Friday, January 16, 2026

Premier League: Match Week 22 Preview

Saturday’s Manchester Derby has a strange aura about it. Manchester City has long been the more talented club in the matchup but Manchester United has at times surprised in the emotion packed encounter. Those emotions could be tamped down for this one given the state of suspended animation the Red Devils currently inhabit. The club seems to have folded the cards on its current season, preferring to seek a permanent managerial solution next summer. In the meantime, Michael Carrick has been brought in as the interim manager for the balance of this season. Oddly, Manchester United had largely gotten improved results in what was Amorim’s second season in charge. The club is, after all, only three points removed from fourth place Liverpool in the Premier League table. Amorim, however, lost his composure during a recent downturn in results and publicly criticized the ownership which had backed him through the darkness characterizing much of his tenure. Amorim is now out and Carrick is left to salvage what is left of the season. Indications that no major moves will take place in the January window further fuels discontent among a fan base which is supposedly planning a mass protest against Manchester United ownership at the February 1st match versus Fulham. Carrick is generally well liked as a former player on some of Manchester Untied’s championship teams. His managerial resume, however, is lackluster. After an interim stint for Manchester United in 2021, three matches without a defeat, he won 46% of his matches in charge of Middlesbrough from 2022-2025 before being sacked. Manchester United supporters, however, are more upset at the delay in finding a long-term manager, Carrick being contracted only until the end of the season. That, combined with a lack of ambition in the January window, conveys a perceived and inexplicable indifference to Champions League qualification by club ownership.

Manchester City, meanwhile, is chasing another  Premier League title under legendary manager Pep Guardiola. The Citizens have work to do as they sit six points back of table leading Arsenal. Guardiola, however, must be thrilled at the January addition of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth. Semenyo is third in Premier League goalscoring this season and provides another formidable option for a Manchester City attack which already includes Golden Boot leader Erling Haaland. Manchester City should be poised to boost their title aspirations at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Arsenal, however, shows no signs of  stumbling in trying to end a three-year run as Premier League bridesmaid. The Gunners, 3-2 winners over Chelsea in the EFL Cup semifinals on Wednesday, have lost only twice in the Premier League this season, piecing together an earlier 18 and current 11 game unbeaten runs. Arsenal is on a five-match winning run on the road as they travel to Nottingham Forest for a Saturday match at the City Ground. Nottingham Forest is in a battle of its own at the bottom of the table, currently winning that battle with a seven-point cushion against the relegation places.

West Ham has made life more comfortable for Nottingham Forest with the Hammers’ dreadful performance under Manager Nuno Espirito Santo who risks being sacked by a second Premier League club in the same 2025/26 season. Santo will face off against Thomas Frank and Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday in both a London derby and Battle of the Embattled Managers. Frank is under fire for not just poor results but also an unappealing playing stye devoid of creativity and his crusty comments directed at his own supporters. Frank has Spurs positioned just six points above 17th place Nottingham Forest. That final safe position in the table is where spurs landed season under subsequently sacked manger Ange Postecoglou. A loss to visiting West Ham could spell the end for Frank on Saturday.

Another London derby will be drawing eyes as Liam Rosenior makes his Premier League when Chelsea hosts an in-form Brentford side. The new Blues manager suffered defeat at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday in the first leg of an EFL Cup tie with Arsenal. A competitive loss to the Premier League leader does not constitute a black mark. A second consecutive loss at home could raise eyebrows as to whether the inexperienced manager is truly ready to turn around Chelsea’s poor run of form. Chelsea has won just one of its last nine Premier League matches, a rough patch which has seen them drop from title contention to eighth in the league table. Brentford, meanwhile, has been climbing the table to its current fifth place perch. Only Arsenal has gathered more points in the last six matches than the Bees. Forward Igor Thiago has a hat trick and a brace in his last two matches for the streaking Bees. His 16 goals on the season have taken the league by surprise and provided the Bees with firepower they feared lost when Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa left the club last summer. Brentford could have to deal with returning Chelsea stars Cole Palmer and Reese James who missed the midweek Arsenal loss due to injury.

Sunderland is at a critical juncture to its season. The Black Cats have outperformed expectations by spending this season in the top half of the table, far from the relegation fight expected for the newly promoted club. A win, however, has eluded Sunderland in its last five matches. Manger Regis Le Bris will be hoping to get back in the win column this weekend when the club returns to its home fortress to host Crystal Palace at the Stadium of Light where the Black Cats are undefeated and have won five of their ten home matches. Crystal Palace has not won any of its last six league matches. Any encouragement from a draw with Aston Villa in its last league contest was short lived for the Eagles who suffered a shocking FA Cup loss to measly Macclesfield in a historic upset last Saturday. It will be interesting to see how Manager Oliver Glasner is able to put the pieces back together again at Sunderland this week.

