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.

Every Igor Thiago @premierleague goal from his record-breaking season so far 🇧🇷🐐 pic.twitter.com/AydbGN4WZ5

— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) January 9, 2026

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.

Premier League Match Week 20 Results: Wolverhampton Wins, Wolverhampton Wins, Wolverhampton Wins; Amorim Sacked, Is Nuno Next ?

The long drought is over as Wolverhampton garnered its first victory of the Premier League season, in its 20th try, with a 3-0 win over West Ham. The win, which doubled Wolves’ point total for the season, was the first for long suffering Wolverhampton since last April. The 19-match winless run by Wolves to open this season was the first time that had happened in the English topflight in over 120 years. That infamous run is now over as Manager Rob Edwards’ side built on the momentum of a Tuesday draw with Manchester United which delivered Edwards’ first points with the club. Adding to the joy at Molineux was a top performance by 18-year-old Matheus Mane who scored the final goal on Saturday and has injected some fresh energy into the lineup.

Energy was not something exhibited by dismal West Ham whose manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, apologized to Hammer supporters after the club’s winless run was extended to nine matches with the loss to the league’s bottom side. West Ham is also very close to the bottom and facing relegation. The sacking of Grahm Potter and insertion of Santo has resulted in just two wins in the new manager’s 15 matches in charge. A massive tilt awaits on Tuesday when the Hammers face Nottingham Forest with the Tricky Trees clinging to the final safe position in the table, four points above the hapless Hammers.

Manchester United may not be hapless but is certainly dysfunctional as Ruben Amorim was sacked after a 1-1 draw at Leeds. It was not so much the draw with newly promoted Leeds but Amorim’s comments before and after the match that seemingly ended a borderline disastrous 14 months in charge. Amorim seemed to lash out at ownership for interference in tactical matters and for a lack of support in the transfer market. The man in charge for the worst season in Manchester United history, the 2024/25 campaign, did not have enough credibility to cushion his act of defiance. Despite improvement over last season’s debacle, Manchester United was still struggling with Amrorim’s 3-4-3 formation which the manager clung to as if it were the holy grail despite a seeming mismatch with the personnel at hand. Apparently, the club was unwilling to overhaul the entire roster to accommodate Amorim. The dismissal casts additional doubt on the capabilities of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS group to run the Manchester United organization. Many saw the mismatch of Amorim’s inflexibility and the demands of Premier League play at the time of his hiring. Among those were former technical director Dan Ashworth who was dismissed after a comically brief hiring and firing by INEOS. Where Manchester United goes from here is anyone’s guess.

Chelsea, meanwhile, is apparently looking to replace departed Enzo Maresca with Liam Rosenior, the manager for Ligue 1 side Strasbourg. The French club is also owned by BlueCo, the Chelsea ownership group. Rosenior has a thin resume but would seem to be a fit for the ownership’s group’s desire for a company man willing to be a coach versus aspiring to a more expansive manager role. Maresca was thought to be such a man but grew petulant in his final days. Reporting now indicates that Maresca resigned, rather than being sacked. His seemingly impulsive move will cost the manager millions and millions in what would have been a hefty sacking settlement. Chelsea U-21 squad manager Calum McFarlane was a smashing success in what might have been his only match in charge of the senior Blues. Enzo Fernandez’s stoppage time equalizer gave Chelsea a point against Pep Guardiola and Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday. The perceived managerial mismatch did not benefit the Citizens and McFarlane actually made some astute substitutions to facilitate the outcome. The strategy of Chelsea ownership to employ the same senior level tactics and formations throughout its age groups also helped to ease the abrupt transition for Mc Farlane.

