Premier League Match Week 34 Results: Liverpool Is Champion

Liverpool is champion of the Premier League after Sunday’s 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs clinched the Reds’ 20th top tier championship, joining Manchester United as the winningest clubs at the top level of English football. The champions teased their visitors by conceding the first goal at Anfield but then tallied five consecutive times, three before halftime, to clinch their title with a flourish and heap further embarrassment on Spurs’ Manager Ange Postecoglou and his underperforming side. Mo Salah scored his 28th goal of the season in the 63rd minute of the rout to give Liverpool a 4-1 advantage and took time as part of his celebration to take a selfie. Spurs then gifted an own goal for the final score and gave Liverpool fans the opportunity to be present for a league clinching match at home after being denied that opportunity in 2020 due to COVID restrictions.

Manager Arne Slot must be applauded for a fantastically successful managerial transition which no one could have envisioned after the much-loved Jurgen Klopp stepped down after last season. The classy Dutch manager went so far as to shout out appreciation to Klopp on Sunday as he was being showered with champagne. Dominant Liverpool has won 25 times and lost but twice through 34 matches and has held the top position in the table since October.

Things have gone a bit differently for Tottenham Hotspur as Spurs lost for the 19th time this season and sit just two places from the drop line. Postecoglou and his squad have recently put all their focus on the Europa League and no longer seem interested in league play.

Chelsea, meanwhile, demonstrated that they still care as the Blues moved back into the top five with a 1-0 win over Everton. Nicolas Jackson scored his first goal since December in the 27th minute for Chelsea to take over the final Champions League place on goal differential from Nottingham Forest, a situation which could change before Chelsea next takes to the pitch.

The Tricky Trees play their game in hand on Thursday versus Brentford. Forest was busy this weekend losing its FA Cup semifinal to Manchester City by a 2-0 margin. Manchester City advances to a third straight FA Cup final after holding the Trees to a single shot on target.

Waiting for Manchester City at Wembley on May 17th will be Crystal Palace which defeated Aston Villa 3-0, just days after drawing with Arsenal in league play. The Eagles will be competing for the first major piece of silverware in their club’s history. Villa’s focus now turns fully to their quest for a Champions League berth for next season. Manager Unai Emery’s side are one of the five clubs fighting for the three Champions League slots after Liverpool and Arsenal. Manchester City defeated Aston Villa in a key league match on Tuesday to move up to fourth in the table.

Newcastle is third in the table after spanking Ipswich Town 3-0 on Saturday to seal the Tractor Boys’ relegation. The other two relegated sides, Leicester and Southampton, also lost as has usually been the case. Wolverhampton, itself a relegation candidate earlier this season, won a sixth consecutive match in a 3-0 pasting of the Foxes as Leicester failed to score for the 16th time this season. Fulham were 2-1 winners over the Saints, a crucial outcome for the Cottagers who are in a three-way battle with Brighton and Bournemouth for what is likely to be the final European invitation for the Premier League.

Brighton ended a five-match winless run  by defeating West Ham 3-2 on a stoppage time goal by the Seagulls’ Carlos Baleba after Kaoru Mitoma had tied the match for Brighton in  the 89th minute. This latest collapse extends West Ham’s hunt for a win to two months. Bournemouth is a point back of deadlocked Fulham and Brighton after the Cherries were held to a 1-1 draw at home versus Manchester United. Rasmus Hojlund scored in the 96th minute to endanger the Cherries’ chances for Europe. Bournemouth must now face Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City before the Cherries get Leicester in their final match.

Premier League: Match Week 34 Preview

Matheus Nunes

Manchester City moved back into third place in the Premier League table with a statement 2-1 win over surging Aston Villa on Tuesday. The Citizens captured all three points in dramatic fashion as Matheus Nunes struck a stoppage time winner for the difference in a match between two clubs vying for a top five finish and Champions League qualification. Villa had won five consecutive league matches before Nunez captured his first Premier League goal of the season on Tuesday. Manchester City moved to third in the table though having played one additional match than its three nearest pursuers.

Aston Villa now trails fifth place Newcastle by two points with the Magpies likely to extend that advantage with their Saturday match versus Ipswich Town. If the Tractor Boys lose as expected at St. James Park, their relegation will be confirmed and history made by all three relegated sides being mathematically eliminated with four matches still to be played.

Shortly after the Magpies and Tractor Boys play, Aston Villa will return to the pitch versus Crystal Palace in one of the two FA Cup semifinals this weekend. Palace came back twice on Wednesday to draw 2-2 with Arsenal. The dropped points by the Gunners means Liverpool needs only a draw at Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Sunday to clinch the Premier League title.

