Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Premier League Results Match Week 25: Liverpool Survive Late Wolves Attack; Merino Doubles In Arsenal Win; Fulham Chops Down Forest; Maroush Stars In Manchester City Win; Moyes Magic Continues For Everton; Brighton Beats Chelsea Again; Bournemouth Puts Saints To Sword

Liverpool survived a late rally by their visitors to defeat Wolves 2-1 at Anfield. A Mohamed Salah penalty kick resulted in his fifth goal in his last four Premier League matches to give the league leaders a 2-0 halftime lead. Things got a bit wonky from there as Wolverhampton’s Matheus Cunha halved the lead at the 57-minute mark and the visitors frantically pressed the action to secure a point. Liverpool would hang on and bank all three points, however, with little concern for style points after being shocked by a late equalizing goal in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park during the week.

Liverpool’s lead remains at seven points over second place Arsenal which defeated Leicester 2-0. Manager Mikel Arteta made creative use of Mikel Merino to solve his injury induced puzzle at striker. The natural midfielder substituted in at striker and scored twice after the 80-minute mark. Merino’s first goal was set up by another unlikely hero in 17 year old Ethan Nwaneri who also had two of his own attempts bang off the woodwork in Arsenal’s second half surge. The gritty victory by the injury ravaged Gunners inflicted a ninth loss in Leicester’s last 10 Premier League matches.

The Foxes are one of three teams battling to stay in the league next season and avoid a relegation fate which seems all but assured for Southampton. The Saints have accumulated a measly seven points after 25 matches following Southampton’s 3-1 loss at Bournemouth. Leicester and Ipswich share the relegation zone with the Saints, but both are eight points ahead of the south coast side and only two points behind currently safe Wolverhampton.

Ipswich Town drew level on points with Leicester with the Tractor Boys’ 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. Aston Villa fell to ninth in the Premier League table as its European qualification for next year looks in jeopardy. Unai Emery’s squad hosts Liverpool on Wednesday having won just three of their last 10 Premier League matches.

Fulham moved past Aston Villa in the table with the Cottagers 2-1 win at Craven Cottage over Nottingham Forest. The Cottagers had not won any of their previous five league matches at the Cottage but rose to the occasion on Saturday to defeat Nottingham Forest for the second time this season. Calvin Bassey’s  goal from a 67th minute corner kick secured the victory and handed Nottingham Forest a second defeat in the Tricky Trees’ last three Premier League matches.

Manchester City, meanwhile, vaulted over Chelsea into the fourth spot, just three points behind Nottingham Forest with a surprisingly easy 4-0 victory over Newcastle at the Etihad. Omar Manoush was the star man for the Citizens with his first Premier League hat trick, finding the net three times in his fifth match with the club after his January transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt. All three of Marmoush’s goals came in the first half as Newcastle were quickly swept away by the Citizens. Nico Gonzalez, recently acquired by Manchester City from Porto, was also instrumental in the win as the midfielder returned a sense of control to a midfield devasted by the season ending injury to Ballon d’ Or winning midfielder Rodri. Gonzalez, making his first start for Manchester City, repeatedly stopped the Magpies early in their attempted counterattacks and provided a sense of security seldom enjoyed by Manager Pep Guardiola’s side this season. Elation at the dominant performance by Manchester City was tempered, however, when Erling Haaland went down without contact in the 88th minute. Fears of a potential ACL tear have since been put to rest with Haaland fully participating in Tuesday’s practice as the Citizens prepare to play Real Madrid in the second leg of City’s Champions League tie on Wednesday.

Chelsea’s hopes for Champions League play next season were damaged in  a 3-0 defeat at American Express Stadium as the Blues lost to Brighton for a second time in less than a week. Yankuba Minteh scored twice for the Seagulls who were little troubled by a Chelsea side which did not register a single shot on target. Chelsea’s attack was actually worse than last Saturday’s FA Cup defeat to these same Seagulls when the Londoners managed one shot on target. Chelsea passed the ball over 700 times and controlled the ball for 70% of Friday’s contest without finding the net. The Blues failed to win for the seventh time in their last nine Premier League matches as the seat is becoming much warmer for Chelsea Manager Enzo Maresca.

While Chelsea declines, Bournemouth continues to ascend. The Cherries moved past Chelsea and are only a point behind Manchester City after a 3-1 stroll past Southampton. Only Liverpool has been able to defeat Bournemouth in the Cherries’ last 13 matches.

A draw versus Liverpool is the only non-winning effort in a five-match unbeaten run by Everton. Newly returned manager David Moyes has worked wonders with a Toffees squad which is now 13 points clear of the drop line after a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace. Carlos Alcaraz, acquired on loan from Flamengo in January, scored the winner in his first start for Moyes.

