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SELHURST PARK — The wait for Brennan Johnson to fulfil the expectations of his £35m move to Crystal Palace continues.

Since arriving as Palace’s club-record signing in January, before being trumped in the same window by Jorgen Strand Larsen, Johnson’s attacking account has been flimsy. 

There has been a consistent absence of end product from the Welshman, who ventures into promising positions but stops short of delivering the final ball or applying the finishing touch. That lack of quality has been a thread running through his nearly four-month stay at Palace, with the forward failing to score in 19 appearances and registering just two assists.

Against West Ham on Monday night, he should have netted his first Palace goal. An exquisite cross from Jefferson Lerma offered Johnson a free header less than 10 yards from goal, but the 24-year-old got his angles carelessly wrong and guided extremely wide of the target. It was the best chance of a relatively drab affair, as Johnson’s panicked header epitomised the disappointment of his early career in red and blue.

A foolish yellow card on El Hadji Malick Diouf followed. Although there was a hint of his quality, receiving the ball from Yeremy Pino before taking a touch and releasing a prompt effort narrowly wide of the post. On the whole, however, he struggled to have the desired impact.

His manager, Oliver Glasner, papered over the cracks in his post-match press conference — insisting Johnson’s performance marked progress as he attacked areas and occupied spaces he had previously struggled to, while demonstrating a better grasp of Palace’s defensive habits.

“He was a constant threat,” Glasner said. “It was his best performance out of possession; the job he did was amazing. In the last games, he didn’t come into great situations, so it was a great step in the right direction. The first step is getting into good areas and getting chances, then the next is to convert. When I see how he finishes in training, I am pretty sure he will score a few goals before the end of the season.”

In some ways, Glasner was right. This was an improvement, although it is more of an indictment of Johnson’s sluggish start than a glowing endorsement of his display against West Ham. Notwithstanding that Palace paid a hefty sum for attacking results, not defensive traits. 

There is little invention, he is not overly progressive, has little flair to beat a man and does not carry the ball — making him appear like a passenger. He has crossing ability, which he demonstrated at times against West Ham, but there must be a more concerted effort to find him in those wide areas to get the best out of him. 

There is merit in the argument that Johnson requires time to adjust to Glasner’s system, which utilises narrower attackers rather than wingers, with his experience coming out wide. But that is why it beggars belief that Palace spent £35m on him midway through the season when there is little time to bed in a new signing who is essentially learning on the job. The time to adjust – especially within a hectic European schedule – is non-existent. 

A mid-season fix, especially when making a club-record outlay, should be compatible with the style of play to improve the chances of an expeditious impact. After all, Johnson was signed as Palace had a shortfall in attack from the start of the campaign. Midway through the season, the recruitment should have been much more considered, with a quick result in mind. Instead, the discourse is whether Palace have wasted £35m.

Johnson may benefit from Glasner’s departure in the summer, should Palace opt for a manager who prefers wingers to inside attackers. He is more accustomed to playing out wide and timing his blistering runs to the back post, losing his man to finish clinically. There have been very few opportunities to demonstrate that efficient part of his game, which enabled him to score 18 goals in 51 appearances under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur last season. 

That may still come in a Palace shirt, and a reset in the summer, accompanied by a full pre-season, could serve him well. But the signs have been uninspiring. 

As Palace continue to contend in Europe, Glasner is intent on using his attacking options in the squad to keep it fresh: starting Johnson in the last two Premier League games, with Ismaila Sarr having played in Europe. With Shakhtar Donetsk on the horizon, opportunities are likely to continue as Palace seek Conference League glory – the onus is on Johnson to start taking his chances.

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A year can change the direction of your whole life. On 18 April 2025, manager Omar Riza first apologised for calling Cardiff City supporters clueless and was then sacked after a defeat that effectively relegated the club to the third tier.

On 18 April 2026, Cardiff City confirmed their promotion back to the Championship. So much of this club’s recent existence has felt fated by its own incompetence. A little jolt of positive serendipity is to be welcomed. What is this weird feeling? Is it excitement?

A cynic might remark that the pre-season title favourites have finished second; beware celebrating the achievement of meeting expectations But only a fool could make that conclusion here. A year or so ago, Cardiff City were broken.

