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INTRO
Here is one piece of analysis on each of the top flight clubs who played this weekend (in reverse table order)…
This weekend’s results
- Leeds 3-1 Burnley
- Brentford 3-0 West Ham
- Newcastle 3-1 Brighton
- Wolves 1-1 Sunderland
- Arsenal 3-0 Fulham
- Bournemouth 3-0 Crystal Palace
- Man Utd 3-2 Liverpool
- Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham
The day Edwards lost the Wolves fans
Rob Edwards has been dealt a pretty bad hand. Some of the broken elements within Wolves’ hierarchy have been removed, but clearly the full impact of those changes has not been felt because this season is dragging on. And it’s dragging Edwards down.
On Saturday, between Wolves’ equaliser in the 54th minute and a minute before the end, Edwards made one substitution and it was arguably a defensive one. Then in the final minute he took off the only striker. Wolves drew 1-1 and it barely felt like they gave it a go.
That’s dangerous at Molineux right now. They are angry, bitter and are prepared to be nasty. Their world is already too small for them to cope; they don’t need a manager who squanders any hope of a win with perceived negativity. The chants labelled Edwards a “w**ker” as he went down the tunnel. Ouch.
Burnley go back to the drawing board
What a thoroughly weird season for Burnley and those who make the decisions in its supposed best interests. We worried that Scott Parker would struggle in the Premier League, so the club watched him struggle, gave him barely any meaningful help in the transfer market and then failed to make a change with Burnley sinking without trace.
Fine, you think, Parker is a very effective manager at getting clubs back into the top flight. So the club waited until relegation had been confirmed and then Parker left. Rather than give themselves a chance midseason – as many of the clubs above them did – Burnley accepted their fate and made their move with the game finished.
So now they have a squad presumably low on morale, a club that needs a guarantee manager having got rid of the closest thing they had to one and must presumably take a gamble on a new way of playing. Time to find another Vincent Kompany, basically. And it might be Craig Bellamy, his apprentice.
West Ham’s midfield looks too skewed
It was interesting to hear West Ham supporters criticising Nuno Espirito Santo after the defeat at Brentford for his tactical naivety. I don’t think that’s the issue at all.
Firstly, this was the ultimate fine-margin match: disallowed goal for a marginal offside and the woodwork hit three times. But my issue is how open West Ham’s last two games have felt because that’s not how Nuno usually operates.
West Ham played with Taty Castellanos and Pablo Fornals up front, Crysencio Summerville and Jarrod Bowen wide and a midfield pair of Matheus Fernandes and Tomas Soucek in midfield. Now Fernandes is excellent, but you want him higher up the pitch to play passes through the lines. And if he’s doing that, you’re effectively picking a one-man midfield consisting of a fairly immobile Soucek.
Perhaps Nuno reasons that roll-the-dice football is the way to get points now. But it’s risky, it didn’t work and next they have Arsenal.
Now there is life at Tottenham
The fixtures now seem to have fallen deliciously for Tottenham. They followed up a grubby victory against the worst team in the league with a serene win against a team doing their best impression of Wolves.
Tottenham were better, even if it was signposted by their opponents. The team still lacks creativity with all the injuries, but there is endeavour and energy at last. Conor Gallagher could play higher up the pitch and that suited. Richarlison is exactly the type of striker you want in a battle because he treats every tiny setback as a personal affront and vendetta. They were the two goalscorers.
And now Spurs have a chance to keep their head above water, with West Ham facing Arsenal next weekend while a now safe Leeds come to north London. The loudest sirens have been quelled for a few days.
Nottingham Forest
Play Chelsea on Monday afternoon.
Crystal Palace have rightly thrown in the towel
“I think today the tank was empty,” Oliver Glasner said after the game. “The players tried and again I think the second half was much better, but in the first it was just too much, we couldn’t get the turnaround from Thursday evening.”
I think he’s broadly right apart from the bit about players trying. Crystal Palace’s Premier League performance doesn’t matter a jot now because they are two games away from a European trophy and you can see that on the pitch.
The good news for the top flight is that both title challengers still have to play Palace, so nobody gets an advantage. But Glasner would likely have rested 10 players if he had the squad depth. And rightly so.
