Premier League Match Week 18 Preview

Stamford Bridge is the site for this weekend’s feature match between Chelsea and Aston Villa. The two clubs were level on points entering December, Chelsea holding onto third in the table on tiebreakers. Things have changed. Aston Villa is the Premier League’s hottest club with seven consecutive league victories (10 across all competitions), a run which has landed Unai Emery’s squad squarely in the title chase. A win on Saturday would equal Aston Villa’s longest consecutive victory run, first set in 1897 and last reached in 1914. Fourth place Chelsea is right behind Aston Villa in the standings but the gap between third and fourth is seven points as Chelsea has hit a rough patch, winning only one of its past five Premier League matches.

Villa is just three points removed from league leading Arsenal which hosts Brighton this weekend. The Gunners are one of only two squads to be unbeaten at their home stadium, a draw versus Manchester City being the only non-winning effort this season at the Emirates. The Seagulls, currently perched ninth in the Premier League table, are winless in their last four league matches.

Boxing Day work 💪 pic.twitter.com/64JKjKkVr8

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 26, 2025

The other undefeated club at home this season is Sunderland which will try to extend its unbeaten form against fellow promoted side Leeds on Sunday. The Whites have at least temporarily separated themselves from the relegation fight with a four-match unbeaten run which has them six points above the drop line. Sunderland has been surprisingly good all season and currently sits sixth in the league table.

Nottingham Forest has also escaped the relegation zone under new manager Sean Dyche. The Tricky Trees will need to have something special up their sleeve this weekend, however, when they visit second place Manchester City. The Citizens, led by league scoring leader Erling Haaland, have scored ten more goals than any other Premier League side this season.

While Manchester City has scored 41 goals, poor Wolverhampton is still trying to reach double figures. Sad sack Wolves present a prime opportunity for Liverpool to win a third consecutive match for the first time since September when the clubs meet at Anfield on Saturday.

Only one match is scheduled for Boxing Day this holiday season and that takes place at Old Trafford where Manchester United will host Newcastle. Manchester United had a four-match unbeaten run stopped by streaking Aston Villa last weekend. Unfortunately, the Red Devils lost star Bruno Fernandes as well with the Portuguese midfielder now sidelined with a hamstring injury. Newcastle has its own injury concerns on its back line and comes into the match after squandering a two-goal advantage versus Chelsea last week.

Crystal Palace is level on points with Manchester United as the eighth place Eagles are clawing to hold onto European qualification for a second consecutive year. Palace will host struggling Tottenham Hotspur in a London derby on Sunday.

While Palace fights for Europe, West Ham just wants to stick around in the Premier League. The Hammers would be heading down if the season ended today. There is a certain ignominy that West Ham Manager Nuno Espirito Santo is five points below his currently safe former team Nottingham Forest which he petulantly departed earlier this season. Nuno and his Hammers get a chance to improve their situation on Saturday when Fulham visits London Stadium. The Cottagers are clumped among six other teams, each within two points of each other in the middle of the Premier League table.

Brentford and Bournemouth are among those log jam clubs as they face each other at the Bees’ Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday. Brentford has probably done better than expected under Manager Keith Andrews after the Bees lost former Manager Thomas Frank and most of its attacking threats after last season. Bournemouth, meanwhile, has underperformed expectations and now is beset with rumors that leading scorer Antoine Semenyo will depart in the January window.

Burnley has lost five of its eight home matches to date as the Clarets are preparing to host Everton this weekend. There is clearly a different vibe at Turf Moor where the Clarets were unbeaten during their promotion season and now seem headed for a quick return to the second tier. The Clarets are seven points from safety. Everton, meanwhile, will look to rebound from back-to-back league defeats as the Toffees still have dreams of European qualification as they sit amid the mid-table congestion.

Premier League Match Week 17 Results: Liverpool Wins Match, Loses Isaak; Leeds Trounces Crystal Palace; Arsenal Edges Everton; Haaland Scores Twice To Move to 19 On the Season; Rogers Leads Aston Villa By Manchester United, Fernandes Hurt; Chelsea Overcomes Early Deficit to Draw At Newcastle

Liverpool won back-to-back matches for the first time since September as Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak found the net in a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. After a horrible run which saw the team lose nine of 12 and bench and enrage club legend Mohamed Salah, the Reds are now unbeaten in six. In the first match after what might have been Mohamed Salah’s final Liverpool appearance with the Egyptian star now off to the Africa Cup of Nations, the Reds provided a glimpse of how they may have hoped for their attack to look with their two high priced summer signings. Hugo Ekitike scored his ninth league goal of the season. Alexander Isak also scored but his disappointing season took another ill-fated turn when the former Newcastle star broke his leg and will be out for months. Isak’s injury, Salah’s situation and an injury to Cody Gakpo make Ekitike more critical than ever.