When I came here in December 2024, a 2-0 home defeat to Preston North End devoid of any modicum of seasonal cheer, it was one of the most depressing live football experiences I could remember: half-empty stadium, fully empty bank of goodwill.

The Vincent Tan experience had reached its nadir. Cardiff fell into the bottom three and would end the season as the third best team in Wales.

It could easily have got worse still; League One offered no guarantees. In that context, promotion at a canter – Cardiff have been in the top two since the start of December and scored three or more in 14 league games – has become an unlikely cleansing detox.

If this is any one person’s triumph, it is Brian Barry-Murphy’s. Cardiff don’t do well with managers: you have to go back to Neil Warnock in 2016 for the last time they appointed one that reached 70 matches in charge.

For all that the hierarchy here is rightly scrutinised, they took an educated gamble on a man with no first-team management experience bar at Rochdale for two years until 2021. It has paid off double.

Barry-Murphy has done everything right. His man-management has been exemplary, his tactics relatively simple and effective, his use of substitutes improved all season and his sense to buy into the fan culture smart given the obvious disconnect between supporters and club when he arrived.

But his greatest trick was to understand that there was a USP within the fabric of this club that had been abandoned far too readily by his predecessors. The most basic geography lesson: this is the only professional club in a capital city with a wider population of almost 500,000 people.

It wasn’t being utilised. Last season, only two of Cardiff’s 24 most regular starters were Welsh. Of all the wastage here then and before, it was the degradation of that connection between place and club that made the least sense.

Inevitably, many players left after relegation. But rather than replacing with like-for-like on a sliding scale of quality, Cardiff chose to sign only three players (two of them on loan). Barry-Murphy, with his history of youth development, was happy to promote from within.

This season, 26 players have appeared for Cardiff in the league. Nine of them are Welsh and none of those are older than 24. In the four latest Wales squads from Under-17 to senior, Cardiff had 19 players. No wonder that Craig Bellamy says that Barry-Murphy’s management is “like a dream to me”.

In doing so, Barry-Murphy has overhauled the squad without demanding investment. The ninth oldest team in the Championship last season has become the second youngest in the EFL in 2025-26. It is a remarkable turnaround to combine with consistent performance.

Newsflash: football supporters like this stuff and like it even more when the team is winning. Most of it is subconscious, but not all: you see a young man score a winner who grew up around the corner; your kid sees a role model and a pathway every time that badge gets kissed. How can they not inspire you to want more of the same and want to see it happen? Cardiff’s attendances have gone up in the third tier.

It doesn’t take much to fall back in love. Supporters don’t want to fight with each other, whatever social media tells you. They don’t want to walk down Leckwith Road full of fear for what they might see or full of dread because they already know. They don’t want to live on the edge of mutiny about how the club is being run.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: Coventry City’s promotion is a monumental victory for resilience
• Daniel Storey: I experienced football as a blind fan – it was harder than I ever imagined

But when your club has been mistreated and allowed to rot before, trust eternally remains fragile as a means of emotional self-preservation and an early warning system. Cardiff City supporters aren’t necessarily waiting for things to go wrong, but they understandably require a drip feed of reasons to believe that things are still going right.

So here’s the thing: this has to be only the start. Barry-Murphy has to get his way, to continue this project as he sees fit, to play an active role in recruitment that avoids the magpie-style shopping of previous years that got Cardiff into their mess.

Get that right, and this can absolutely be a new era in which the club is representative of its location and its people, is helping the national team and is standing on its own two feet rather than being forced to its knees by self-inflicted blows. Cardiff can stand for something again beyond Tan’s misguided broken dream.

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Manchester City are the neutrals’ pick to win the Premier League title apparently, with a complicated concoction of reasons only strengthened by Arsenal having more rivals and objectors to their style of play.

But on Sunday, City made it harder for the neutral to have a favourite.

The water bottles being sold as “Arsenal tears” ahead of kick-off may have been one person’s idea of fun, but it spoke of a wider pandering to the Football Twitter brigade that has made this race nauseating with a month still to go.

Television cameras showing the City bottle fan at Chelsea the weekend prior kickstarted this little sideshow, but the arrogance merely ramped up after the 2-1 win over Arsenal.

