-week games arriving fast on the weekend results. All eyes, of course will be on Tuesday’s titanic match between Arsenal and Aston Villa. 

Premier League Match Week 18 Preview

Stamford Bridge is the site for this weekend’s feature match between Chelsea and Aston Villa. The two clubs were level on points entering December, Chelsea holding onto third in the table on tiebreakers. Things have changed. Aston Villa is the Premier League’s hottest club with seven consecutive league victories (10 across all competitions), a run which has landed Unai Emery’s squad squarely in the title chase. A win on Saturday would equal Aston Villa’s longest consecutive victory run, first set in 1897 and last reached in 1914. Fourth place Chelsea is right behind Aston Villa in the standings but the gap between third and fourth is seven points as Chelsea has hit a rough patch, winning only one of its past five Premier League matches.

Villa is just three points removed from league leading Arsenal which hosts Brighton this weekend. The Gunners are one of only two squads to be unbeaten at their home stadium, a draw versus Manchester City being the only non-winning effort this season at the Emirates. The Seagulls, currently perched ninth in the Premier League table, are winless in their last four league matches.

Boxing Day work 💪 pic.twitter.com/64JKjKkVr8

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 26, 2025

The other undefeated club at home this season is Sunderland which will try to extend its unbeaten form against fellow promoted side Leeds on Sunday. The Whites have at least temporarily separated themselves from the relegation fight with a four-match unbeaten run which has them six points above the drop line. Sunderland has been surprisingly good all season and currently sits sixth in the league table.

Nottingham Forest has also escaped the relegation zone under new manager Sean Dyche. The Tricky Trees will need to have something special up their sleeve this weekend, however, when they visit second place Manchester City. The Citizens, led by league scoring leader Erling Haaland, have scored ten more goals than any other Premier League side this season.

While Manchester City has scored 41 goals, poor Wolverhampton is still trying to reach double figures. Sad sack Wolves present a prime opportunity for Liverpool to win a third consecutive match for the first time since September when the clubs meet at Anfield on Saturday.

Only one match is scheduled for Boxing Day this holiday season and that takes place at Old Trafford where Manchester United will host Newcastle. Manchester United had a four-match unbeaten run stopped by streaking Aston Villa last weekend. Unfortunately, the Red Devils lost star Bruno Fernandes as well with the Portuguese midfielder now sidelined with a hamstring injury. Newcastle has its own injury concerns on its back line and comes into the match after squandering a two-goal advantage versus Chelsea last week.

Crystal Palace is level on points with Manchester United as the eighth place Eagles are clawing to hold onto European qualification for a second consecutive year. Palace will host struggling Tottenham Hotspur in a London derby on Sunday.

While Palace fights for Europe, West Ham just wants to stick around in the Premier League. The Hammers would be heading down if the season ended today. There is a certain ignominy that West Ham Manager Nuno Espirito Santo is five points below his currently safe former team Nottingham Forest which he petulantly departed earlier this season. Nuno and his Hammers get a chance to improve their situation on Saturday when Fulham visits London Stadium. The Cottagers are clumped among six other teams, each within two points of each other in the middle of the Premier League table.

Brentford and Bournemouth are among those log jam clubs as they face each other at the Bees’ Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday. Brentford has probably done better than expected under Manager Keith Andrews after the Bees lost former Manager Thomas Frank and most of its attacking threats after last season. Bournemouth, meanwhile, has underperformed expectations and now is beset with rumors that leading scorer Antoine Semenyo will depart in the January window.

Burnley has lost five of its eight home matches to date as the Clarets are preparing to host Everton this weekend. There is clearly a different vibe at Turf Moor where the Clarets were unbeaten during their promotion season and now seem headed for a quick return to the second tier. The Clarets are seven points from safety. Everton, meanwhile, will look to rebound from back-to-back league defeats as the Toffees still have dreams of European qualification as they sit amid the mid-table congestion.

Premier League Match Week 17 Results: Liverpool Wins Match, Loses Isaak; Leeds Trounces Crystal Palace; Arsenal Edges Everton; Haaland Scores Twice To Move to 19 On the Season; Rogers Leads Aston Villa By Manchester United, Fernandes Hurt; Chelsea Overcomes Early Deficit to Draw At Newcastle

Liverpool won back-to-back matches for the first time since September as Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak found the net in a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. After a horrible run which saw the team lose nine of 12 and bench and enrage club legend Mohamed Salah, the Reds are now unbeaten in six. In the first match after what might have been Mohamed Salah’s final Liverpool appearance with the Egyptian star now off to the Africa Cup of Nations, the Reds provided a glimpse of how they may have hoped for their attack to look with their two high priced summer signings. Hugo Ekitike scored his ninth league goal of the season. Alexander Isak also scored but his disappointing season took another ill-fated turn when the former Newcastle star broke his leg and will be out for months. Isak’s injury, Salah’s situation and an injury to Cody Gakpo make Ekitike more critical than ever.