Moyes’ former club West Ham, meanwhile, is still struggling with its second managerial hire since Moyes left the Hammers after last season. Graham Potter has lost three of his five matches, winning just once, in charge at West Ham after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Brentford. The Bees, meanwhile, won a third consecutive Premier League away match for the first time in the club’s history courtesy of a fourth minute goal by Kevin Schade.

Tottenham Hotspur won at home for the first time since early November in a 1-0 defeat of Manchester United as James Maddison had the winner in his return from a four-week injury absence. Manchester United has now lost eight of its last twelve Premier League matches as things have seemed to go from bad to worse under new manager Ruben Amorim.

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Premier League Update: Merseyside Madness As League Play Resumes

Everton created a lasting memory for its supporters when James Tarkowski struck an equalizer in the 98th minute of a 2-2 draw on Wednesday in the final Merseyside derby played at Goodison Park. Befitting the intensity of the historic rivalry, a scrum erupted post-match as Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure taunted Liverpool fans, infuriating Liverpool’s Curtis Jones who cannoned into the rival player and ignited wider chaos as more players clamored to the fray. Doucoure and Jones were red carded, and the celebrations continued for Everton supporters who will watch their team play in its new Bramley-Moore Dock facility next season. Wednesday’s draw ensured that the Toffees and Reds conclude their run at Goodison with 41 victories each in Merseyside derbies played at the venerable old stadium.

The electric moment by Tarkowski overshadowed another outstanding performance by Liverpool star Mohamed Salah who scored and assisted for the league leaders. The Reds suffered their second shock result inside a week after being upset by Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup last weekend. After two straight ambushes, Liverpool will now try to fend off Wolves at Anfield on Sunday and recover the form that has put them at the top of the Premier League table.

Everton travels to south London on Saturday where it will try to extend a five-match unbeaten run in matches versus Crystal Palace. The Toffees need beware, however, of an Eagles squad which has lost just two of its last 13 Premier League matches. JP Mateta has 10 Premier League goals for the homestanding Eagles who have now distanced themselves from the relegation pack after a disturbing beginning to their season.

Second place Arsenal travels to Leicester with a struggling Gunners attack further weakened by a hamstring injury suffered by Kai Havertz during the club’s training in Dubai earlier this week. The injury is rumored to be so severe that Havertz could miss the rest of this season. Such a development could be devastating to Arsenal’s title chances as the Gunners are already missing attackers Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, and Gabriel Martinelli to injury. Those injuries have compounded the absence of a true striker in Manager Mikel Arteta’s squad. Havertz, an uncomfortable fit in the Number Nine role,  leads Arsenal with 15 goals across all competitions. The cupboard is close to bare in terms of replacing those goals. Raheem Sterling is an option, but the former Manchester City star has appeared washed at his subsequent stops at Chelsea and now Arsenal. The Gunners failed in their attempt to sign Ollie Watkins during the January transfer window and now find themselves in even deeper trouble at the point of attack.

Nottingham Forest will be short of an attacker when the Tricky Trees host Ipswich Town this weekend after Taiwo Awoniyi suffered a broken nose during the Trees’ FA cup win over Exeter City on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chelsea faces a long stretch without Nicolas Jackson whose hamstring injury appears far more serious than previously thought. The Senegalese forward was held out of the Blues’ FA Cup loss to Brighton in midweek after suffering what was initially thought to be a minor hamstring problem in last week’s win over West Ham. Further evaluation points to a lengthier absence and he will again be sidelined for Chelsea’s rematch with the Seagulls in league play on Friday. Jackson could be out for months, a devastating blow to an already sputtering Chelsea attack.

Should Chelsea fail to win at Brighton, Manchester City and Newcastle will face each other on Saturday with a chance to overtake Chelsea and land in the Premier League’s top four. The two clubs are level on points, two behind Chelsea in the table, as Newcastle visits the Etihad. The Magpies have lost two of three matches after a six-match winning run put them back into the top four conversation. They will face a Manchester City team which once again demonstrated its vulnerability by relinquishing a one goal lead with five minutes left in a loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United might well have entertained thoughts of the top four prior to this season but such hopes have since been dashed by their horrific league seasons. Manchester United is 13th in the table, two points above teetering Tottenham, as the Red Devils visit Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend. Spurs has lost half of its Premier League home matches during an injury ravaged season.

Elsewhere in London, West Ham will play host to Brentford as the Bees try to rebound from their disappointing home loss to Spurs last week. West Ham, meanwhile, is still searching for traction under new manager Graham Potter with the Hammers having posted two losses and a draw since Potter’s debut win at London Stadium.