The “Panic on the Streets of London” banner, unfurled at full-time, came just as Erling Haaland was giving side-eye to the camera, the glance and smug smile saying more than any interview could – all before he broke into a rendition of Flo Rida’s “Good Feeling”.

Given the importance of this match, and given Haaland had just won the match-defining battle against a rattled Gabriel, it was a justified response, and a continuation of the Norwegian’s belief that Arsenal need to “stay humble” given their silverware to bravado ratio is heavily skewed.

It was also further proof cockiness is earned. Bottles, banners and songs are only allowed with a month to go if you have won six of the last eight Premier League campaigns and a treble in that time. They will do it again because they have done it before, and the idea this is now City’s to lose is difficult to argue against based on momentum and recent history.

And it hits even harder because of what Arsenal have to show for their efforts under Mikel Arteta. The Gunners have topped the table for almost 100 more days than City since the Spaniard took charge in 2019, and yet they have never topped it at the right time, adding to this reputation as bottlers.

Never change, @ErlingHaaland pic.twitter.com/QtqYkq5F5P

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 20, 2026

The players will be more than aware. “It’s not done,” Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice declared from the Etihad turf, and all this – the hate, City’s arrogance, the belief it is now in their rivals’ hands – must now be their fuel to get over the line. It has to be.

And it is therefore worth remembering the title is still in Arsenal’s hands in equal measure. If City win at Burnley on Wednesday, both sides will be tied on 70 points with five games to go. The goal difference will be close, and it then becomes a straight shootout based not only on wins but the scorelines as well.

Two home games await Arsenal, against two out-of-form sides in Newcastle United and Fulham, and as well another home game against Burnley, it could be the two trips closer to home, against West Ham United and Crystal Palace, that decide the Gunners’ fate.

Remaining Premier League fixtures

Arsenal                             Man City

• Newcastle (H)             Burnley (A)
• Fulham (H)                   Everton (A)
• West Ham (A)              Brentford (H)
• Burnley (H)                   Bournemouth (A)
• Crystal Palace (A)       Aston Villa (H)
•                                          TBC: Crystal Palace (H)

City, meanwhile, head to Everton and Bournemouth either side of hosting Brentford. All three teams very much have Europe in their sights, with seven teams separated by just three points from sixth (Chelsea) down to Fulham (12th).

Opposition with something to play for could therefore have a bearing on this title race, but overall it comes to down to performances and mentality.

This Saturday’s hosting of Newcastle will show us whether Rice’s words ring true, or whether the fear of another trophyless season is eclipsing the belief that Arsenal can finally end the wait.

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The unofficial line is that Newcastle United will review Eddie Howe‘s position at the end of the season.

A warts-and-all review, overseen by chief executive David Hopkinson and director of football Ross Wilson, was always planned at the end of the season but given the paucity of Premier League performances it suddenly feels make-or-break for under-fire Howe.

The i Paper was told recently that Newcastle “simply don’t have enough information” to make a definitive call right now. Hopkinson’s recent remarks at an accounts briefing raised eyebrows but, all told, were an accurate reflection of his position.

Howe retains plenty of support at St James’ Park but questions are being asked – and past achievements are “no free pass” for the current underachievement. A board meeting in two weeks, with PIF governer and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, may quicken things but no one really knows. In short: this is a moment of genuine peril for Howe, and suddenly no one is talking in absolutes about him being in charge in August.

But it is also a moment of real danger for Newcastle, too. Slipping out of European contention – barring an unexpected shift in momentum at Arsenal next weekend – will be financially costly but not nearly as damaging as letting the season drift into toxicity.

That feels like a huge threat now. There have been boos at each of Newcastle’s last two home games and the commitment of some inside the Magpies’ dressing room is now coming under close scrutiny. You suspect that will only get worse as the uncertainty around Howe increases. Better to lance it within weeks – decide definitively one way or the other – than let it limp into the early weeks of the close season, when other clubs will have made their moves.

