Premier League Match Week 34 Is In The Books - Spurs Win To Keep Hope Alive; West Ham Stays Safe On Late Winner; Arsenal Staves Off Newcastle To Retake Title Lead; Carrick And Manchester United Win Again

Tottenham Hotspur won for the first time in 2026 to keep its survival hopes alive. Spurs’ 1-0 victory over an already relegated Wolverhampton side ended the club’s 15 match winless Premier League run and enabled it to keep pace with West Ham, which also won to keep a thin two-point advantage over Tottenham Hotspur in the two clubs’ relegation battle. A scruffy goal by Joao Palhinha in the 82nd minute and a stoppage time save by Antonin Kinsky gave Manager Roberto De Zerbi his first win in charge.

The three points were essential but the ugly win over the league’s doormat also came at a cost when Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons needed to exit the contest with injuries, further depleting an increasingly thin roster for the stretch drive. De Zerbi’s side were agonizingly close to escaping the bottom three until late drama unfolded back in London. West Ham seemed poised to fall into the relegation zone when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored for Everton in the 88th minute to knot the match between the Toffees and Hammers at a goal apiece.

The Hammers proved resilient, however, when a Jarrod Bowen pass found Callum Wilson in the box just two minutes into stoppage time. The 34-year-old Wilson then cooly deposited the winner in the Toffee net to keep his side safe for another week. Bowen, West Ham’s captain, also assisted Tomas Soucek’s earlier goal for the Hammers. Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, sent a message again that it wants nothing to do with this relegation scrap.

The Tricky Trees destroyed Sunderland on Friday, scoring five times and keeping a clean sheet at Sunderland. Forest is still vulnerable at just five points above the drop line but are now undefeated in six matches and have won their last two contests by an aggregate 9-1 scoreline. While the relegation picture remained unchanged with the three primary drop contenders all winning, Arsenal snuck into the top spot of the table over an idle Manchester City.

The 1-0 victory followed back-to-back losses which had knocked the Gunners from their top of the table perch. Saturday’s victory shifts the pressure back to Manchester City which was busy with non-Premier League business on the weekend, the Citizens advancing to the FA Cup final with a 1-0 victory over Southampton. Eberechi Eze scored the winner for Arsenal in the ninth minute off a corner kick from Kai Havertz, the 17th time Arsenal has scored from a corner kick this season.

Eze and Havertz would both be later withdrawn for injuries which are hoped not to be compromising of their run-in participation. Gunner supporters, while celebrating the end of the recent losing run, still cannot feel good about the lack of attacking opportunities against a Newcastle side which suffered its ninth defeat in the Magpies’ last 12 Premier League matches. Former Newcastle star Alexander Isak finally scored his first home Premier League goal at Anfield in a 3-1 Liverpool victory over Crystal Palace.

A third consecutive league victory seems likely to have assured Isak and the Reds of Champions League football next season, but supporters still hold Manager Arne Slot and the club’s ownership accountable for a disappointing season. This time last year, the Reds were clinching the Premier League title. There will be no trophy this season despite a major summer outlay on Isak and others. An announced rise in ticket prices was met with a creative fan protest on Saturday when supporters held up yellow cards en masse in the 13th minute of play.

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Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah may well have played his final match in front of those supporters as he was lifted with an injury in the second half. Next up for Liverpool will be a match with historic rival Manchester United next week. The Red Devils edged Brentford 2-1 at Old Trafford on Monday as interim Manager Michael Carrick won for the ninth time in his 13 matches in charge. Only two more points are necessary for Carrick to qualify his team for Champions League football next season, deemed improbable by most when he took over a seventh-place squad from Ruben Amorim.

And yet there remains no commitment to Carrick beyond this season. The interim gaffer inherited what remains a flawed roster, but he has gotten outstanding runs from a select core of veterans and a new presence between the sticks. Bruno Fernandes notched his 19th assist of the season on Monday, setting up Benjamin Sesko for what proved the winner. That goal involvement moved Fernandes to within one assist of the Premier League season record.