Manchester City, meanwhile, lost further ground to Arsenal with a second consecutive draw. The table leading Gunners stretched their lead to six points over the Citizens as Declan Rice  notched his first Premier League brace in a 3-2 win over Bournemouth. Rice’s two goals came after Gabriel Magalhaes was responsible for the first two goals of the match. An errant pass by the center back gifted Bournemouth an opening goal by the Cherries’ Evanilson. Gabriel would then equalize matters just six minutes later. A second Bournemouth goal by Eli Junior Kroupi in the 76th minute proved too little, too late after Rice’s unusual offensive outburst. Bournemouth has now gone 11 matches without a win, an ignominious run stretching back to October.

Aston Villa bounced back from its loss to Arsenal last week with a 3-1 defeat of Nottingham Forest. Jon McGinn scored twice and Ollie Watkins scored a goal in his 250th appearance for the club as Villa chopped down a Forest side which has lost its way in recent weeks and is again in relegation trouble. Any boost from the appointment of Manager Sean Dyche is long gone after the Tricky Trees lost a fourth consecutive match to fall within four points of the drop line with a massive match versus West Ham looming on Tuesday. Aston Villa, meanwhile, pulled level on points with Manchester City and showed little adverse effect from the sobering loss to Arsenal.

Things are still a bit rocky at Liverpool despite the Reds’ current fourth place standing, eight points below Villa. More than two points would have been expected from back-to-back matches with Leeds and Fulham. The Reds drew for a second consecutive week, however, when Fulham’s Harrison Reed blasted a wonder goal in the 97th minute to salvage a point for the Cottagers in a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage. Reed’s strike from more than 30 yards away negated a 94th minute goal from Liverpool’s Cody Gakop which seemed to be a dramatic winner for a few brief minutes before Reed changed the script. Liverpool was without forward Hugo Ekitke on Sunday but is hopeful of having the star and his hamstring fit for Thursday’s headline match versus Arsenal.

Get us the Harrison Reed highlight reel 🎞️🚀

Goal of the season sewn up 🎯 pic.twitter.com/Ekk0fYMZ6g

— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) January 4, 2026

Sunderland have now drawn each of their last four matches after a 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur. The cagey Cats snatched their latest point when Brian Brobbey rocked homestanding Spurs with a thunderous 80th minute equalizer. Tottenham Hotspur’s uninspiring home form continued as supporters mercilessly booed the players and, perhaps more loudly, Manager Thomas Frank as they seem to do at every home match now. Only the three clubs in the relegation zone have delivered worse results at home than Tottenham Hotspur this season.

Brentford, meanwhile, does not seem to miss Frank at all. His replacement Keith Andrews has the Bees up to seventh in the table after a 4-2 win at Everton. Igor Thiago netted a hat trick and has 14 goals on the season, a haul exceeded only by Golden Boot leader Erling Haaland. The outburst ended a December drought which saw a lull in Thiago’s production. Thiago’s emergence this season has been key to the Bees’ fortunes after the departure of both Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa in the summer window.

Newcastle and Brighton remained within striking distance of the European places with wins on the weekend. The two clubs sit ninth and tenth in the table, respectively. Newcastle defeated a declining Crystal Palace side 2-0 at St James’ Park to move within two points of the top six. Crystal Palace lost for the fourth time in its last five league matches as a once-promising season is seemingly running out of gas. Brighton, meanwhile, has been wildly inconsistent and welcomed a relatively easy match versus relegation bound Burnley, a bedraggled side which has now won just one of its ten away matches after Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Brighton’s American Express Stadium. The Seagulls ended a six-match winless run.

Premier League Match Week 19 Results: Arsenal Asserts Its Dominance; Chelsea Sacks Maresca; Sunderland Draws with Manchester City at Stadium of Light Fortress

Aston Villa’s 11 match winning streak hit a wall on Tuesday in the form of the Premier League leaders. Arsenal blew Aston Villa off the pitch with four second half goals in a 4-1 Gunner victory at the Emirates. The return of Arsenal center back Gabriel was punctuated when the center back headed in from a 48th minute corner to open the door to Arsenal’s rout. Gabriel had been out since mid-November. Ironically, the Gunners were able to navigate Gabriel’s absence with just one loss, that being to Aston Villa in early December. Revenge was resounding on Tuesday as the Aston Villa defense was overwhelmed in Arsenal’s second half breakout. Arsenal’s ability to overcome key player absences was again on display Tuesday as Declan Rice was an injury scratch with Jurrien Timber entering the starting lineup. Four different players scored for Arsenal, the final goal coming from substitute Gabriel Jesus who found the net for the first time since last New Year’s Day. Aston Villa fell six points behind Arsenal with the defeat.