At the same time on Sunday, Manchester City will play the other FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest, the club it passed in the league standings on Tuesday. Forest’s league game in hand will be played against Brentford at the City Ground on Thursday.

Chelsea could potentially push the Tricky Trees outside of the top five should the Blues defeat Everton on Saturday. Everton will be looking for its first Premier League victory at Stamford Bridge since 1994.

In the race for a possible Europa Conference League berth, eighth place Bournemouth will host a poor Manchester United side. The Cherries are seeking to become the sixth Premier League team this season to win both league matches against the Red Devils, the most “doubles” by Red Devil opponents in  a single campaign since the 1930’s.

Fulham and Brighton, each one point behind the Cherries, will play Southampton and West Ham, respectively. Southampton posted a clean sheet versus Fulham in the reverse fixture, one of only two whitewashings of opponents that the Saints have recorded in the league this season. Brighton will be looking for its first league victory since March 8th when it faces the Hammers on Saturday. West Ham’s drought, however, extends back to February. Having secured their Premier League survival last weekend, Wolverhampton will host one-time relegation flat mate Leicester at Molineux Stadium. The Foxes’ fate was also determined last weekend with their mathematical relegation.

Premier League Match Week 33 Results: Title Not Clinched But Another Straggler Goes Down - Liverpool and Arsenal Both Win; Chelsea Relegates Leicester; Aston Villa Stuns Newcastle; Wolves Clinch Safety; Nottingham Forest Retakes Third With Win At Spurs

The title “race” continues as both Liverpool and Arsenal won this weekend, preventing Liverpool from claiming its well-deserved title. While Liverpool’s eventual crowning is yet to officially happen due to Arsenal’s victory, it is all over for Leicester after their 1-0 loss to the league leaders. A well-earned relegation became official on a day that Leicester failed to score for a ninth consecutive home match at King Power Stadium. The Foxes could not even put a single shot off on target on Sunday. Yeesh.

Arsenal was also little troubled at Ipswich Town in a 4-1 victory. To his credit Arsenal Manger Mikel Arteta played a strong side to delay Liverpool’s clinching for another week. Ipswich Town, which has won but once this season at its Portman Road home, inched closer to officially joining Leicester and Southampton in the one and done club. Ironically, it was the already relegated Southampton side which kept Ipswich Town alive for now with a 1-1 draw with West Ham. The Hammers fell to 17th in the table as the Graham Potter experience continues to trend badly.

Wolverhampton leapt over the Hammers and ensured their own safety in a 1-0 win over Manchester United as the success of Wolves Manager Vitor Pereira stands in stark contrast to the futility of Potter. Pereira took over a team in the relegation zone in December and now has them 17 points clear of the drop after their fifth consecutive victory on Sunday. Wolverhampton is now level on points with  a Manchester United club which has long since given up on its own Premier League season. The Red Devils 15th Premier League loss on Sunday is the most in a season by Manchester United in 35 years. And yet that’s still three fewer losses than shambolic Tottenham Hotspur has posted in the Premier League this season. Only clubs in the relegation zone have more losses than a Spurs side which was once again booed off the pitch at halftime in a 2-1 home loss to Nottingham Forest. The victory by the Tricky Trees snapped a two-match losing run and launched the club back into third place in the Premier League table.

🤯 pic.twitter.com/5bzSCaGLYR

— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) April 21, 2025

Newcastle fell back to fourth after a 4-1 capitulation to Aston Villa which put a halt to a four-match winning run by the Magpies. Sunday’s match was important for Newcastle, but Aston Villa needed it more and played with a greater sense of urgency. Striker Ollie Watkins openly talked of his anger at being left out of the lineup for the midweek match with PSG which eliminated Aston Villa from Champions League. A motivated Watkins was back in the lineup on Saturday and announced himself with a goal one minute into the match. The Villans extended their own winning run to five matches to remain in the thick of the hunt for Champions League qualification.

Beyond Liverpool and Arsenal, there are five clubs now in the chase for the three remaining berths in Europe’s top competition. Villa and Chelsea are locked on 57 points, three points below third place Nottingham Forest. Before climbing to the Trees, however, those clubs first would need to get by Newcastle and Manchester City who are fourth and fifth in the table after the weekend’s action.

Manchester City struggled to overcome a determined Everton at Goodison Park but late goals in the 84th minute and in stoppage time delivered the needed 2-0 result which kept the Citizens in possession of the final Champions League berth for now. Manchester City and Aston Villa, both of whom will be playing in FA Cup semifinals this weekend, now face each other in a titanic clash on Tuesday.