Fulham and Liverpool have been two of the most in-form Premier League sides in recent weeks. Liverpool has warts but also the type of talent that makes it far from surprising that they are back in the Champions League places despite a disappointing campaign which had warmed the seat of Manager Arne Slot. The Reds should not have much trouble this weekend when they host an overmatched Burnley side which is second bottom in the table on merit. Unlike Liverpool, the recent run of success by Fulham is less expected. The Cottagers roster is not imposing but Manager Marco Silva is highly respected and former Liverpool property Harry Wilson has caught fire. Wilson spent much of his Liverpool time on loan at various clubs but seems to have found a home at Craven Cottage. Since the beginning of November, only Erling Haaland has had more goal involvements than the  28-year-old Wilson. The Wilson led Cottagers will put their five match Premier League unbeaten run on the line at Leeds on Saturday.

Aston Villa is still in the title picture, level on points with Manchester City, both clubs six points shy of Arsenal. The Villans have hit some bumps in recent weeks, being whacked soundly by Arsenal and then suffering a frustrating draw with Crystal Palace. The Villans are home to Everton this weekend.

The Semenyo era is over at Bournemouth as the club’s leading goalscorer is now wearing a Manchester City shirt. Manger Andoni Iraola thus needs to find new answers for the Cherries’ attack when they journey to Brighton on Monday. Wolverhampton has had a poor attack all season, netting just 15 goals in its 21 league contests. Cellar dwelling Wolves has shown some life recently, however, going undefeated in its last three matches. Newcastle visits Molineux Stadium on Sunday.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2026

FA Cup Makes Headlines

The David and Goliath aspect of the FA Cup always grabs attention even as most mismatches play out as one would expect. The competition pits clubs from all levels of English football against each other. Thus, you see outcomes such as Manchester City’s 10-1 demolition of Exeter City, a romp which featured Manchester City’s newest weapon Antoine Semenyo both scoring and assisting a goal. The competition also provides opportunities for top tier sides having a rough season to flex versus lower tier sides. Premier League doormat Wolverhampton pounded League Two side Shrewsbury 6-1 on Saturday. Relegation bound Burnley was a 5-1 winner over second tier Millwall.

You also have random matchups of Premier League clubs which provide an expected high level of play and competitiveness. Such was the case when Sunderland came back to eliminate Everton in penalty kicks. Newcastle also knocked off a Premier League rival in penalty kicks, requiring seven players to find the net in a shootout before sending Bournemouth packing. Manchester United was a 2-1 loser to Brighton as former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck bagged the winner for the Seagulls. So heated was the match between Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur that a full out brawl erupted between players after Villa’s 2-1 win.

The storied tournament, however, also delivers the kind of special fairytale moments often hoped for but only occasionally realized. One such story was literally right out of Hollywood when Wrexham was a winner over Premier League side Nottingham Forest, in penalty shootout fashion, over the weekend. The true shocker, however, took place before roughly 5,000 amazed onlookers when non-league Macclesfield defeated defending FA Cup champion Crystal Palace. The Premier League Eagles were an underdog story themselves last season when they won the first significant silverware in the club’s long history, defeating Premier League heavyweight Manchester City in the FA final at Wembley. Now the Eagles have crash landed in perhaps the FA Cup’s greatest upset. Macclesfield plays in the sixth tier of English football. The club was in administration as recently as 2020 before reforming as a ninth-tier club in the pyramid of English football and then ascending thorough promotion to its current level, one which still often dictates that many players hold down other jobs to support themselves.

Others have vagabond type careers reflecting a star-crossed journey across the lower tier geographies of English football. Within the pyramidal hierarchy of English football, including the semiprofessional level of Macclesfield, there are currently 117 places separating Crystal Palace from “The Silkmen.” That disparity makes the Silkmen’s 2-1 victory over the Eagles on Saturday the greatest upset in FA Cup history based on comparative league position. The match had drama from the start as the first goal was scored by Macclesfield captain Paul Dawson via a header from a noggin that was heavily bandaged from a head injury sustained just seconds into the match. Those bandages were adjusted by a teammate just moments before the 43rd minute goal which broke up a scoreless match. Isaac Buckley-Ricketts would provide an insurance goal for the upstarts, a cushion which proved necessary when Crystal Palace’s Yeremy Pino brought the Eagles to within a goal with his 90th minute free kick strike. Buckley-Ricketts, who began his football journey in Manchester City’s academy, has played for seven different clubs in England, most in the lower echelons of the English league system. His goal proved the winner as Macclesfield, managed by Wayne Rooney’s brother John, held firm in the closing minutes to capture the win and dethrone the reigning FA Cup champions.

After the match, Rooney dedicated the title to Ethan McLeod a 21-year-old Macclesfield player tragically killed in a car accident just last month, further fueling the emotions surrounding a shocking result. The last time a defending FA Cup champion lost to a sixth-tier side was 1909.

