Monday, March 2, 2026

Premier League Match Week 28 Results: Arsenal Defeats 10-man Chelsea; Semenyo Keys Manchester City Win; Villa Ravaged By Wolves; Liverpool Hammers West Ham; Carrick Led Manchester United Wins Again

Arsenal won its London derby over Chelsea 2-1 with both Gunner goals generated from Arsenal’s patented corner kick mastery. The goals by William Saliba and Justin Timber were the 15th and 16th scores from corner kicks this season, matching a Premier League record. While Arsenal was characteristically deadly from set pieces, Chelsea was its normal undisciplined self. Pedro Neto was dismissed with a red card in the 70th minute, taking the steam out of a Chelsea comeback just four minutes after Timber’s goal staked Arsenal to the lead. It was a league leading and club record seventh red card for Chelsea in league play and increased such the number of such infractions across all competitions to an eyepopping nine red cards. The Blues are now sixth in the table after failing to win any of their last three Premier League matches.

Arsenal maintains a five-point advantage over second place Manchester City which edged Leeds on Saturday 1-0 on a goal by former Bournemouth striker Antoine Semenyo who now has six goals for the Citizens since joining the club in the January window. His presence was crucial on Saturday when Erling Haaland, who was born in Leeds, was inactive due to an unspecified training injury.

Manchester United moved to third in the Premier League table for the first time since 2023 after the Red Devils triumphed 2-1 over Crystal Palace. Manchester United moved past Aston Villa to now trail only Arsenal and Manchester City as Manager Michael Carrick continued his unbeaten run with a sixth victory in an unbeaten seven match run since his interim appointment. Benjamin Sesko scored the winner with his third goal in as many recent matches as he begins to hint that he may be the impactful Number Nine long sought by the club. Sesko’s 65th minute goal came after Crystal Palace was reduced to 10 men in the 56th minute via a red card assessed against Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix.

The Red Devils leapfrogged past Aston Villa, which lost 2-0 at Wolverhampton on Friday. Villa falls to fourth in the Premier League table with a downward pointing arrow after winning just two of its last seven league outings. Wolverhampton, last in the Premier League table, was a winner for just the second time this season as the league’s doormat got up off the floor and outplayed an Aston Villa side which was part of the title chase just a few weeks ago. The 2-0 victory for Wolverhampton moved the club to 13 points for the season, ensuring that Wolves will not displace Derby County for the worst Premier League season ever. Goals by Joao Gomes and Rodrigo Gomes came on Wolverhampton’s only two shots on target, the second goal coming in the 98th minute to put an end to any Villa comeback hopes.

Liverpool, meanwhile, moved to within three points of Aston Villa with its 5-2 demolition of West Ham. The goal fest at Anfield saw Hugo Ekitike score his 11th goal of the season for the Reds and defender Virgil van Dijk score for the third time in his last six Premier League appearances. While the hammering was embarrassing, West Ham did not lose any ground in its fight for survival as the seven clubs directly above cellar dwelling Wolverhampton at the bottom of the table all lost this weekend.

Nottingham Forest remained just two points clear of the drop line after a 2-1 loss at Brighton which saw all three goals scored in the first 15 minutes of play. New Nottingham Forest Manager Vitor Pereira has lost both of his two Premier League matches in charge though he was on the touchline for Nottingham Forest’s Europa League win over Fenerbahce on Thursday.

Rumors are already circulating around a possible quick sacking of Tottenham Forest interim Manager Igor Tudor who has also lost his first two league matches in charge. Tottenham Hotspur is the only Premier League still seeking a 2026 win after another poor effort in a 2-1 defeat to Fulham. Tudor exploded after the match, casting blame on referees and “cheating” opponents as the pressure mounts on the manager and his listless charges who had just one shot on target in the match, a goal by Richarlison. Spurs have gone 10 matches without a victory, tying the club record, and have drifted to within four points of the relegation zone.

It increasingly looks like a three-team race between Spurs, Forest and currently relegation bound West Ham for Premier League survival. Fulham hosts another London derby on Wednesday versus West Ham which could well influence that relegation battle. The Cottagers, Bournemouth, Everton and Brentford are in a scrap for a possible Europa Conference League berth with four points separating seventh place Brentford from 10th place Bournemouth.

The Bees were 4-3 winners over Burnley when Mikkel Damsgaard scored his second goal of the match in the 93rd minute to foil a Burnley comeback which had seen the visiting Clarets recover from a three-goal early deficit. Everton’s Thierno Barry scored the winner for the Toffees in the 83rd minute of a 3-2 victory over Newcastle. The homestanding Magpies lost for a fifth time in their last six league matches. Bournemouth dropped points in a 1-1 home draw with Sunderland.