Nottingham Forest, another FA semifinal participant, will then face Crystal Palace on Wednesday. The Eagles ended their staggering concession of ten consecutive goals to opponents in a goalless draw with Bournemouth on Saturday. Last week’s win over Fulham was the only victory for the Cherries in their last eight matches as they hold onto European hopes only due to the failures of other clubs. The draw leaves Bournemouth alone in eighth position, usually the final European qualification slot, one point ahead of Fulham and Brighton who both lost on the weekend. Fulham held a 1-0 halftime lead on Sunday over a Chelsea club which was booed off the pitch by away supporters at the interval. The Blues  were once again looking into the maws of defeat for a second straight week before responding late once again in a 2-1 win over the Cottagers. Chelsea had looked miserable for much of a 2-2 draw with lowly Ipswich Town the week before until two late goals salvaged a point. This week, all three points were claimed with Pedro Neto’s stoppage time match winner. Elsewhere in London, Brentford handled Brighton 4-2 to extend the Seagulls winless run to five matches as European hopes for the tenth-place club are fading quickly. Brentford is just two points south of the Seagulls in the table after the Bees’ Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa both scored in the same match for the seventh time this season.

Premier League Match Week 33 Preview

Newcastle United rolled over Crystal Palace by a 5-0 margin on Wednesday to overtake Nottingham Forest for third place in the Premier League table. Newcastle has won five straight and now faces another streaking side in Aston Villa, winners of four straight league matches, at Villa Park on Saturday. Aston Villa’s European quest for this year is over with this past week’s Champions League loss to PSG. A tasty clash is thus set up for two clubs now solely focused on competing in Europe’s top competition next season.

Nottingham Forest had seemed a lock to book its ticket to the Champions League just a short while back. Two losses in a row, however, have left the Tricky Trees not only inhaling Newcastle’s fumes but looking over their shoulder at three clubs who are now within three points of the fourth place Trees. Nottingham Forest could be sitting outside the top five by the time Manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s club takes to the pitch versus Tottenham Hotspur on Monday.

Beyond fifth place Manchester City, Villa and Chelsea both trail Nottingham Forest by just three points with Chelsea holding a superior goal differential to Forest. Chelsea faces a high stakes London derby at Fulham on Sunday. The Cottagers have their own European aspirations which were damaged by a one-goal loss to Bournemouth last week, leaving the Cottagers in a three-way deadlock for the final European place with the Cherries and Brighton, Bournemouth owning the best goal differential of those three Europa Conference League contenders. Chelsea, meanwhile, needed to come back last weekend from a two-goal deficit to nick a point off Ipswich Town, a sure relegation bet at this point. Chelsea’s form has declined in the latter half of the season after a bright start under Manager Enzo Maresca, a trend which was also exhibited by Maresca’s Leicester club last season. Chelsea supporters are left wondering whether the early season success was a carryover from the work of prior manager Maricio Pochettino, now receding as Maresca’s system has become fully implemented and serves to stymie some of the club’s young stars. Fulham Manager Marco Silva, meanwhile, is one of the current Premier League managers being rumored to replace beleaguered Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou. Bournemouth Manager Andoni Iraola, who defeated Silva in their direct matchup last week, is another rumored candidate for the north London job. Somewhat humiliating for Spurs is that neither manager, both enjoying the support of their current owners, appears interested in the managerial graveyard in north London. Although it is probably already too late, Postecoglou’s stock got a boost during the week with his club’s win over Eintracht Frankfurt to advance to the Europa League semifinals. One can only guess whether performance ticks down again in league play on Monday versus Nottingham Forest.

Bournemouth, meanwhile, is at Crystal Palace this weekend with Eagles manager Oliver Glasner also rumored to be in the mix for the Spurs job. That interest may have cooled off with the Eagles now having conceded 10 consecutive goals over their last two losses.

Selhurst 🔜#CPFC // #CRYBOU pic.twitter.com/iPAic1JLkl

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) April 18, 2025

Manchester City scored five times to put Crystal Palace away last week. The going could be tougher for the Citizens this weekend when they visit Everton. The Toffees, having lost just one of their last eleven matches, have not allowed more than a goal to their last six opponents. Brighton has not won in its last four matches, dropping to tenth in the table as the Seagulls need a result at Brentford on Saturday to keep their European hopes alive.

Matches of little interest to anyone but the individual clubs’ supporters this weekend include a visit by West Ham to Southampton and a match up at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Wolverhampton. Like Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United advanced to the Europa League semifinals while it sleepwalks through the remainder of a best forgotten Premier League season.

Both Liverpool and Arsenal, meanwhile, will face relegation teams in Leicester and Ipswich Town, respectively. A win by Liverpool and loss by Arsenal would result in an anticlimactic title clinching at King Power by Liverpool. The title race has long been over. Arsenal’s thoughts are obviously elsewhere after advancing to the semifinals of the Champions League over Real Madrid during the week.

