Premier League Preview: Match Week 26

Reeling from a disappointing Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid, Manchester City has the chance to recapture some pride when the Citizens host Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday. Manchester City meekly lost to the Spanish giants 3-1 on Wednesday, bowing out 6-3 in aggregate over the two-leg tie. Liverpool, meanwhile, drew 2-2 with Aston Villa in a rescheduled Premier League match, also on Wednesday. The Reds are eight points ahead of Arsenal after now having played one additional match. Manchester City, meanwhile, is a full 17 points from the top of the table. The ambition for the Citizens therefore is to ensure a return to next years’ Champions League and to possibly play spoiler in the Premier League title race.

The threat to Liverpool on Sunday will in large part rest with the health of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland who surprisingly was held out of the Real Madrid loss with a cranky knee, jarred during last weekend’s win over Newcastle but thought to be minor when he practiced on it earlier this week. Haaland has 19 league goals this season, five short of Premier League leader and Sunday opponent Mohamed Salah.

Salah scored the opening goal on Wednesday versus Aston Villa and then assisted on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s second half equalizer. With that performance, Salah becomes the first Premier League player in history to both score and assist in ten different matches in one season. The Liverpool star leads the Premier League in assists as well as goals and he has a total of 39 goal involvements in a season where more than half the Premier League teams have scored 38 goals or less.

pic.twitter.com/cmZ56laPHO

— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) February 20, 2025

Arsenal will obviously be a highly interested observer of Sunday’s match between struggling Manchester City and the only club which has snatched the title from the Citizens over the last seven seasons. Arsenal ran a frustrating second to Manchester City each of the last two years and now finds itself chasing a new table leader in the Reds. The Gunners will hope to be three points closer to Liverpool after Arsenal’s London derby on Saturday versus West Ham. The Hammers visit the Emirates after having lost to other London clubs in each of their last two Premier League matches. Things have not been good under new manager Graham Potter with West Ham having lost three of their last four matches and winning just one of Potter’s five league matches in charge. Arsenal supporters, meanwhile, are waiting to see if Manager Mikel Arteta puts midfielder Mikel Merino into his starting lineup at striker. It would seem a good idea after midfielder Merino substituted into the unfamiliar position and bagged a hat rick last week.

Nottingham Forest experienced an unpleasant visit to London last week when the Tricky Tress were defeated at Craven Cottage by Fulham. The Trees continue their road show at Newcastle this weekend where the St. James home supporters will be looking for a response after their Magpies were surprisingly steamrolled by Manchester City last week.

Fulham, meanwhile, enjoys another Saturday at the Cottage, hosting London rival Crystal Palace. The Eagles can be an annoying visitor with only six clubs boasting a better away record than Manager Oliver Glasner’s club. Chelsea is one of those six road warriors but their away form, much like their overall play, has largely fallen off a cliff in recent weeks. Chelsea have lost their last three away matches and are winless in their last six games away from home across all competitions. Saturday the Blues travel to Aston Villa, which must be feeling good after taking a point from Liverpool earlier in the week. Villa Park has not seen the home side lose since August.

Struggling Manchester United is on the road at Everton as the performance of new manger Reuben Amorim comes under increasing scrutiny. Only the four bottommost teams in the Premier League have garnered fewer points than the Red Devils since Amorim took charge. Meanwhile, no club has accumulated more points than Everton since David Moyes took over the Toffees on January 11th. Moyes has won four and lost just once in the six matches since he took over a Toffee side which was engaged in yet another relegation battle. Entering Saturday’s match at Goodison Park, Everton is now 13 points clear of the drop line and is one point above the flailing Red Devils in the table.

Tottenham Hotspur were 1-0 victors over Manchester United last week but need be careful about Saturday’s visit to Ipswich Town. Spurs are nothing but inconsistent and the Tractor Boys are desperate to lift themselves out of the relegation muck. A home win versus Spurs accompanied by a Wolverhampton loss at surging Bournemouth could see Ipswich Town outside the relegation zone after weekend results.

Leicester, level on points but with a worse goal differential than Ipswich Town, is also trying to climb to safety. The Foxes kick off the Premier League weekend with a Friday match at King Power Stadium versus Brentford. Leicester, however, has lost nine of its last ten matches under Manager Ruud van Nistelrooy as the Foxes perhaps rue their dismissal of former manager Steve Cooper who had the club in safe territory before his November sacking. Bottom of the table Southampton, meanwhile, hosts an unwelcome visitor in Brighton.

Champtions League Draw

The virtually indecipherable new Champions League format has now meandered its way to a round of 16. The head scratching continues, however. Liverpool had the top record through the convoluted early rounds of the competition. For that performance, the Reds have inexplicably been rewarded with one of the tougher remaining matchups as they will face PSG. Arsenal, which finished third in the competition’s newly introduced “table” format, gets an easier matchup in PSV Eindhoven. Aston Villa finished eighth and would seem to have caught a break in being drawn with Belgian side Club Brugge. Interestingly, however, the Villans lost to Brugge earlier in this year’s competition. All three English clubs have been placed on the same side of the Round of 16 bracket. The next round, comprised of home and away fixtures, commences  on March 4th and 5th with the reverse fixtures scheduled for the following week.