Spurs, meanwhile, continued their descent down the table. Manager Thomas Frank’s side are now just four points away from the 17th place position which is where the club finished last season under subsequently sacked predecessor Ange Postecoglou. Frank’s position is looking less secure by the moment with his club having won only once in its last eight league fixtures. The ire of supporters has been further stoked by the club winning only two of its eight home matches with only cellar dwelling Wolverhampton having won fewer matches in front of its own fans. Home supporters at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium saw Frank and his bumblers go down to nine men before Saturday’s match mercifully ended.

Spurs, however, were not the only London club to have a bad day. Things have gone south quite suddenly for Crystal Palace. Just wo weeks ago the Eagles were flying high and enjoying life in the Premier League top four. Saturday, they were trounced 4-1 at Leeds one week after being steamrolled 3-0 by Manchester City. The Manchester City result could understandably be met with a shrug. An uncompetitive loss to newly promoted Leeds, battling to extend its stay in the league, is  another matter, as is being on the wrong end of an aggregate 7-1 scoreline over the past two league matches. The Crystal Palace downturn in form could reflect the strain of European competition taking its toll. Saturday’s defeat followed on a midweek Conference League match and was the seventh time the Eagles have failed to win on a weekend following a Conference League contest. Their squad depth will now be further challenged by the congested holiday schedule. While Saturday’s scoreline was shocking, the result was not entirely surprising.

Leeds has been better in recent weeks and is on a four-match unbeaten run. Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored twice against Crystal Palace, increasing his haul to five goals over that unbeaten four-match run for Leeds and increasing his streak of goal scoring appearances to five matches. A change in strategy by Leeds Manager Daniel Farke to go from a possession-based approach to a counterattacking 3-5-2 configuration has helped to unlock Calvert-Lewin’s recent form.

Newly promoted Sunderland also has plans for an extended stay in the Premier League. The Black Cats clawed to a hard-fought draw at Brighton to move up to sixth in the table. Sunderland is now operating without five key players who are participating in the African Cup but still managed to extend Brighton’s winless run to four matches. The top of the table saw little in the way of surprise.

Arsenal struggled but got the needed victory at Everton 1-0 as Viktor Gyokeres converted a first half penalty. Manchester City had an easier time, rolling over West Ham 3-0 at the Etihad. The Citizens have scored 17 goals in their last five Premier League matches. Erling Haaland scored twice in Saturday’s win over the Hammers to move his league leading goal total to 19 tallies after 17 matches. West Ham remains five points from safety.

Aston Villa has made the title race a three-team adventure. Manager Unai Emery’s side is just three points below league leading Arsenal, one point behind Manchester City, after moving seven points clear of fourth place Chelsea with a 2-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday. Morgan Rogers bagged a brace and has six goals in six matches for the streaking Villans. Rogers and his teammates have now won 10 consecutive matches across all competitions. Manchester United not only took its fifth loss of the season but also lost star Bruno Fernandes to a hamstring injury  which will complicate matters for Manager Ruben Amorim whose squad depth was already a question mark with two youngsters making their debut for the Red Devils on Sunday.

Chelsea’s Joao Pedro equalized matters in the 66th minute to disappoint Newcastle supporters who had seen striker Nick Woltemade bag a first half brace to give homestanding Newcastle a two-goal cushion at the break. Woltemade, signed as replacement for departed Alexander Isaak, now has seven goals for the Magpies. Newcastle, however, took its foot off the pedal in the second half. Reese James began Chelsea’s comeback with a 49th minute free kick strike. With Pedro’s equalizer for Chelsea,  Newcastle have now dropped 13 points from a winning position, the joint worst such mark in the Premier League.

Bournemouth’s surprising spiral continued with a home 1-1 draw with Burnley. Neither one of those sides has won a Premier League match since October with the lack of success by the Cherries and well-regarded Manager Andoni Iraola somewhat mystifying. Newly promoted Burnley ended a seven-match losing run.