Farke finally gets his flowers at Leeds
It hasn’t always been easy to be Daniel Farke this season. His own reputation – two failed Premier League relegation battles – and the psychodrama of supporting Leeds United created an environment in which 2025-26 and his tenure felt destined to end badly. Throughout his time at Elland Road, Farke has had to deal with cynicism and doubt.
And now both of those have been emphatically proven wrong. The two home fixtures against Burnley and Wolves were always likely to provide a buffer, but Leeds have won eight (and drawn one) of their 11 home games against teams outside the top eight. That is the backbone of their survival.
Leeds rank ninth in the Premier League over the second half of the season. Their owners can now invest in the squad and manager and the stadium work can continue in earnest. It’s a good time to call this club home.
Newcastle’s post-match photos return
To call this good timing for a home win is a little much; that would probably have been three weeks ago. But with Yasir Al-Rumayyan in town for talks about Newcastle’s future that involved some presumably pointed questions towards Eddie Howe, he was pictured in the middle of the post-match dressing room photo.
Most interesting was the reaction to it amongst the fanbase online. Some felt it inappropriate to celebrate being 13th in the league quite so readily. Others point out Nick Woltemade’s smile-less face on the fringes. A few were still wondering how Yoane Wissa had managed to miss another good chance.
It’s rare to see Howe concede so honestly that the pressure had been affecting his sleep and pre-match preparation. But if the reports that he will keep his job next season are true, it’s time to unite a fanbase in disagreement about stick or twist.
Sunderland can have no complaints about Ballard’s red card
You can disagree with the notion that pulling someone’s hair is automatically considered violent conduct and thus will result in a red card, although I think it’s a flawed argument. You can act annoyed and surprised when a player on your team is punished for “only a slight pull”.
But if you’re a Premier League footballer, you know the rules now because you have seen peers sent off for the same thing.
So if you go up for an aerial duel, as Dan Ballard did on Saturday, do you not have the presence of mind to avoid pulling a bloke’s hair? Ballard acted innocent and confused; it was a cut and (blow) dry case.
Everton
Play Manchester City on Monday night.
Illness renders Fulham’s energy helpless
Arsenal won’t mind, but Fulham were in no fit state to compete on Saturday teatime. A virus had laid a number of players low. The lack of energy was a) understandable and b) obvious in two particular positions:
1) Antonee Robinson’s decline is a little sad, but losing Ryan Sessegnon changes this team because the lack of threat down the left allowed Bukayo Saka to stay high up the pitch and have a lovely time in the process. Even when Robinson did provide crosses into the box, most were poorly directed.
2) Harrison Reed and Sasa Lukic is not a combination that works well (which is probably why they haven’t started a league game together in more than two years). Lukic stayed a little too deep and so became one-dimensional. Reed doesn’t win the ball often enough and Fulham had too little possession and territory for him to be active enough with it.
Chelsea
Play Nottingham Forest on Monday afternoon.
Brighton’s new revelation
Jack Hinshelwood turned 21 a few weeks ago and is already established at Premier League level; so far, so impressive. He’s also – and this is a hot take – potentially the most fascinating player in the division for how his next three years pan out.
So this season, only including starts and only including the Premier League, Hinshelwood has been picked as a right-back, a holding midfielder, a regulation central midfielder and as an advanced attacking central midfielder. Last season he was also picked to start at left-back and as a striker.
Hinshelwood is like the inverted full-backs revolution turned up to 11. As a novice, the assumption is that you learn on the job in one role. Hinshelwood has four or five and he’s being moved higher up the pitch because his composure, passing and shooting is improving at a phenomenal rate.
Brentford’s marvellous season continues
Brentford still have a decent shot at Champions League football, which is an extraordinary thing to be writing about Keith Andrews’ first season as a football manager. Facing Liverpool and Manchester City in their final three league games isn’t ideal, but Brentford are more likely than not to make Europe for the first time in their history.