Casemiro, playing his final season in Manchester, scored for a third consecutive Old Trafford contest. Harry Maguire has rejuvenated his flagging career to play a key role in the heart of Carrick’s reimagined back four after “three at the back” proved a failed experiment for the doomed Amorim. Another factor in the club’s success has been the work of goalkeeper Senne Lammens who frustrated Brentford with several fine saves on Monday, a not uncommon occurrence for the Belgian keeper who became the established starter in February.

Manchester United is now alone in third place after Aston Villa’s 1-0 loss to Fulham on Saturday. While Villa may well have been looking past the Cottagers to Thursday’s Europa League semifinal versus Nottingham Forest, Fulham kept their European hopes alive for next season as the race for Europa and Conference League places remains chaotic. The tenth place Cottagers are just two points removed from sixth place Brighton in the Premier League table. 

Premier League Match week 34: Manchester City Moves To Top Of Table; Chelsea Sack Rosenior

Manchester City moved to the top of the Premier League table with a 1-0 victory over Burnley on Wednesday. Erling Haaland bagged the winner, his 24th Premier League goal of the season, in a back and forth first half which then gave way to Burnley curiously playing negative football through a turgid second half. City, nine points back in the title chase less than two weeks ago, now has the exact same point total and goal differential as Arsenal. The Citizens, however, own the tiebreaker as a result of having scored three more goals than the Gunners.

Arsenal, a loser in its last two outings, falls out of the top spot for the first time since October. Manchester City, now unbeaten in eleven matches, moves to the top spot for the first time since the season’s opening week. Burnley’s loss on Wednesday, meanwhile, relegates the Clarets to the second tier for the second time in three years. This Burnley side could make history as it still needs four more points to match the total of the Clarets’ worst ever Premier League point total. Burnley now joins Wolverhampton in having clinched places in the Championship next season.

A disjointed Week 34 kicked off Tuesday with another Chelsea disaster. The Blues were defeated 3-0 at Brighton to mark a fifth consecutive league loss, a run in which the club failed to score a single goal. The spiral has all but destroyed chances of a Champions League berth for next season and question now looms as to whether Chelsea will qualify for any continental football next season. An emergency meeting of Chelsea ownership on Wednesday resulted in the sacking of overmatched manager Liam Rosenior.

Former mangers Mauricio Pochettino and Enzo Maresca, each of whom had elusive moments of success, both left the club on bad terms with an ownership which thought it had its “company man” in Rosenior, who was managing another BlueCo club in France at the time of his January Chelsea appointment. Unfortunately, there are other requisites to be a successful Premier League manager and Rosenior has room for improvement in both tactics and man management.

Brighton, meanwhile, appears to be peaking at the right time after some struggles earlier in the season had raised questions about the future of its own young manager, Fabian Hurzeler. The 33-year-old Hurzeler, however, benefits from a solid operating model at Brighton and has never appeared cowed by the challenges of the English top division. The sacked Rosenior, meanwhile, seemed well out of his depth and was penalized by an operating strategy which appears to be a massive failure for Chelsea in the aftermath of the far more successful Roman Abramovich era.

.@DannyWelbeck just gets better and better. 🍷 pic.twitter.com/diEDomXgNg

— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) April 22, 2026

Brighton leapfrogged Chelsea into sixth place in the table on Tuesday as the Seagulls won for the sixth time in their last eight matches. The Seagulls have also now defeated Chelsea four of the last five times the clubs have met. Brighton’s success versus Chelsea has become a habit since Chelsea began poaching Brighton assets such as former manager Graham Potter, co-sporting director Paul Winstanley, midfielder Moises Caicedo, fullback Marc Cucurella, goalie Robert Sanchez, defender Levi Colwill and striker Joao Pedro.

Embarrassingly for the Blues, Brighton has proven adept at reloading, certainly helped by the funds received from player sales and compensation for the release of Potter and his staff. Brighton is now one point ahead of Bournemouth, Chelsea having fallen all the way to eighth. The Cherries lost an opportunity to move into the top six when Leeds’s Sean Longstaff struck the equalizer in the 97th minute of a 2-2 draw Wednesday at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium.