The other major news of the week broke on Thursday when Chelsea announced it was parting ways with Manager Enzo Maresca. Despite retuning Chelsea to the Champions League and winning the Club World Cup, Maresca leaves after a year and a half in charge. The Italian Manager was named Premier League Manager of the Month for November, a month which concluded with a 10- man Chelsea side battling Arsenal to a 1-1 draw. Things turn quickly in the Premier League, however,  which saw Chelsea win only one of its next six league matches as fans became increasingly disenchanted with the manager and friction increased between Maresca and Chelsea ownership. A schism widened over transfer strategies, the use of individual players and resentment on the part of Maresca that he was not properly appreciated. That deteriorating relationship, the recent poor results and fan discontent all led to Thursday’s announcement that a new manager will be on the touchline when Chelsea visits Manchester City this weekend. Maresca’s last match in charge saw Chelsea draw 2-2 with Bournemouth at Stamford bridge on Tuesday, the sixth time in 10 Premier League matches that the Blues had failed to win on their home pitch. Chelsea relinquished another lead on Tuesday and have now dropped 15 points from a winning position, the most of any Premier League club. Jordan Kluivert’s equalizer for the Cherries in the 27th minute marked the end of the scoring in a match between two struggling clubs. The result extended Bournemouth’s winless run to 10 matches.

West Ham also dropped points from ahead as it allowed Brighton to twice come back in a 2-2 final at London Stadium. The Hammers failed to win for an eighth consecutive match as West Ham continues to languish in the relegation zone.The Hammers are four points below 17th place Nottingham Forest, 2-0 losers to Everton on Tuesday. A West Ham player did make some history as Lucas Paqueta became only the second player in Premier League history to both concede and score a penalty in the first half of a match.

Points were also shared at Old Trafford on Tuesday as Manchester United suffered a humiliating 1-1 home draw with cellar dwelling Wolverhampton. It marked the first point for Wolverhampton since October, and the first earned by Manager Rob Edwards after starting his tenure at Wolves with seven consecutive losses.

Arsenal’s lead over second place Manchester City is now four points after Manchester City was held Thursday to a goalless draw at Sunderland. The Black Cats remain undefeated at The Stadium of Light and make the turn at the midway point of this Premier League season in seventh place, a lofty perch for any newly promoted team. A more expected place of residence for a newly promoted side is that of relegation bound Burnley, 3-1 losers to Newcastle on Tuesday. The Clarets have not won since an October victory over Wolverhampton, the only club beneath Burnley in the table.

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, is 10th in the table after a 1-1 home draw  with Fulham. The sputtering Eagles’ attack should soon have reinforcement as winger Brennan Johnson has signed a transfer agreement from Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs drew 0-0 at Brentford on Thursday, one of three goalless contests which welcomed the new year on Thursday.Leeds accumulated another valuable point in its survival fight in a goalless match at Liverpool. The Whites are unbeaten in six Premier League matches, though five of those results were draws. Leeds also shared the points with Liverpool in early December at Elland Road.

All the Premier League clubs are back in action this weekend for Match week 20. Aston Villa begins the weekend with the early match on Saturday as the Villans try to start on a new winning run when they face Nottingham Forest at Villa Park. The final match of the weekend takes place on Sunday at the Etihad where Chelsea’s U-21 coach, Calum McFarlane, will lead the Blues against Manchester City.