Spurs, meanwhile, continued their descent down the table. Manager Thomas Frank’s side are now just four points away from the 17th place position which is where the club finished last season under subsequently sacked predecessor Ange Postecoglou. Frank’s position is looking less secure by the moment with his club having won only once in its last eight league fixtures. The ire of supporters has been further stoked by the club winning only two of its eight home matches with only cellar dwelling Wolverhampton having won fewer matches in front of its own fans. Home supporters at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium saw Frank and his bumblers go down to nine men before Saturday’s match mercifully ended.

Spurs, however, were not the only London club to have a bad day. Things have gone south quite suddenly for Crystal Palace. Just wo weeks ago the Eagles were flying high and enjoying life in the Premier League top four. Saturday, they were trounced 4-1 at Leeds one week after being steamrolled 3-0 by Manchester City. The Manchester City result could understandably be met with a shrug. An uncompetitive loss to newly promoted Leeds, battling to extend its stay in the league, is  another matter, as is being on the wrong end of an aggregate 7-1 scoreline over the past two league matches. The Crystal Palace downturn in form could reflect the strain of European competition taking its toll. Saturday’s defeat followed on a midweek Conference League match and was the seventh time the Eagles have failed to win on a weekend following a Conference League contest. Their squad depth will now be further challenged by the congested holiday schedule. While Saturday’s scoreline was shocking, the result was not entirely surprising.

Leeds has been better in recent weeks and is on a four-match unbeaten run. Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored twice against Crystal Palace, increasing his haul to five goals over that unbeaten four-match run for Leeds and increasing his streak of goal scoring appearances to five matches. A change in strategy by Leeds Manager Daniel Farke to go from a possession-based approach to a counterattacking 3-5-2 configuration has helped to unlock Calvert-Lewin’s recent form.

Newly promoted Sunderland also has plans for an extended stay in the Premier League. The Black Cats clawed to a hard-fought draw at Brighton to move up to sixth in the table. Sunderland is now operating without five key players who are participating in the African Cup but still managed to extend Brighton’s winless run to four matches. The top of the table saw little in the way of surprise.

Arsenal struggled but got the needed victory at Everton 1-0 as Viktor Gyokeres converted a first half penalty. Manchester City had an easier time, rolling over West Ham 3-0 at the Etihad. The Citizens have scored 17 goals in their last five Premier League matches. Erling Haaland scored twice in Saturday’s win over the Hammers to move his league leading goal total to 19 tallies after 17 matches. West Ham remains five points from safety.

Aston Villa has made the title race a three-team adventure. Manager Unai Emery’s side is just three points below league leading Arsenal, one point behind Manchester City, after moving seven points clear of fourth place Chelsea with a 2-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday. Morgan Rogers bagged a brace and has six goals in six matches for the streaking Villans. Rogers and his teammates have now won 10 consecutive matches across all competitions. Manchester United not only took its fifth loss of the season but also lost star Bruno Fernandes to a hamstring injury  which will complicate matters for Manager Ruben Amorim whose squad depth was already a question mark with two youngsters making their debut for the Red Devils on Sunday.

Chelsea’s Joao Pedro equalized matters in the 66th minute to disappoint Newcastle supporters who had seen striker Nick Woltemade bag a first half brace to give homestanding Newcastle a two-goal cushion at the break. Woltemade, signed as replacement for departed Alexander Isaak, now has seven goals for the Magpies. Newcastle, however, took its foot off the pedal in the second half. Reese James began Chelsea’s comeback with a 49th minute free kick strike. With Pedro’s equalizer for Chelsea,  Newcastle have now dropped 13 points from a winning position, the joint worst such mark in the Premier League.

Bournemouth’s surprising spiral continued with a home 1-1 draw with Burnley. Neither one of those sides has won a Premier League match since October with the lack of success by the Cherries and well-regarded Manager Andoni Iraola somewhat mystifying. Newly promoted Burnley ended a seven-match losing run.

A conceded penalty in first half stoppage time sent Nottingham Forest to a 1-0 defeat at Fulham. Raul Jimenez scored the winning kick for the Cottagers who were awarded their first penalty try since January. Brentford’s Keane Lewis-Potter scored twice in the Bees’ 2-1win over Wolverhampton as bedraggled Wolves tied a Premier League record for its now 17-match winless start to its season.