All the Premier League clubs will be back in action for Match Week 29 contests to be played Tuesday through Thursday this week. Chelsea will try to re-energize its Champions League qualification quest when the Blues visit Aston Villa on Wednesday for one of the week’s feature matches.

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Thursday, February 26, 2026

Premier League Match Week 28 Preview: London Derby Could Impact Title and Champions League Races

Arsenal hosts Chelsea on Sunday in the feature match this weekend. The Gunners are presently five points clear of Manchester City in the title chase but have also played one additional match than the Citizens. A loss to Chelsea coupled with a Manchester City win at Leeds would reduce the margin to only a two-point advantage with Manchester City holding a game in hand as the top two teams hurtle towards a mid-April clash at the Etihad.

The Gunners made short work of another London rival last weekend in dismantling dysfunctional Spurs by a 4-1 margin. The Gunners have lost only once at home this season, a surprising defeat to Michael Carrick led Manchester United, while winning 10 of their 13 Premier League matches at the Emirates.

Chelsea, meanwhile, has squandered leads in successive home matches to promoted sides, a lack of discipline which has seen the Blues drop 19 points from winning positions. The disappointment of the last two weeks makes the task even more daunting for Chelsea than its usual painful visits to the Emirates. The Blues have not won at Arsenal since August of 2021 and have won but one of the last 13 contests between the clubs staged anywhere in any competition.

Chelsea, still locked in a battle with Manchester United and Liverpool to secure Champions League qualification, has performed better this season when away from the not quite friendly confines of Stamford Bridge. Only Arsenal has a better away record than Chelsea this season.

Manchester City will be trying to keep the pressure on Arsenal when the Citizens visit Leeds. The Whites have much to play for as well with Leeds still sitting only six points above the drop line. The surprisingly game promoted side has grabbed valuable points against quality opponents in draws with Aston Villa and Chelsea in its last two league outings.

Manchester United, meanwhile, will try to remain undefeated under Manager Michael Carrick and preserve its current top four standing when the Red Devils host Crystal Palace. The performance under Carrick since the former club midfielder took the managerial reins, five wins and a draw, has lifted the Red Devils three points clear of fellow Champions League aspirants Chelsea and Liverpool.

Liverpool will be home to West Ham in a critical match for both the Reds and Hammers. Liverpool has won three of its past four matches as it tries to claw north from its sixth-place position in the table. West Ham is fighting for survival and trying to run down stragglers like Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur in the battle to see who survives to play again next season in the Premier League.

Spurs will be the visitor in a London derby at Fulham on Sunday. The Cottagers have prevailed in the last three meetings between the clubs across all competitions, outscoring their London rival by an aggregate 6-1. Nottingham Forest will take the pitch at the same time on Sunday, visiting Brighton where the Tricky Trees will hope to maintain, or increase, a current two-point advantage over West Ham in the relegation battle.

Aston Villa can ill afford a slip up at relegation bound Wolverhampton on Sunday. Once a title contender, Aston Villa is now only six points above sixth place Liverpool in the table and could fall into the battle to secure Champions League qualification. Three points against last place Wolverhampton, should help avoid, or at least delay, any such battle for the Villans.

Seventh place Brentford, meanwhile, has its own European hopes as the Bees visit relegation zone resident Burnley on Saturday while mid-table clashes this weekend will include Everton at Newcastle and Bournemouth playing host to Sunderland.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Premier League Match Week 27 Results: Arsenal Smashes Spurs; Manchester City Continues Dominance Over Newcastle; Chelsea Wilt Once Again; Forest Creeps Closer To Relegation; Another Draw For Leeds

Spiraling Tottenham Hotspur proved just the right medicine for Arsenal to rediscover its top of the table form. The Gunners dominated at the home of their rival, winning by the same 4-1 score by which the Gunners had prevailed in the reverse fixture. For Tottenham Hotspur Manager Igor Tudor, his first Premier League match clearly conveyed the challenge he faces with a Spurs side that seems either not to recognize or to not overly care about its perilous league position. A video circulated on social media after the match showed Spurs defender Mickey van de Ven disregarding the urgent and repeated instructions of his new manager. Van de Ven also clashed with former Manager Thomas Frank, and he is just one example of the toxic brew that Tudor has now accepted.