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Friday, January 9, 2026

Premier League Match Week 21 Results: Dark Days For West Ham; No Changes To Top Four; More Buzz About The Bees

Things grew darker for West Ham on Tuesday as the Hammers lost a proverbial “six pointer” to Nottingham Forest. Rather than cutting the distance to safety to one point, the Hammers and Manager Nuno Espirito Santo are now seven points adrift of the club which Santo began the season in charge of. A Morgan Gibbs-White penalty conversion in the 89th minute secured all three points in the Tricky Trees’ 2-1 victory. The Gibbs-White goal completed a comeback win which had seen Forest down at halftime due to a self-inflicted own goal. The victory ended a four-match winless run for Nottingham Forest and Manager Sean Dyche and provided some much-needed breathing space between the Trees and the dreaded drop line. Dyche is the third manger this season for Nottingham Forest after Ange Postecoglou failed as the immediate successor to Santo. Santo has captured only 11 points in 15 matches since replacing Graham Potter on the touchline for the Hammers and the man who led Nottingham Forest into the European places just last season is now at risk to become the first Premier League manager to be sacked by two different clubs in the same season.

Wolverhampton supporters, meanwhile, may be growing fonder of Manager Rob Edwards. After a bleak start to his tenure in charge of the relegation assured outfit, Edwards’ gang is starting to show some spunk and is on a three-match winless run after drawing 1-1 at Everton. Five of Wolves’ seven points this season have come in the club’s last three matches.

Burnley, another relegation team, also picked up a point in a 2-2 draw with unsettled Manchester United. The Clarets moved within a point of 18th place West Ham though they remain a daunting eight points below Nottingham Forest and the promise of a Premier League return next season. Darren Fletcher was the man on the touchline for Manchester United following the Ruben Amorim sacking. The confused Manchester United ownership may not appoint a permanent successor till the summer and has floated the idea of another interim solution beyond Fletcher to get the Red Devils though the balance of this season. Fletcher is only truly assured of directing the side for this weekend’s FA Cup tilt with Brighton.

The Seagulls went to the Etihad on Wednesday and extended the Citizens winless run to three matches with a 1-1 draw. Earling Haaland put Manchester City ahead with his 150th goal for the club when he converted a first half penalty kick. The Citizens’ however, squandered a lead for a second straight match when Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma equalized things with his 60th minute goal. It was only Mitoma’s second goal of an injury and illness marred season. A healthy run from the Japanese winger could alter the fortunes of a Brighton club which has underwhelmed for much of the season to date.

Manchester City, meanwhile, missed a chance to make up some ground as Arsenal was held to a goalless draw with Liverpool on Thursday. An aggravated Gabriel Martinelli let his frustration boil over at the Emirates when he attempted to shove an injured Conor Bradley off the pitch in stoppage time, thinking the seriously injured Bradley was merely time wasting. Liverpool dominated play for much of the second half action as Arsenal’s five match winning run ended.

Aston Villa was also held to a goalless draw at Crystal Palace as the entire top four garnered a point during the midweek matches.

Creeping up on fourth place Liverpool, however, is a suddenly dangerous Brentford side. The fifth place Bees are just a point behind Liverpool after winning for a fourth time in their last five Premier Legue matches. Brentford defeated Sunderland 3-0 as Igor Thiago scored twice to increase his haul to five goals in his last two matches. The Brazilian striker now has 16 goals on the season, trailing only the 20 tallies of Golden Boot leader Haaland. No Brazilian player has ever scored as many goals in a Premier League season as Thiago’s current total. Sunderland’s five-match unbeaten run ended after four consecutive draws.

Newcastle kept pace, one point behind Brentford in the table as the Magpies defeated Leeds 4-3. Newcastle’s Harvey Barnes scored his second goal of the match in second half stoppage time to give all three points to Newcastle and put an end to a seven match unbeaten run by newly promoted Leeds.

While Brentford Manager Keith Andrews ascends the table, former Bees’ manager Thomas Frank cannot be enjoying his time with Tottenham Hotspur where he is booed each match by unhappy supporters. At least the latest loss was away which reduced the number of unhappy Spurs customers. Bournemouth defeated Frank’s side 2-1 to end an 11-match winless run by the Cherries when Antoine Semenyo scored the stoppage time winner for the Cherries in what might have been his final game for the club with a move to Manchester City expected this week.

Chelsea fell all the way to eighth place in the Premier League table after a 2-2 London derby loss to Fulham. The Blues went down to 10 men on a Marc Cucarella red card in the 22nd minute to make it a tough slog for Chelsea and interim Manager Calum McFarlane. New Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior will be on the touchline for Chelsea’s FA contest versus Charlton this weekend. Harry Wilson was the hero for Fulham, striking the winner in the 81st minute for his team leading seventh goal of the season to go along with four assists.

The Premier League now steps aside for the third round of the FA Cup this weekend and will return on Saturday January 17th.

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