The club is begging for change and it is coming. Recruitment is already pivoting under Wilson, whose relationship with Howe and conviction in the manager is his best protection against flat-lining form. I hear optimistic noises about the profile of player they are attempting to sign this summer, even if there will be painful sales to absorb. An optimistic take is that Howe comes along on that journey, chastened by poor form and convinced by Wilson that a part-data, part-global recruitment policy will arm his team better.

The version of events that lays the blame for Newcastle’s problems at the feet of the players negates to mention that Howe has had more influence than almost any manager over the composition of the squad. The chaos that saw a director of football quit and a chief executive out of action wasn’t his fault but Anthony Elanga, Aaron Ramsdale and Yoane Wissa were his picks.

Howe’s tendency to opt for tried and tested in the transfer market brought Newcastle to Ramsdale, who isn’t good enough. Sunderland plucked Robin Roefs from the Eredivise while Manchester United took Senne Lammens from the Belgian Pro League. Newcastle should have been shopping in those sort of markets.

One Premier League rival summed Newcastle up in one word this weekend: tired. Making a decision on Howe’s future now is the first step to re-energising a club on the brink of crisis.

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I think Sunday might have been one of the best days in Premier League history: a title tussle with the post hit on repeat, a team winning 4-3 after almost fudging it up, a captain scoring a first career hat-trick when his team needed it most and a Merseyside derby won in as the clock ticked over to 100 minutes.

The end result is that Manchester City and Arsenal now have a title shootout that could come down to goal difference, Tottenham must win next weekend or they are surely down, there is ludicrous race for European football that goes all the way down to 13th and Chelsea are still foolish and broken.

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

• Brentford 0-0 Fulham
• Leeds 3-0 Wolves
• Newcastle 1-2 Bournemouth
• Tottenham 2-2 Brighton
• Chelsea 0-1 Man United
• Everton 1-2 Liverpool
• Aston Villa 4-3 Sunderland
• Nottingham Forest 4-1 Burnley
• Man City 2-1 Arsenal

Edwards’ safety isn’t guaranteed at Wolves

I feel pretty uncomfortable writing this, but I think this weekend confirmed that there is a clear route through which Rob Edwards isn’t Wolves’ manager on the opening day of next season.

We wrote last week about the end of this season setting the tone for the future, but Wolves were rotten again against Leeds.

The nagging doubt: Edwards entered the Championship last season as the manager of a relegated team and, unfortunately, was unable to turn around the mood at a club that had grown far too used to losing. That didn’t indicate a desperate flaw on his part; Luton simply needed a change. I wonder whether Wolves might be the same.

Protest is growing at Burnley

To say that Burnley supporters are sick of Scott Parker’s post-match interviews, where he talks up attitude and effort for most of a match, rather ignoring the inability to improve upon the consistent periods of shambolic performance, is an understatement.

But something has changed recently. Rather than simply expressing their annoyance that Parker continues to be backed despite this tepid attempt at surviving relegation, focus has switched to Alan Pace’s ownership and the lack of action that has soundtracked this dismal campaign.

And here’s a piece on exactly that. Burnley have wasted this season. And if they do not start next season at an electric pace in the Championship, the protests will grow in intensity.

Well, at least Tottenham’s players care…

Whether this was a step forwards or backwards, with another chance missed, probably depends upon your own perception of how this Tottenham season will end.

Roberto De Zerbi taking a single point from his first two games in charge is evidently not ideal, but then if Spurs play like this against Wolves, Everton and Leeds they could feasibly win each of those games. That was the point De Zerbi made post-match.

XAVI SIMONS!

What a goal for Spurs! pic.twitter.com/SoJSgoUpXJ

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 18, 2026

One thing we can agree upon is that these players care. Some supporters accused the playing staff of acquiescing to the fate of relegation, but on Saturday evening they pressed hard and won the ball high. The celebrations after Xavi Simons’s goal, intense jubilation and passion to match the fans in the stands, proved that there is still fight.

That fight can mean something, but only if Spurs now win at Wolves in a manner that suggests the accrual of momentum and the learning of De Zerbi’s tactical demands. It’s certainly not done yet.

Read more: Tottenham are running out of time and hope

West Ham

Play Crystal Palace on Monday night.

