Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Premier League Results Match Week 26: Is The Title Race Decided ?

Liverpool took a large step toward locking up this year’s Premier League title with a 2-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday, one day after Arsenal suffered a damaging defeat to West Ham at the Emirates. Liverpool professionally dispatched a Manchester City squad which was playing without star striker Erling Haaland. Reds Manager Arne slot adjusted his formation to incorporate an extra midfielder and frustrated the already diminished Manchester City attack. Liverpool’s own attack featured none other than the Premier League’s best player, Mohamed Salah, who both scored and assisted for the 11th time this season, the first time a player in Europe’s five major leagues has done that since Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in 2014/15. Salah’s league leading goals AND assists now stand at 25 and 15, respectively, six ahead of his nearest challenger in both categories . Salah’s 14th minute goal was assisted by Dominik Szoboszlai who was the beneficiary of Salah’s assist later in the first half which essentially  closed out the match. Liverpool’s lead in the Premier League table has now stretched to 11 points, a margin that seems insurmountable given the current form of nearest pursuer Arsenal.

The Gunners, ravaged by injury to key attacking players, were rescued last week by a brace from midfielder turned striker Mikel Merino. No such Merino magic occurred on Saturday as the Gunners lost their London derby to West Ham and new manager Graham Potter 1-0. Arsenal’s decision not to secure a striker in the January transfer window looks to have been a devastatingly poor decision as the Gunners appear headed to a third consecutive failed title chase. Jarrod Bowen’s 44th minute header did the damage as former West Ham captain Declan Rice was caught ball watching. Bowen’s 50th Premier League goal ended Arsenal’s 15 match Premier League unbeaten run and perhaps their title hopes as well. Any chance for an Arsenal comeback largely disappeared when 18-year-old defender Myles Lewis-Skelly was booked for his second red card of the season in the 73rd minute. The takedown of West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus initially drew a yellow card but was ruled the denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity after VAR review.

While Liverpool distanced itself from its closest title contender, the race among those clubs scrambling behind Liverpool and Arsenal for Champions League berths tightened up. The next six clubs behind the top two are separated by only five points after the weekend results.

Nottingham Forest lost for a second consecutive week and for the third time in four matches as the Tricky Trees were felled 4-3 at Newcastle. The Magpies secured the critical three points courtesy of a first half explosion which saw Eddie Howe’s side score four times in a span of 11 minutes. Alexander Isak scored two of his club’s four first half goals. The Swedish striker now has 19 goals on the season, joint second in the Premier League. His second goal of the first half was his 50th in 76 Premier League games with only six players having reached the 50 mark more quickly. Things quieted, however, for the Newcastle attack in the second half as Nottingham Forest crept closer and made things interesting when Ryan Yates scored in the 90th minute to make it a one-score match. The home side persevered through the nervy minutes of stoppage time, however, and by securing all three points, Newcastle moved to within three points of third place Forest and drew level on points with fourth place Manchester City.

The fifth place Magpies flew past Chelsea and Bournemouth in the table as both clubs found themselves on the wrong end of results. Chelsea were 2-1 losers at Aston Villa. The Villans actively reinforced their squad during the January transfer window and were rewarded in Saturday’s win by two of those new players. Loanees Marco Asensio (Paris Saint-Germain) and Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) combined for both Aston Villa goals, Ascencio delivering the brace off two Rashford assists. The second half goals erased an early Chelsea lead provided in the ninth minute by Enzo Fernandez. Chelsea star Cole Palmer again failed to make a positive impact on the proceedings and his negative body language is attracting as much attention as his reduced goal and assist metrics. Where once thought to be a possible title contender and probable Champions League club, Chelsea now risks missing out on European football for next season. Chelsea has fallen to seventh in the table, ahead of Bournemouth on goal differential and one point ahead of Saturday’s host Aston Villa.

Bournemouth, meanwhile, lost a second consecutive home match in a surprising 1-0 loss to Wolverhampton at Vitality Stadium. The Cherries’ Illia Zabarnyi was red carded in the 31st minute. Wolves’ Matheus Cunha scored five minutes later, and his club picked up three valuable points in its battle to avoid relegation. Cunha’s goal was his fourth in four matches and he has scored in seven of his last 11 matches. None of the current relegation sides possess a player of Cunha’s quality, the biggest reason why Manager Vitor Pereira’s side has now moved five points clear of the relegation morass. All three of the clubs currently in the relegation zone were paddled this past weekend with each team leaking four goals to their opponent.

Ipswich Town and Leicester lost 4-1 and 4-0 to Spurs and Brentford, respectively. Brennan Johnson scored twice in the Spurs win over the Tractor Boys, Son Heung-min providing the assist on both Johnson scores, and later goals by Djed Spence and Dejan Kulusevski completed the rout by the Londoners. Tottenham Hotspur has now won three consecutive Premier League matches but remains mired in mid-table. Eighteenth place Ipswich Town has lost five times and drawn twice in its last seven Premier League matches as the Tractor Boys look like a good bet to be uprooted from the top tier after a brief one season appearance.

Leicester looks set to join them after losing for the 10th time in their last eleven matches. The Foxes had no answers for a Brentford side which posted its second consecutive away clean sheet. Brian Mbeumo scored his 15th goal of the season and Yoane Wissa found the net for the 12th time this season in a dominant performance which further angered Leicester home supporters. Fans voiced their unhappiness at the foul Foxes and then left early as King Power Stadium was roughly a quarter full at the final whistle.

Bottom of the table Southampton, meanwhile, provided its usual embarrassing display in a 4-0 loss to Brighton. Kaoru Mitoma continued his hot streak for the Seagulls, finding the net for the fifth time in his last seven matches. Brighton moved past Fulham, into ninth position in the table, with the Cottagers losing 2-0 at home to Crustal Palace. Fulham defender Joachim Andersen suffered the indignity of committing an own goal versus his former employers before the Eagles’ Daniel Munoz provided the insurance goal for an Eagles side which has performed quite the turnaround  this season. Crystal Palace were mired in 18th place in the table, seemingly headed for relegation, on November 9th after losing to these same Cottagers by an identical 2-0 score. From that point, Crystal Palace has posted seven victories and five draws in fifteen matches to move 16 points clear of the drop zone and set its sights on a possible top half finish. Fulham currently occupies the 10th spot in the table, six points ahead of Crystal Palace.

Everton has similarly turned its season around since the hiring of Manager David Moyes. The Toffees are just a point behind Crystal Palace after extending their unbeaten run to six matches in a 2-2 draw with Manchester United. Moyes, however, will not be happy with his club’s second half play which saw the Red Devils erase a two-goal deficit in an unusual show of resilience by the struggling visitors. Despite their second half vulnerability, the Toffees still had a chance at winning when Manchester United’s Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt both made contact with Everton’s Ashley Young in the penalty area. The penalty award was controversially rescinded, however, after VAR review.

The Premier League will have a full slate of games on Tuesday and Wednesday as Match Week 27 is played in advance of this weekend’s FA Cup Fifth Round. The feature games come on Wednesday. Newcastle attempts to play giant killer at Anfield where only Nottingham Forest has beaten Liverpool this season. The Tricky Trees have their own top four opponent to deal with on that same day when Arsenal visits the City Ground. It may already be too late for Arsenal in terms of catching Liverpool in this year’s title chase, but Newcastle and Nottingham Forest could desperately use three points from their matches with the league’s top two clubs as the Magpies and Tricky Trees fight for Champions Lague qualification.

at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please leave a comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)