After a brief respite on Thursday, the Premier League restarts on Friday with Sunderland visiting Nottingham Forest. Sunderland still has a small chance for European qualification, but the stakes are much higher for the visiting Trees. Forest, despite winning two of its last three Premier League matches, is still vulnerable with just a four-point cushion versus the relegation line. The schedule, however, provides some odd encouragement for the Trees as Friday remains the only day of the week on which Sunderland has never won a Premier League match.

Six matches unfold on Saturday. Arsenal can, of course, afford no further slipups after two consecutive league losses, as the Gunners host flailing Newcastle, losers of their last three league outings. Tottenham Hotspur also faces a must win scenario. The struggling club, yet to measurably improve under new manager Roberto De Zerbi, must absolutely, positively secure their first league win of the calendar year against Wolverhampton which is already relegated. Spurs will join them if De Zerbi cannot engineer an immediate turnaround.

The other match with massive relegation implications takes place at London Stadium where West Ham are home to Everton. The Hammers are currently only two points above Spurs and could find themselves back in the relegation zone if results do not go their way this weekend. Elsewhere on Saturday, Liverpool can strengthen its stranglehold on the fifth Champions League spot if the Reds win their third consecutive league match when they host Crystal Palace while Manchester United, virtually assured of playing in Europe’s premier competition next season, hosts Brentford which desperately needs a win after five consecutive draws to advance their own European ambitions when the Bees visit Old Trafford.

Aston Villa, meanwhile, will share the same point total and rosy European outlook as Manchester United when Manager Unai Emery takes his squad to Fulham on Saturday. The Cottagers hopes for Europe, however, hang by a thread which will likely be severed if Fulham loses Saturday’s match at Craven Cottage.

Premier League Week 33 Results: Manchester City Sweeps Aside Arsenal; Liverpool Triumphs In Merseyside Derby; Manchester United Wins At Stamford Bridge; Spurs Refuse To Win; Leeds And Forest Separate From Relegation Pack

Manchester City is on a heater as the Citizens swept by Arsenal 2-1 to turn the Premier League title race on its head. The stars were out for the Citizens as French magician Ryan Cherki opened the scoring and Premier League Golden Boot leader Erling Haaland drilled the winner. Bernardo Silva, leaving the club after this season, was again in fine form as he navigates the final leg of his Manchester City career. Their heroics overcame an error by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma which allowed Arsenal to equalize the match early on.

Sunday’s result leaves City just three points removed from the top of the table with a match at Burnley looming on Wednesday. Arsenal played well but its attacking limitations were again on full display. Havertz was able to score off a fumbled ball from Donnarumma, but the German also missed other opportunities which could have changed the match’s outcome. Most excruciating for Gunner supporters was his miss versus a gaping Manchester City net in the dying seconds of stoppage time.

In fairness, Arsenal recognized Havertz’s limitations as a striker and invested in a presumed upgrade in Victor Gyokeres during last summer’s transfer window. While Gyokeres has shown flashes, he has not proven the difference that Arsenal needed and was benched for Havertz on Sunday in Arsenal’s biggest game of the season. Haaland, meanwhile, proved his mettle by winning his match-long battle with Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes and finding the winner in the 65th minute for his 23rd Premier League goal of the season.

The battle between the two players included customary shoves, head butts and grabbing which required the Norwegian wonder to replace a ripped jersey. In a testament to old school football, Haaland refused to go to the ground when receiving a Magalhaes head butt in the 84th minute. That decision not to draw the type of attention which likely would have meant an early exit for the Arsenal defender served to extend the match’s drama between two balanced sides.

Haaland 🆚 Gabriel ‼️ pic.twitter.com/Z8bw7kOzm0

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 19, 2026

With Sunday’s victory, Manchester City showed championship grit. Alternatively, a good performance by Arsenal is no longer enough for a side that has already failed to measure up in the past. A torrid start to this Premier League season now assures nothing for the Gunners because, as Haaland stated post-match “the last weeks are when things get decided.” A season of disappointment for Liverpool provided a satisfying highlight on Sunday when the Red emerged with a 2-1 victory in the first Merseyside derby played at Everton’ new Dickinson Hill Stadium.