Premier League Match Week 32 Results: Nottingham Forest At Risk After Everton Loss; Newcastle, Aston Villa Extend Winning Runs To Four; Manchester City Blitzes Crystal Place; Manchester United and Spurs Focus On Europe Matches As Premier League Losses Mount; Chelsea Drops Points, Again, To Relegation Fodder Ipswich Town; Seagulls Crash Land Against Leicester

Nottingham Forest supporters are understandably a bit nervous after the Tricky Trees were felled by a 94th minute strike from Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure in a 1-0 loss at the City Ground. A second consecutive defeat leaves the Tricky Trees only three points ahead of Chelsea and Aston Villa. Those latter two clubs are sixth and seventh in the table. The first five places are guaranteed to compete in the Champions League next season. Forest could be in trouble as the loss pulls the Trees back into the scramble with the host of other clubs vying for the remaining Champions League berths behind Liverpool and Arsenal.

Aston Villa defeated Nottingham Forest last weekend and was little troubled in a 3-0 walkover at Southampton on Saturday. The Villans have won four straight matches to jump into the thick of the Champions League qualification scramble. Their rise has been fueled in part by aggressive January moves which have delivered for Manager Unai Emery’s side as Borussia Dortmund loanee Donyell Malen scored the second goal against the Saints, one week after scoring the winner versus the Tricky Trees. Emery’s substitutions were masterful on Saturday as three goals were scored by three different substitutes for the first time in Premier League history.

Morgan was on target in the first leg last week 🎯 #UCL pic.twitter.com/NjN5cuDf14

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 14, 2025

The victory left Aston Villa level on points with sixth place Chelsea after the Blues suffered a damaging 2-2 home draw against relegation bound Ipswich town. Highly vocal Stamford Bridge supporters let their unhappiness be known when the Blues fell behind by two goals to a lowly side which had defeated the Blues by the same 2-0 score earlier this season. A second half own goal by the Tractor Boys and a beautiful, curling equalizer by Chelsea’s Jadon Sancho quieted the discontent only mildly as the dropped points could factor in whether Chelsea reruns to Europe’s top competition next season. If the season ended today, Chelsea would miss out on the Champions League after dropping seven of the last twelve points available to them in league play. Heads were shaking at Stamford Bridge on Sunday at more missed opportunities by forwards Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer. Jackson has not scored since December and Palmer has not scored since January.

Newcastle, tied with Chelsea on points entering the weekend, broke free of the Blues and into fourth place in the table with the Magpies’ fourth consecutive Premier League victory, a 4-1 thrashing of Manchester United. Newcastle is now just a point behind third place Nottingham Forest after Harvey Barnes scored a second half brace to break open a match which was tied at a goal apiece at halftime. An error by Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, deputizing on the day for much criticized starter Andre Onana, handed the final goal to Newcastle’s Bruno Guimares. With a win in a rescheduled match against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, Newcastle would move past Nottingham Forest into third place in the Premier League table.

Manchester United Manager Ruben Amorim, meanwhile, tried to quickly refocus his post-match press conference on his own team’s upcoming midweek match, an all-important Europa League quarterfinal second leg match versus Lyon. Pundits such as former Manchester United players Roy Keane and Gary Neville, however, were not letting the Red Devils off the hook that easily as they ripped the club for yet another miserable league performance. With Sunday’s loss, Manchester United is now assured of finishing with the lowest Premier League point total in the club’s history.

It was a brighter weekend for the other Manchester team as Manchester City overcame a streaking Crysal Palace side which had won four times during a five-match unbeaten run leading into Saturday’s Match at the Etihad. Crystal Palace has been among the league’s top performing clubs in 2025 and was continuing that form in carving out a 2-0 advantage over their hosts through the first 39 minutes. Manchester City then obliterated the Eagles with five consecutive goals in a 5-2 victory. Kevin De Bruyne, who has already announced he is leaving the club after this season, had a goal and an assist in the comeback which puts the Citizens a point ahead of Chelsea and Aston Villa for the fifth and final Champions League slot. Omar Marmoush had one of City’s quintet of goals and now has scored six times since joining the club in January, a haul which only Marmosa’s Egyptian teammate Mohamed Salah has exceeded in that same timeframe.