It has been platformed by a home record that Andrews deserves enormous credit for maintaining. Only Arsenal, Manchester City and Bournemouth have lost fewer home games in the Premier League this season. Only Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle have scored more home goals, a ludicrous statistic given the loss of Bryan Mbeumo and Wissa.
And here’s the best statistic. Brentford have now scored three or more goals in seven home league games this season. That’s more than every single Premier League side bar Manchester City (who have done it once more than Andrews’ side). Phenomenal.
Bournemouth are brilliant fun
When Andoni Iraola announced his departure, working alongside the club rather than taking passive aggressive shots at it in public, I wondered whether that might spur Bournemouth on to give Iraola the perfect send-off and provide European football for the first time as the present for those left behind. They haven’t lost since.
Bournemouth probably only need six points from their remaining three matches to finish sixth. They can beat Fulham and they can beat Forest on the final day, presuming the home team don’t need anything. But then this Bournemouth can beat anyone because they defend smartly, are combative in midfield and are exceptional at finding space and creating chances.
And for the rest of us, Bournemouth are just brilliant fun. They have conceded three or more goals eight times this season (only Wolves, Burnley and West Ham with more). They have scored twice or more in 20 of their 35 league matches. Do you know which teams can beat that? None.
Emery is taking an enormous risk with Aston Villa
This may be the biggest calculated gamble of Unai Emery’s Aston Villa tenure. In rotating his team heavily and seeing that side play slowly, defend poorly and generally look half bothered, Emery is banking on a) Villa taking four or more points from their final three league games and b) this sorry defeat not impacting upon Thursday night.
It’s the second point that is the most interesting because Villa Park got pretty toxic on Sunday evening as the home side had just three shots for a combined xG of 0.03 before second-half stoppage time began. Emery has repeatedly stressed that the fans have a role to play, but they pay a lot of money to watch sacrifice football. There was no obvious urge to change the pattern of the game.
Win on Thursday and that will be forgiven quickly, of course. But if Villa start slowly, the nerves and groans will be displayed far earlier than if they had approached the Tottenham game with a little less stink of the match not mattering a jot.
Why Liverpool can’t trust Slot
There have been caveats to the criticism all season; the latest is to arrive at the biggest away game of the season with no Mohamed Salah, no Hugo Ekitike, no Alexander Isak and thus no striker. Arne Slot came up with a system that he believed could trouble United and, on that point, was proven correct.
But there’s something about the personality of this team that isn’t right. They are too accommodating to the strengths of every elite opponent. They have spells where it looks like every defender has been banned from talking to one another. They create moves that seem to fizzle out because nobody really knows what comes next.
If this is only because of the injuries and the need to rebuild the team shape and the defence; fine. If this is because Slot is having more impact upon what this team looks like, I wouldn’t trust him to have another £200m spent on it.
Carrick brings the chaos at Man Utd
Manchester United are brilliant to watch under Michael Carrick. They try to stretch the pitch, try to get Bruno Fernandes between the lines to play smart curled passes and try to build up a head of steam. They’re also never totally safe in a match because there exists a gap between defence and midfield and thus the opportunity for opponents to overwhelm them if they win the ball high.
Which reminds me of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United when he was temporary manager. You listen to Kobbie Mainoo saying the players would die for Carrick and you’re persuaded that he has to get the job. And then you wonder whether his role was to make this club look attractive to a manager with a better CV, more experience and who struggled less in his previous job in the division below.
The answer? I’ve no idea. And neither do you. And neither, probably, do United.
Man City
Play Everton on Monday night.
Arsenal are in the driving seat again
Here’s the inimitable Kat Lucas to explain:
“Mikel Arteta left it until the last month of the season for one of his biggest – and the rewards proved greater than the jeopardy. Martin Zubimendi had played over 4,000 minutes, more than any outfield player, before he was replaced against Fulham by Myles Lewis-Skelly, making his first start in midfield.
“The Lewis-Skelly trick was double-sided. On the ball he was a roaring success. He proved a far greater protector than a half-exhausted Zubimendi, shrugging off Sasa Lukic and Harrison Reed. He completed 97 per cent of his passes – four of them into the final third. Off the ball, the need to overlap with Riccardo Calafiori sometimes meant being pulled out too far.”