For Arsenal, it was a confidence boosting three points that were critically needed following Manchester City’s win on Saturday. Victor Goyerkes scored twice for the Gunners to bring his season total to double digits, having now scored five goals in his last five Premier League matches. The other two goals for Arsenal came from Eberechi Eze, the former Crystal Palace star who has largely had a difficult time settling into Manager Mikel Arteta’s rotation. The creative form which Eze can provide could be a critical spark for Arsenal down the stretch. Ironically, Eze had been close to a deal with Spurs last summer. Not only did he dodge a toxic situation for a chance at a title, but Eze has now scored five goals against Arsenal’s north London rival this season.

Arsenal needed to respond after Manchester City pulled within two points of the Gunners with the Citizens 2-1 victory over Newcastle the day before. Nico O’Reilly scored both goals for the Citizens, his 27th minute winner assisted by none other than Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker is joint second in the league for assists this season in addition to his league leading 22 goals. Newcastle pressed hard for a second half equalizer but once again fell short at the Etihad where they have failed to come away with a victory in their last 21 Premier League matches at the home of Manchester City. The Citizens have now won in the past 17 such encounters between the clubs.

Third place Aston Villa salvaged a point when Tammy Abraham found the net in the 88th minute of a 1-1 final versus Leeds. Title hopes are dead for Aston Villa, which now finds itself 10 points removed from league leading Arsenal. Leeds, despite the late concession, accumulated another valuable point in its effort to stay up for another season of Premier League play. Leeds stayed six points clear of West Ham and the relegation zone as the Hammers were also held to a draw in a goalless affair on Saturday versus Bournemouth. The point did pull West Ham closer to both Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest with both those clubs becoming increasingly vulnerable to a potential drop.

New Forest Manager Vitor Pereira faces the same problem as his sacked predecessor Sean Dyche had. These Trees cannot score. Only bottom of the table Wolverhampton has failed to find the net in more than the 13 matches that Nottingham Forest has been held scoreless. Twenty shots were wasted by Nottingham Forest on Sunday before Liverpool’s Alexis MacAllister scored in the 97th minute to seal a 1-0 victory for the Reds, both damaging the Trees’ survival prospects and keeping Liverpool in the thick of the Champions League qualification race. If the Trees are relegated, paltry goal production will be the reason.

Even relegation bound Burnley has scored more goals than Nottingham Forest. The Clarets’ latest goal, a stunning 93rd minute header by defender Zian Flemming, rescued a draw in front of a shocked Chelsea home crowd at Stamford Bridge. The 1-1 draw saw Chelsea’s dropped points from a winning position climb to an unfathomable 19 points this season, 17 of those points being thrown away at Stamford Bridge. A 72nd minute red card assessed to Chelsea’s Wesley’s Fofana was a club Premier League record sixth red card of the season, reflecting the self-destructive indiscipline of the young club. Home supporters watched their heroes drop points for a second consecutive home match against a promoted side.

Manchester United capitalized on Chelsea’s latest misstep to take sole possession of fourth place in the Premier League table with its 1-0 victory at Everton on Monday. Benjamin Sesko, whose stoppage time goal had saved a point against West Ham, played super sub once again, this time claiming all three points with his 71st minute strike. Manchester United Manager Michael Carrick remains unbeaten with five victories in his six matches since taking over from Ruben Amorim.

Brentford suffered a setback in its efforts to capture a European place when the Bees suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Brighton. The Seagulls won for the first time since January 3rd to lessen some of the heat on young Manager Fabian Hurzeler. Perhaps even more noteworthy in the grand scheme of things was the 654th Premier League appearance made by current Brighton midfielder James Milner. The 40-year-old former Manchester City and Liverpool player moved past Gareth Barry to set the new Premier League appearances record.

Yet another senior citizen in the league, thirty-four-year-old Raul Jimenez, had two goals to pace Fulham’s 3-1 win at Sunderland, only the Black Cats’ second defeat at the Stadium of Light this season. Sunderland has lost four out of its last five matches to fall out of the top half of the table, but the promoted side remains well clear of any relegation concern. Wolverhampton, its relegation assured, has still shown fight and was close to posting a third straight draw on Sunday. Unfortunately, Wolves fell 1-0 to a 90th minute goal by Crystal Palace substitute Evann Guessand.

Crystal Palace were poor once again under increasingly unpopular manager Oliver Glasner. Wolves, however, handed the Eagles just their second win since early December. First, there was a missed first half penalty kick by Wolverhampton’s Tolu Arokodare which would have given the visiting club the lead. Ladislav Krejci then received a red card in the 61st minute to hand a man advantage and the initiative to the homestanding Eagles. Palace relegation fears are allayed for the moment. Wolves, meanwhile, still needs two points to avoid having the worst season in Premier League history.

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