Salah established a new Premier League record for goal involvements in a 38-match season by adding to his league leading assist total in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over West Ham. That assist led to Luis Diaz’s 18th minute goal which was the only score until Andy Robertson added some drama to the match with an 86th minute own goal. Virgil van Dijk, who bore some complicity in Robertson’s gaffe, then set things right with an 89th minute winner which further increased Liverpool’s point advantage over second place Arsenal to 13 points. Liverpool can now clinch the Premier League title as early as next weekend with a win and an Arsenal loss. A win next week by Liverpool at Leicester could set up a possible title clinching match for the Reds on April 27th against Tottenham Hotspur no matter what Arsenal does the next two match weeks.

The Gunners dropped more points on Saturday in a 1-1 draw with Brentford. Arsenal opened scoring with a goal by Thomas Partey before conceding an equalizer to Brentford’s Yoane Wissa, the 16th time this season that Arsenal has dropped points from a winning position in the Premier League this season. The Premier  League, however, is no longer Arsenal’s primary focus. In preparation for the critical second leg of its Champion’s League quarterfinal with Real Madrid this coming Wednesday, Manager Mikel Arteta made five changes from the lineup which defeated Real Madrid 3-0 during the week.

The manager of rival Tottenham Hotspur similarly deemphasized his club’s Premier League matchup, prioritizing Spurs’ upcoming Europa League quarterfinal second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt by making six changes to his lineup. The result was abject embarrassment as Tottenham Hotspur lost 4-2 at Wolverhampton. That made it 17 losses on the season for Tottenham Hotspur, the same as Wolverhampton and more than any other Premier League side not being relegated at the end of the season. The abject display on Sunday included the gifting of two goals to their opponent through egregious defensive mistakes. Things got ugly early for Spurs when Wolves scored before two minutes had elapsed. A brief moment of hope for Spurs, coming on an 85th minute goal by Richarlison, was quickly extinguished when Matheus Cunha scored one minute later for the 4-2 final. The victory continued a late season surge by Wolverhampton under Manager Vitor Pereira who replaced Gary O’Neil in December. In sixteen matches, Pereira’s side has garnered 26 points. In the 16 matches under O’Neil, Wolves had posted but nine points. Sunday’s win marked a fourth consecutive victory and moved Wolverhampton past West Ham into 16th place in the table, still a bad place to be but far better than the relegation which supporters feared was coming under O’Neil.

Andoni Iraola, who succeeded Gary O’Neil at Bournemouth in 2023, has also improved his club’s standing. Despite a recent poor run, the Cherries put themselves back into European contention with a crucial 1-0 win over Fulham. The battle for an expected Europa Conference League berth now has the Cherries, Cottagers and Brighton all knotted at 48 points in the 8-10 positions in the table. Only one of those clubs will play on the continent next season. Brighton hurt its chances in a 2-2 draw with Leicester. Leicester had not scored in eight matches before twice equalizing the match against a Brighton side which now has a four match winless run at a most precarious point in their season.  

Premier League: Match Week 32 Preview

The battle for Champions League qualification is center stage for the Premier League run in. Arsenal’s win over Real Madrid during the week clinched a fifth spot for the league in next year’s competition. Liverpool and Arsenal are comfortably first and second in the league table with surprising Nottingham Forest third, four points clear of its nearest pursuers.

It is then that things get extremely congested, and thus exciting. Chelsea and Newcastle are level on points in fourth and fifth place, respectively, Chelsea holding a goal differential advantage. Manchester City follows one point back with Aston Villa just one point behind the Citizens. Thus, four clubs, no more than two points removed from each other, are competing for the final two Champions League positions behind Nottingham Forest.

Manchester City could be facing the toughest challenge of those contenders this weekend when it hosts a Crystal Palace side which has been nothing short of sensational since the turn of the calendar year. The Eagles have accumulated more points in 2025 than all but two teams as the club has galvanized under the steady leadership of underrated manager, Oliver Glasner.

Oliver Glasner

The Citizens meanwhile have improved versus their dreadful November/December run of performances but still fail to instill any fear in opponents. Manchester City has won but two of its last six matches and looked quite ordinary in a tedious draw with Manchester United last week.

Newcastle, meanwhile, moved past City in the table last week with their third straight Premier League win and now prepare for their own matchup with the Red Devils at St. James Park on Sunday. Winners of 11 of their last 15 topflight matches, the Magpies have also placed an EFL Cup in their trophy case in recent weeks. They will face a Manchester United side which has nothing but moral victories such as last week’s dreary draw with Manchester City to cheer about. The 13th place Red Devils have been largely unwatchable in a string of performances which has made Ruben Amorim statistically the worst manager in Premier League history in terms of win rate and average points per match.