Premier League Results Match Week 25: Liverpool Survive Late Wolves Attack; Merino Doubles In Arsenal Win; Fulham Chops Down Forest; Maroush Stars In Manchester City Win; Moyes Magic Continues For Everton; Brighton Beats Chelsea Again; Bournemouth Puts Saints To Sword

Liverpool survived a late rally by their visitors to defeat Wolves 2-1 at Anfield. A Mohamed Salah penalty kick resulted in his fifth goal in his last four Premier League matches to give the league leaders a 2-0 halftime lead. Things got a bit wonky from there as Wolverhampton’s Matheus Cunha halved the lead at the 57-minute mark and the visitors frantically pressed the action to secure a point. Liverpool would hang on and bank all three points, however, with little concern for style points after being shocked by a late equalizing goal in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park during the week.

Liverpool’s lead remains at seven points over second place Arsenal which defeated Leicester 2-0. Manager Mikel Arteta made creative use of Mikel Merino to solve his injury induced puzzle at striker. The natural midfielder substituted in at striker and scored twice after the 80-minute mark. Merino’s first goal was set up by another unlikely hero in 17 year old Ethan Nwaneri who also had two of his own attempts bang off the woodwork in Arsenal’s second half surge. The gritty victory by the injury ravaged Gunners inflicted a ninth loss in Leicester’s last 10 Premier League matches.

Ethan's endless energy ⚡️

POTM performance from Nwaneri 👏 pic.twitter.com/2Wka2J7PzH

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 17, 2025

The Foxes are one of three teams battling to stay in the league next season and avoid a relegation fate which seems all but assured for Southampton. The Saints have accumulated a measly seven points after 25 matches following Southampton’s 3-1 loss at Bournemouth. Leicester and Ipswich share the relegation zone with the Saints, but both are eight points ahead of the south coast side and only two points behind currently safe Wolverhampton.

Ipswich Town drew level on points with Leicester with the Tractor Boys’ 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. Aston Villa fell to ninth in the Premier League table as its European qualification for next year looks in jeopardy. Unai Emery’s squad hosts Liverpool on Wednesday having won just three of their last 10 Premier League matches.

Fulham moved past Aston Villa in the table with the Cottagers 2-1 win at Craven Cottage over Nottingham Forest. The Cottagers had not won any of their previous five league matches at the Cottage but rose to the occasion on Saturday to defeat Nottingham Forest for the second time this season. Calvin Bassey’s  goal from a 67th minute corner kick secured the victory and handed Nottingham Forest a second defeat in the Tricky Trees’ last three Premier League matches.

Manchester City, meanwhile, vaulted over Chelsea into the fourth spot, just three points behind Nottingham Forest with a surprisingly easy 4-0 victory over Newcastle at the Etihad. Omar Manoush was the star man for the Citizens with his first Premier League hat trick, finding the net three times in his fifth match with the club after his January transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt. All three of Marmoush’s goals came in the first half as Newcastle were quickly swept away by the Citizens. Nico Gonzalez, recently acquired by Manchester City from Porto, was also instrumental in the win as the midfielder returned a sense of control to a midfield devasted by the season ending injury to Ballon d’ Or winning midfielder Rodri. Gonzalez, making his first start for Manchester City, repeatedly stopped the Magpies early in their attempted counterattacks and provided a sense of security seldom enjoyed by Manager Pep Guardiola’s side this season. Elation at the dominant performance by Manchester City was tempered, however, when Erling Haaland went down without contact in the 88th minute. Fears of a potential ACL tear have since been put to rest with Haaland fully participating in Tuesday’s practice as the Citizens prepare to play Real Madrid in the second leg of City’s Champions League tie on Wednesday.

Chelsea’s hopes for Champions League play next season were damaged in  a 3-0 defeat at American Express Stadium as the Blues lost to Brighton for a second time in less than a week. Yankuba Minteh scored twice for the Seagulls who were little troubled by a Chelsea side which did not register a single shot on target. Chelsea’s attack was actually worse than last Saturday’s FA Cup defeat to these same Seagulls when the Londoners managed one shot on target. Chelsea passed the ball over 700 times and controlled the ball for 70% of Friday’s contest without finding the net. The Blues failed to win for the seventh time in their last nine Premier League matches as the seat is becoming much warmer for Chelsea Manager Enzo Maresca.

While Chelsea declines, Bournemouth continues to ascend. The Cherries moved past Chelsea and are only a point behind Manchester City after a 3-1 stroll past Southampton. Only Liverpool has been able to defeat Bournemouth in the Cherries’ last 13 matches.

A draw versus Liverpool is the only non-winning effort in a five-match unbeaten run by Everton. Newly returned manager David Moyes has worked wonders with a Toffees squad which is now 13 points clear of the drop line after a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace. Carlos Alcaraz, acquired on loan from Flamengo in January, scored the winner in his first start for Moyes.

Moyes’ former club West Ham, meanwhile, is still struggling with its second managerial hire since Moyes left the Hammers after last season. Graham Potter has lost three of his five matches, winning just once, in charge at West Ham after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Brentford. The Bees, meanwhile, won a third consecutive Premier League away match for the first time in the club’s history courtesy of a fourth minute goal by Kevin Schade.

Tottenham Hotspur won at home for the first time since early November in a 1-0 defeat of Manchester United as James Maddison had the winner in his return from a four-week injury absence. Manchester United has now lost eight of its last twelve Premier League matches as things have seemed to go from bad to worse under new manager Ruben Amorim.