Fittingly, it was Liverpool legends Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk who scored the goals for the Reds, van Dijk’s dramatic 100th minute winner claiming all three points for the visitors. This was Salah’s final Merseyside derby while van Dijk’s future is clouded by the steep decline in his play this season. The victory extended Liverpool’s lead over Chelsea in the race for the final Champions League slot to seven points.

Chelsea lost a fourth consecutive Premier League match, a 1-0 home loss to Manchester United as the wheels appear to be coming off at Stamford Bridge. The club has not scored a goal in any of those four losses as the attacking play under Manager Liam Rosenior appears lethargic and disjointed. The goal drought is the longest experienced by the Blues since 1912. A third consecutive home loss makes it six losses at Stamford Bridge this season, the most in over 30 years.

The young manager has presided over a spiral which has both players and supporters questioning the club’s strategic direction. More than 500 Chelsea supporters marched in protest against club ownership before Saturday’s match. Matheus Cunha scored the first half winner which virtually assured Manchester United of Champions League play next season. The question remains, however, as to who their manager will be next year.

The club has not yet extended its commitment to interim manager Michael Carrick despite the former Red Devil player leading his club to more Premier League points than any other side since his January appointment. Bruno Fernandes, who will be entering the final year of his current contract, assisted on Cunha’s goal to move his league leading assist total to 18 as he chases the league record of 20 assists held jointly by legendary players Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.

Aston Villa, level on points with the Red Devils, also helped solidify their Champions League participation for next season with a 4-3 win in a thriller over Sunderland. The Black Cats scored twice in the final five minutes of regulation to knot the match before Tammy Abraham halted their comeback with his winner in the third minute of stoppage time. While the Champion’s League places increasingly seem certain, the races for the other European places remain muddled.

Sixth place Chelsea is now level on points with both Brentford and Bournemouth. Brighton and Everton are just one point further behind and even 12th place Fulham is only three points behind Chelsea. The Cottagers kept themselves in the hunt by handing Brentford a fifth consecutive league draw in a goalless affair at Gtech Stadium. A surprisingly strong season by the Bees is threatening to go for naught as the club continues to search for its first league win since February.

Bournemouth experienced a similar spell of five inconclusive results before the Cherries rose up and defeated Arsenal last weekend to introduce turmoil to the Premier League title chase. The Cherries further improved their own European chances with a 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday. Adrien Truffert scored in the 85th minute to provide a second consecutive victory and keep the Cherries unbeaten for a club record 13th consecutive Premier League match.

Brighton added to the misery which is Tottenham Hotspur when the Seagulls’ Georginio Rutter scored an equalizer in the 95th minute to knot the score at two goals apiece and extend Tottenham Hotspur’s winless Premier League run to 15 matches. The Seagulls had earlier tied the match at one goal a piece with a first half stoppage time goal by Kaoru Mitoma as Tottenham Hotspur continues to demonstrate an unwillingness to embrace success.

The last Premier League victory for Spurs was last December. The north London side remains in the relegation zone, one point below West Ham which drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace on Monday. It may well be now a two-team battle between Spurs and the Hammers for the final position of safety in the Premier League table. Both Leeds and Nottingham Forest were victorious this weekend over inferior foes to pull themselves further away from the relegation rumble.

Leeds moved eight points clear of the drop line with a 3-0 whitewashing of bottom of the table Wolverhampton. Nottingham Forest moved five points in front of Spurs with a 4-1 thumping of next to bottom Burnley. The Tricky Trees are undefeated in their last five league matches, winning twice during a run which has created some much needed separation from the league’s bottom feeders. Forest, rejuvenated by new manager Vitor Pereira, has also advanced to the semifinals of the Europa League where the Trees will face Aston Villa.