Newcastle will try to keep pace with fourth place Chelsea, which will be hosting relegation bound Ipswich Town at Stamford Bridge. Though a mismatch on paper, the Tractor Boys stunned Chelsea 2-0 in the reverse fixture earlier this season at Portman Road. Sunday’s matchup will see Chelsea try to record a sixth consecutive home victory, a run the club has not seen since 2020. The home crowd will do its best to incent Cole Palmer to find the net for the first time in his last 14 combined league and cup performances. His power outage has coincided with a precipitous drop in scoring from Manager Enzo Maresca’s side from their early season form. Production from Palmer and striker Nicolas Jackson will be essential to the Blues’ drive to secure their ticket for next season’s Champions League.

Aston Villa will also be facing a relegation side when it heads to Southampton. The Saints were mathematically demoted last weekend, with the firing of Manager Ivan Juric following shortly thereafter. The beleaguered Saints now face an angry Aston Villa side which was outclassed in a 3-1 Champions League defeat to PSG during the week. Southampton hopes will rest on Aston Villa resting some of its feature players for the PSG rematch next Tuesday.

Arsenal is on the right side of a 3-0 advantage heading into the second leg with Real Madrid on Wednesday. With hopes of a Premier League title long since dashed, the Gunners could face a trap game with pesky Brentford at the Emirates on Saturday. The Bees had won five consecutive away matches before tripping at Newcastle on their last venture away from home.

Arsenal is 11 points behind league leading Liverpool with the Reds, who host West Ham this week, seemingly able to coast to the title at this point. Overshadowing this weekend’s match with the Hammers was Friday’s announcement that Mohamed Salah has signed a new two year contract with the club.  The expiring contract status of Salah and teammates Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold has been a cloud hovering over the success of a successful league season. Van Dijk is now expected to follow Salah in committing to the project of first year manager Arne Slot. Alexander-Arnold, however, could pursue his football future in Spain with Real Madrid.

Liverpool and Arsenal holding the top two spots in the league is no surprise. The club right behind them, however, has surprised everyone. Initial shock has now given way to grudging respect for a Nottingham Forest side which has claimed a place in the top four just a season removed from scrambling to survive in the league. The Tricky Trees, however, were nipped 2-1 by surging Aston Villa last week and now face another tricky contest versus Everton. The Toffees are never an easy out, having only lost to Liverpool in their last ten Premier League matches. Wins have been rare of late, however, with the Toffees drawing five of their last six matches.

Outside of those clubs in the Champions League picture are clubs who would be delighted with a Europa League or Conference League berth. Two clubs in the midst of that scramble will face off when Fulham visits Bournemouth on Monday. The Cottagers have been up and down, alternating wins and losses in their past six outings. It has been mostly down for Bournemouth as the Cherries have not won since a February 15h victory over hopeless Southampton. Even with that recent decline, however, Bournemouth is just three points behind eighth place Fulham and a potential European assignment.

Currently resting between the Cottagers and the Cherries in the standings is ninth place Brighton which has now dropped two matches in a row after falling to rival Crystal Palace last week. The Seagulls return home this weekend to face relegation bound Leicester. The Foxes have been terrible under Manager Ruud van Nistelrooy who replaced Steve Cooper in November. Leicester has lost 15 of its last 16 league matches, failing to score in 13 of those contests. Another scoreless effort against Brighton would equal the Premier League mark of nine consecutive matches without scoring.

Tottenham Hotspur underwhelmed its supporter once again with a 2-2 home draw to Eintracht Frankfurt in Europa league play during the week. The league season has been a disaster for the 14th place club. Everything, including the job of its manager, thus rests on a successful rematch with the Germans next Thursday. Expect a lot of player rotation and little focus when the north London side visits Molineux Stadium to face Wolves on Sunday.

Premier League Match Week 31 Results: Newcastle and Villa Get Closer To Europe as Manchester City and Chelsea Stall; Liverpool Loses But Arsenal Can’t Capitalize; Southampton Is Done

Chelsea and Manchester City may well rue their dropped points this past weekend as their pursuers for expected Champions League berths gained ground. Newcastle jumped over Manchester City and came level on points with fourth-place Chelsea with a 3-0 win over Leicester on Monday. Jacob Murphy had a brace by the 12-minute mark as Newcastle easily rolled over a toothless Foxes side which has scored only 25 times in 31 matches. The only one of the top six sides to win in Match Week 31, the Magpies notched their third consecutive win in league play. During that most recent winning run, the Magpies have also captured the Carabao Cup title, their first domestic silverware in 56 years. That Cup title plus Champions League qualification would be more than Toon army could have hoped for entering the season.