A conceded penalty in first half stoppage time sent Nottingham Forest to a 1-0 defeat at Fulham. Raul Jimenez scored the winning kick for the Cottagers who were awarded their first penalty try since January. Brentford’s Keane Lewis-Potter scored twice in the Bees’ 2-1win over Wolverhampton as bedraggled Wolves tied a Premier League record for its now 17-match winless start to its season.

Premier League Match Week 17 Preview

Arsenal can be forgiven for a sense of déjà vu as its lead in the Premier League is down to two points. Arsenal has been at the top of the table for Christmas in two of the last three years before faltering in its chase for a title. The Gunners may not even make it to this Christmas as Premier League leaders pending this weekend’s results. The lead over Manchester City is down to two points as Haaland and Company bear down on injury plagued Arsenal. The Gunners struggled past cellar dwelling Wolverhampton at the Emirates last weekend.

Everton may provide an even greater challenge at its glistening new Hill Dickinson Stadium. The Toffees had won three of four matches in the league before stumbling at Chelsea last week. David Moyes’s side will face an injury ravaged Arsenal back line which is missing Gabriel, Cristhian Mosquera and Ben White. Whether the Toffee attack can capitalize is a question, however, as Everton has scored only 18 times this season in 16 league matches. Look for Arsenal to be at the top of the table at Christmas for a third time in four years.

Manchester City though will be poised to take advantage of an Arsenal stumble and will be facing a poor opponent at the Etihad this weekend. West Ham is in the relegation zone without a victory in its last five matches as Nuno Espirito Santo continues to try to figure things out at his latest managerial stop. Manchester City has pounded the Hammers in their last five meetings, not only winning but scoring at least three goals in each contest.

Aston Villa is currently threatening both Arsenal and Manchester City with only three points separating the three clubs at the top of the table. Manager Unai Emery’s side are home at Villa Park this weekend to face Manchester United. The Red Devils have shown some life during a three-match unbeaten run in the league, but Emery’s side has steamrolled to eight consecutive victories across all competitions. Morgan Rogers, Donyell Mallen, Emi Buendia and Ollie Watkins have all taken star turns in the Villa attack. Manchester United, meanwhile, has surprised with four goals in each of its last two league matches.

Chelsea is back in the top four after its victory over Everton last weekend. The Blues go to Newcastle on Saturday to face a Magpie side smarting from a loss to hated rival Sunderland last week.

Sunderland are just two points behind Chelsea and a top four spot as the Cats travel to Brighton this weekend. The Seagulls have been lilting of late with two losses sandwiching a draw in their last three matches. Sunderland and Brighton are unfamiliar foes as this is their first Premier League meeting, and they have not met in any competition since 2011.

A win over Thomas Frank’s former club Brentford two weeks ago was hoped to be a turning point for a struggling Tottenham Hotspur side. Such was not the case as the Spurs followed up with a desultory 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest. Liverpool now comes to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with its own fervent hope that their season is about to turn. Hugo Ekitike was marvelous for the Reds last week as they now embark upon a future that will be without Mohamed Salah in the short term and possibly even the long term. Along with Ekitike, the clean sheet in the 2-0 win over Brighton was particularly encouraging for a defense which has been largely unreliable during Liverpool’s troubles this season.

Crystal Palace was scoreless last week in a loss to Manchester City. The Eagles’ chances of finding the net should be much improved this week versus a Leeds team which has conceded 30 goals, more than any club not in the relegation zone.

Wolverhampton, the undisputed rulers of the relegation zone will host Brentford hoping to limit additional damage after already allowing a breathtaking 35 goals in their 16 matches so far.

Burnley still has a sliver of survival hope with the Clarets currently six points from safety. A trip to Bournemouth, however, is unlikely to improve their prospects. While the Cherries are in the midst of a rough patch that has dropped them to 13th in the table, Manager Andoni Iraola and his charges are capable of more and a home match versus Burnley could be just the pivot point to reverse their fortunes.

Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, has found its footing under Manager Sean Dyche. The Tricky Trees have prospered under new management, emerging from the relegation zone with four wins, three losses and a draw with Dyche in charge. The Trees are at Craven Cottage this weekend with a chance to move past 14th place Fulham  with a victory.