Southampton won for just the second time this season in a 2-1 win over fellow relegation battler Ipswich Town last weekend. That winning streak is likely short lived as the Saints host Bournemouth on Saturday. The Cherries’ loss to league leading Liverpool last week was the first time Bournemouth had lost since November, ending an eleven-match unbeaten run which lifted Bournemouth into seventh position in the Premier League table.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

FA Cup: Plymouth Argyle Socks It To Liverpool

Liverpool Manager Arne Slot gambled with a heavily rotated lineup and saw his Premier League leading club unceremoniously bounced from the FA Cup 1-0 by Plymouth Argyle, a lesser opponent mired at the bottom of the Championship table. Slot’s risky lineup choices contributed to one of the most shocking results in the recent history of the tournament. Even accounting for the nine changes made to his starting eleven, Slot could not have predicted the poor performance delivered by what still were Premier League quality players competing against the worst the second tier could offer. Federico Chiesa, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz could produce nothing in attack for the Reds and a late cameo by Darwin Nunez produced little change in a stagnant attack. Liverpool’s reshuffled midfield was outplayed and a handball by Harvey Elliot led to the game’s only score on a successful penalty kick by Plymouth’s Ryan Hardie. Thus did the Championship cellar dwellers, who opened this season under the sad management of the quickly departed Wayne Rooney, topple the Premier League leaders who will have one less opportunity for silverware this season. Plymouth Argyle, meanwhile, will try to continue its giant killing ways in the next round against Manchester City which advanced with a 2-1 win over Leyton Orient on a Kevin De Bruyne 79th minute winner.

Far less surprising than Liverpool’s defeat was another failure by Tottenham Hotspur, which was eliminated from the competition in a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa. The London side was eliminated from the FA Cup just three days after Liverpool booted Spurs out of the Carabao Cup semifinals. It did not take long for Manager Ange Postecoglou to realize he was in for another long day when Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey scored before sixty seconds had elapsed in the match. The home side would extend the lead to two before a meaningless stoppage time goal narrowed the final margin. After the match, the increasingly irascible Postecoglou would again rant about the injuries which have ravaged his roster. While injuries have been a factor, Postecoglou has done little to overcome them, and his increasingly surly post-match behavior is becoming tiresome from the embattled Australian manager. With elimination from both domestic cup competitions, the sole hope for the Premier League stragglers to  salvage something from this season rests on the Europa League.

Chelsea is still in the mix for a top four Premier League finish and will have more time to focus on that objective after being eliminated from domestic cup competition with its 2-1 loss to Brighton in the FA Cup on Saturday. Chelsea could generate little versus the Seagulls, its lone score coming on a Brighton own goal as the Blues managed just one shot on target. Chelsea supporters were less than thrilled with Manager Enzo Maresca’s post-match remarks which cited the ability of his club to now focus attention more fully on the Premier League and Europa Conference League. The listless performance versus the Seagulls, however, further heightened alarm bells after the seventh non-winning effort in Chelsea’s last ten matches. Brighton Manager Fabian Hurzeler, meanwhile, got the response he needed from his players after the Seagulls were smashed 7-0 by Nottingham Forest in the Premier League last weekend. Brighton and Chelsea will do it all again when the two sides meet in a league match this coming weekend.

Newcastle will be Brighton’s opponent in the FA Cup’s next round after Joe Willock’s second goal of the match proved the winner in a 3-2 Magpie win over Birmingham.

Defending FA Cup champion Manchester United will face Fulham in another all Premier League fifth round draw after the Red Devils squeaked by Leicester on a stoppage time header by Harry Maguire. The loss was extra painful for former Manchester United interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy who rightfully noted that Maguire was offside when striking the winner versus his Foxes. VAR is only being introduced for the next round of the tournament so van Nistelrooy and his Foxes can only lament the unfairness of the poor on pitch refereeing.

Fulham advanced by the same 2-1 score over Wigan Athletic and now will visit Old Trafford in a rematch of an FA Cup quarterfinal match of tow years ago when the Cottagers were reduced to nine men in a comeback victory by the homestanding Red Devils.

Nottingham Forest escaped an upset bid by League One side Exeter City before prevailing in penalty kicks as goalkeeper Mats Selz saved two Exeter attempts and put the Tricky Trees into the next round where Forest will host fellow Premier League side Ipswich Town. The relegation threatened Tractor Boys took out some of their frustration from their Premier League struggles by waxing second tier Coventry 4-1 on Saturday.

Bournemouth, meanwhile, defeated Everton 2-0 in what will be the final FA Cup match to be played at Goodison Park as the Toffees relocate to their new stadium next year. The venerable stadium where Everton has played since 1892 will host its final Merseyside derby between the Toffees and rival Liverpool in a rescheduled league match being played on Wednesday. The Cherries will continue on their FA Cup journey against a rejuvenated Wolverhampton side under new manager Vitor Pereira.

Wolves easily dispatched Blackburn Rovers by the same 2-0 scoreline by which the club took down Aston Villa in Premier League play last weekend. Southampton, meanwhile, were 1-0 cup losers to Burnley while Crystal Palace defeated Doncaster 2-0 to set up a nasty next round matchup with south London rival Millwall. The FA Cup’s fifth round will be played March 1st.