Arsenal may have salted away the Premier League title and West Ham took another step toward relegation in Sunday’s action at London Stadium. The Gunners defeated West Ham 1-0 as Leandro Trossard’s deflected strike in the 83rd minute proved the winning margin. The winner came just moments after Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya had stoned a point-blank attempt by Mateus Fernandes which would have given West Ham the lead. To further the misery of West Ham supporters, a potential tying goal for the Hammers was disallowed in stoppage time after a lengthy VAR review determined that Raya was fouled, a controversial call that reverberated at the top and bottom of the Premier League table.
Either you hate watch Arsenal or not, that’s a clear foul on David Raya. You can’t block or hold the keeper like that from a corner and pretend it’s normal. VAR got it right. #WHUARS pic.twitter.com/rvUMKt43DC
— Olawale Balo (@walebuilds_) May 10, 2026
Arsenal is now five points ahead in the Premier League race. While Manchester City, 3-0 winners over Brentford on Saturday, can pull within two points by beating Crystal Palace on Wednesday, those two points appear massive considering Arsenal’s remaining schedule.
Next week sees the Gunners host punching bag Burnley while the Gunners’ final game of the season against Crystal Palace comes just days before the Eagles’ Conference League final in Germany. Clearly the Eagles and their manager, Oliver Glasner, will be risking nothing to help Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.
At the other end of the table, West Ham is fortunate to be only two points from safety after Tottenham Hotspur conceded a careless penalty kick on Monday to draw 1-1 with visiting Leeds. Mathys Tel scored the opening goal for Tottenham Hotspur but was then guilty of the penalty which came about when he tried to “bicycle kick” a clearance from his own box.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted the equalizer which deprived Spurs of two critical points in its struggle to avoid relegation. Leeds even threatened to take all three points in the late going when substitute Sean Longstaff’s drive was tipped off the crossbar by Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.
It is no wonder that Tottenham Hotspur is in a relegation fight after supporters witnessed the 15th non-winning effort in their club’s 17 home dates so far as the north London side has captured only 11 points at home this season. Like Leeds, Nottingham Forest is also safe now after the Tricky Trees earned a 1-1 draw with Newcastle that saw former Magpie Eliot Anderson secure the point for the Tricky Trees with an 88th minute goal.
Nottingham Forest is seven points clear of the drop line with only two matches remaining. Newcastle, meanwhile, suffered an all too familiar fate as the Magpies have now dropped 27 points from a winning position this season, more than any other Premier League team.
The Magpies host West Ham next week with the chance to further influence the relegation places. Following their result at St. James’s Park, the Hammers will need wait until Tuesday to see if relegation rival Spurs can steal a result from a tough battle away at Chelsea.
While the top and bottom of the table feature two team battles, the battle for European places remains wide open. Manchester United, which shared the points in a goalless snoozefest with Sunderland over the weekend, is already assured of its Champions League place along with Arsenal and Manchester City.
Liverpool and Aston Villa have long occupied the two remaining guaranteed Champions League slots, but both clubs are struggling to mathematically lock down their place. Liverpool and Aston Villa are level at 59 points after both clubs drew over the weekend.
Bournemouth is now on 55 points after the Cherries defeated Fulham 1-0 in an odd match where both clubs were reduced to 10 men for the entire second half. Brazilian teenager Rayan scored in the 53rd minute on a deflected shot to provide the winning margin and give the surging Cherries their fourth win in their last five Premier League matches and extend their unbeaten league run to 16 matches under departing Manager Andoni Iraola.
Rayan now has three goals in his last three Premier League matches, finding his best form at the best possible time for Iraola’s club. Brighton are two points behind the Seagulls in seventh place after making easy work of Wolverhampton in a 3-0 victory where Brighton scored two of its goals in the first five minutes of play.
Like Bournemouth’s Rayan, the Seagulls’ Jack Hinshelwood also has three goals in his last three Premier League matches after scoring 35 seconds into Saturday’s match, the fastest goal in Brighton history. The wins by Bournemouth and Brighton combined with draws by Liverpool and Aston Villa keep the race for Champions League places alive as the season enters its final two weekends.
Chelsea, once expected to compete for Europe’s top competition, ended a five-match losing run by grabbing a point in a 1-1 contest at Anfield between two clubs suffering disappointing seasons. Chelsea, of course, has been in a death spiral and is facing the prospect of no European football next season.
Though Liverpool remains well positioned to still finish in the top five spots, the supporters have become fully disillusioned with Manager Arne Slot. The vocalization of discontent reached a new level when Slot substituted for 17-year-old crowd favorite Rio Ngumoha in the 67th minute versus Chelsea.
Slot concedes he cannot win back the supporters until much work is done on the squad in the summer. Whether he gets that chance remains a question. Slot’s side remains locked on points with Aston Villa with both clubs currently trying to fend off Bournemouth and possibly Brighton.
Villa did not try too hard on Saturday, as the Villans suffered a 2-2 draw with Burnley which has already been relegated, a circumstance which prompted the sacking of Manager Scott Parker. The Clarets snapped a five-match losing run and avoided defeat for just the 13th time in 36 matches this season when Zian Flemming knotted matters at Turf Moor just two minutes after Ollie Watkins had given Aston Villa a lead.
While technically still needing to nail down its league place for Champions League qualification, Aston Villa is far more focused on a Europa League championship which would also provide entry to Europe’s top competition next season. The Villans advanced to the Europa League final with their victory over Nottingham Forest on Thursday.
Those celebrations may thus have influenced the somnolence shown at Turf Moor. Crystal Palace were similarly celebrating advancement to a European final after moving past Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday to qualify for the Conference League tournament final which will take place just days after the Eagles host Arsenal for a match which could determine the Premier League title race.
The Eagles could thus be forgiven if they attributed little weight to their match with the Toffees this past Sunday. Everton, meanwhile, had it all to play for as they entered the weekend on the cusp of qualifying for next season’s European fun.
It was surprising then that Everton squandered the lead twice in drawing 2-2 at Crystal Palace. This was the second consecutive week that Everton dropped points from a winning position, and a five-match winless run has the Toffees in 10th position with European hopes quickly fading.
Crystal Palace, while staking their hopes on a European trophy this year, can also now devilishly determine who lifts the Premier League trophy as the Eagles will face both Manchester City and Arsenal before concluding their domestic campaign.
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