The perfect start! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/kBkhQxDmqx

— Newcastle United (@NUFC) April 8, 2025

A bad weekend for blue jerseys, meanwhile, saw both Chelsea and Manchester City held to goalless draws. The scoring difficulties of Chelsea have been quite severe since the turn of the year. Marc Cucurella’s three Premier League goals since January lead the impotent Chelsea attack in 2025 which, in fairness, has been marked by injuries to key attackers. Manager Enzo Maresca held Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer out of his starting lineup on Sunday as the two are regaining fitness after injury spells. Their late insertion into the match changed little from the frustratingly poor efforts of Christopher Nkunku who started up top for the Blues. The away fans were unmerciful in their criticism of Nkunku who appears to be one of many busts resulting from the wild spending of Chelsea ownership.

Manchester City, meanwhile, was equally awful in front of the net in a sleepy Manchester derby at Old Trafford. Goal nets in Manchester were safe from disturbance as the two clubs, each in the midst of disappointing seasons relative to their expectations, posed little threat to each other.

Poor play by top clubs was nothing unusual this weekend as none of the top five clubs entering the weekend recorded a win. League leading Liverpool surprisingly lost 3-2 at Fulham but second place Arsenal could only manage a 1-1 draw at Everton. Liverpool sustained its first Premier League loss since mid-September, a run of 26 matches, as Fulham shrugged off an early opening goal by the Reds to score three successive times enroute to a win which kept their European hopes alive. The resilient Cottagers won for a third straight time following a loss as they won for the fifth time in their last ten matches to earn their current eighth place table standing.

The loss meant little for Liverpool, particularly when Arsenal failed to capitalize the next day in a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park. A 49th minute penalty conversion by Iliman Ndiaye was all that was needed for a point by Everton against an Arsenal side which has become boring in attack and overly reliant on set pieces. Arsenal has scored more than a goal in just one of its last six league matches as its title chase has petered out. The Gunners’ season is down to its Champions League quest which begins with Tuesday’s quarterfinal match with Real Madrid.

Aston Villa plays PSG on Wednesday in Champions League in a much better frame of mind than Arsenal. Villa continues to reap the benefits of an aggressive January transfer window as Donyell Malen, a January signing from Borussia Dortmund, scored what proved to be the winner in a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest. Manager Unai Emery’s squad has now won three straight and four out of five in Premier League play. The Villans are just two points south of deadlocked Chelsea and Newcastle in the Premier League table, Chelsea claiming fourth on goal differential. Manchester City is one point outside the top five, a point ahead of Aston Villa in the ever-tightening chase for the chance to compete in next year’s Champions League.

In the far gloomier southern end of the table, meanwhile, cellar dwelling  Southampton made history with a 3-1 loss to Spurs on Sunday, making the Saints the earliest  club to be mathematically relegated, with seven matches yet to play, in Premier League history. The sad Saints, who never had a prayer this season, sit on 10 points and could set another infamous record if they fail to surpass the 11 points accumulated by Derby in 2007/08, the lowest point total in Premier League history.

Leicester and Ipswich town are certain to follow Southampton back to the second tier. A 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton all but ended any faint survival hopes that Ipswich Town might still have harbored. Wolves are 12 points above Ipswich Town for the final safe spot with the fumbling Foxes a further three points behind the terrible Tractor Boys.

Brighton and Bournemouth have no relegation worries, but once promising seasons are at risk of disappointing finishes. Brighton was a top four club as of the 13th week of the season but a 2-1 defeat at Selhurst Park over the weekend leaves the Seagulls ninth in the table and European qualification very much at risk.

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, won for the fourth time in a five match Premier League unbeaten run as Daniel Munoz netted the 55th minute winner. The Eagles have taken more points in 2025 than any clubs not named Liverpool or Arsenal. The uptick in form this calendar year has seen the Eagles, who were in the relegation zone as late as November 23rd, rise to11th in the table, two points behind flagging Bournemouth. The Cherries failed to win for a sixth consecutive league match in a 2-2 draw on Saturday with West Ham, the dropped points spoiling an impressive outing for Bournemouth striker Evanilson who scored both goals for the Cherries.

Premier League Match Week 30 Results: Tractor Boys Stun Bournemouth; Hammer Woes Continue; Rashford, Ascensio Lead Villa Over Brighton; Anfield Curse Continues for Everton’s Moyes; Elanga Stars In Win Over Former Red Devil Teammates; Chelsea Pushes Postecoglou Closer To Edge

It will not mean much in the long run, but Ipswich Town supporters will relish a rare magic moment as their Tractor Boys won 2-1 at Brighton to record their first victory of 2025. Liam Delap, recently linked with interest from Manchester City and Chelsea, stroked the winner for Ipswich at the 60-minute mark, recording his 11th Premier League goal of the season. The loss for the homestanding Cherries was their fourth in their last five league matches as the curtain is beginning to close on Bournemouth’s hopes for European football next season.

While the taste of victory was sweet for the visiting Tractor Boys, they remained nine points from safety as 17th place Wolverhampton also came away with three points during the week, blanking West Ham in a 1-0 victory at Molineux Stadium. Wolves won for a fourth time in their last seven outings as Manager Vitor Pereira has revived a club which did not post its first victory of the season until November. Jorgen Strand Larsen scored the winner in the first half of a match which saw more struggles in the attacking end from visiting West Ham. This has been far from a successful renaissance for West Ham Manager Graham Potter’s career. Out of work for 20 months after a short, failed stint at Chelsea, the former Brighton Manager has tidied up West Ham’s porous defense but has failed to nail the Hammer attack. The net result is that Potter has no better record than sacked former Manager Julen Lopetegui as the Hammers have just three wins and 10 goals in Potter’s first 11 matches in charge. Hammer supporters are losing faith just three months into Potter’s so far disappointing tenure and have come to derisively calling their new manager “Graham Lopetegui.”

Tottenham Hotspur supporters are similarly disillusioned with Manager Ange Postecoglou. Spurs lost for the sixteenth time this season in a 1-0 loss to Chelsea. Postecoglou’s antics on Thursday included taunting his own traveling supporters and then engaging in yet another of his testy exchanges with an interviewer after the match.

Everton Manager David Moyes, meanwhile, has been wildly successful in his return for a second managerial stint at Everton. A nine-match unbeaten run for the Toffees, however, ended with an all too familiar outcome with a 1-0 defeat at Liverpool. Moyes has never won a Premier League match at Anfield with Wednesday’s defeat marking his 20th failed effort at the historic ground. Diogo Jota scored the winner for Liverpool while Everton could not manage a single shot on target as the Reds reasserted their Premier League dominance after being bounced out of two tournament competitions in recent weeks.

Bukayo Saka

Arsenal stayed twelve points behind the leaders as Bukayo Saka scored the winner in his first game back from injury in a 2-1 Gunner victory over Fulham. Saka had been out since December and Gunner supporters can only wonder how the season may have played out differently with their star on the pitch in recent months. The injury bug bit again on Tuesday as Arsenal center back Gabriel went down with a hamstring injury, particularly worrying considering next week’s Champions League semi-final tilt with Real Madrid.

Third place Nottingham Forest defeated Manchester United 1-0, a third consecutive victory for the Tricky Trees. Anthony Elanga electrified the crowd at The City Ground in the fifth minute of play by navigating the length of the pitch from deep inside his own end to find the net for the match’s only goal. The loss was disheartening for the struggling Red Devils who watched Elanga, their own former academy player, do them in. The attacking situation for Manchester United, meanwhile, is so bad right now that defender Harry Maguire was playing striker at the end of the match for Manager Ruben Amorim. A Manchester derby is next up for the Red Devils this weekend where the Old Trafford faithful will not be hesitant to vocalize their concerns.

Another discarded Red Devil helped lead Aston Villa to a key win in their chase for Europe. Marcus Rashford scored in the 51st minute for the opening tally in a 3-0 win over Brighton. Aston Villa’s aggression in the January transfer window is paying off as Marco Ascencio, on loan from PSG, scored the second goal as Villa leapfrogged the Seagulls into seventh place in the heated chase for European places. With the title chase and the relegation places seemingly resolved, the excitement in the coming weeks comes down to the battle for those European places. Match Week 31 will include one of those key matches when Aston Villa will try to maintain its momentum against a strong Nottingham Forest side which visits Villa Park on Saturday.

Newcastle also has high hopes for Champions League football after winning for the third time in its last four league matches with a 2-1 win over Brentford on Wednesday. Alexander Isak scored his 20th Premier League goal of the season, but it was Sandro Tonali, known more for his lengthy gambling suspension, who provided the winner for the Magpies. Still energized by their Carabao Cup win over Liverpool, Newcastle appear extremely dangerous in this European chase. The Magpies are currently just a point behind fifth place Manchester City in a year when five Champions League places are expected to be awarded.

The Citizens easily rolled over Leicester 2-0 during the week and now have their sights set on the Manchester derby coming up on Sunday.

A dash of cold water was thrown on the perhaps overly optimistic hopes of Europe for Crystal Palace when the Eagles dropped points to bottom of the table Southampton in a 1-1 draw on Wednesday. Only a stoppage time goal by Matheus Franca averted an even worse outcome for the Eagles. Next up for the Eagles is their odd rivalry match with Brighton this weekend. Crystal Palace is seven points back of the eighth place Seagulls for what could be the final qualifying position for Europe.