Nottingham Forest’s saviour must go to the World Cup

Last Friday, I wrote a piece after Morgan Gibbs-White starred for Nottingham Forest as they progressed past Porto to reach the Europa League semi-final. A quote from that piece:

“Since the turn of the year, Gibbs-White has scored eight times. More often than not, he is Forest’s one-man band: scorer, creator, captain, leader by example. For all the mistakes made by this club last summer, keeping hold of him might just save them.”

Morgan Gibbs-White, TAKE A BOW!

It's a second half hat-trick for the Nottingham Forest star! pic.twitter.com/qdVeyA6wnW

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Make that 11 goals. With a 15-minute hat-trick against Burnley, his first career treble, Gibbs-White continues to drag Forest further out of trouble almost on his own.

I don’t care which out-of-form star you need to drop to make it happen; you cannot leave a player in this mood and making this great a difference to his club side out of England’s World Cup squad.

Okafor a brilliant call by Leeds

When Leeds signed Noah Okafor on 21 August last year, it quelled some of the desperate noise that supporters were making about the lack of firepower in a squad they feared would succumb to the stresses of life in the Premier League. Even then, it was a gamble: Okafor had scored 14 league goals across three years in the Austrian Bundesliga and Serie A.

Since settling in, he has been a revelation. Only one player in the Premier League has scored more goals than Okafor’s five since the beginning of February, and that’s despite the Swiss international missing four of Leeds’ nine matches during that time through injury. He is capable of drifting wide and taking on defenders or finding space in the box with his movement to finish chances.

Between him and 11-goal striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Leeds signed one of the most low-key yet effective forward combinations in the Premier League for £18m in total.

No response, no point for Newcastle

There are a couple of Newcastle United-adjacent journalists who believe that Eddie Howe is the best man to lead the club forward next season, but the fanbase is turning and it’s beginning to feel irretrievable.

Howe said that he would only stay if he believed that he was capable of inspiring the players to be at their best. Those players must know that the manager is under extraordinary pressure to improve the current form, which has seen them take the same number of points as Wolves over their last 10 games. On Saturday, they produced even worse than they had before.

The best way forward here, I think, is for Newcastle to work on their replacement; Andoni Iraola would be a fine appointment. Then, in a week or two, announce that Howe will be leaving at the end of the season. That undercuts the current negativity and gives supporters the chance to give Howe the send-off his previous work here justifies.

Crystal Palace

Play West Ham on Monday night.

Fulham’s attack is now broken

Fulham have now scored in just one of their last six matches in all competitions.

Before 15 March, they failed to muster a shot on target in two Premier League matches in almost three years: Crystal Palace in February 2025 and Arsenal in October 2025. In two of their four matches since 15 March, the Cottagers managed a combined one effort on target: against Forest, before drawing a blank against Brentford on Saturday.

The lack of intensity is worrying anyway, but such a distinct absence of drive in a local derby will be viewed as unforgivable by a fanbase getting quite sick of this current funk.

Fulham have failed to score in the first half during nine of their last 10 games. They start games at half pace and are unable to switch up the tempo, so the chances they do create for their forwards typically leave them crowded by defenders.

Sunderland’s overperformance kings (almost) do it again

Sunderland are one of the most fascinating Premier League teams, not least because they bought most of a new team and immediately hit the ground running.

They haven’t won more than two games in a row all season and they haven’t lost more than two in a row either. So of course they went 3-0 down, got back to 3-3 should have won the game and then lost it.

The overperformance in attack is ludicrous. Sunderland rank 19th in the Premier League for touches in the box per match, 16th for big chances created, 18th for expected goals and 18th for shots on target per match. And yet there are periods of matches where they look like one of the most inevitable teams in the division, such is the danger that they create.

New home, same sickening feeling for Everton

They filled the Hill Dickinson Stadium with hope that this new place might mark the start of a new future, too. European football was on the agenda; it still might be. More immediately, they aimed to set the tone against the neighbours.

Everton were the better team for all of this Merseyside derby’s first half and some of its second; that doesn’t matter at all now. There have been too many sickening late moments for this fanbase in this fixture. As the Liverpool end sang and danced for 15 minutes after full-time, we add this one to that list.

Until Virgil van Dijk’s cruel late blow, this was an afternoon to conclude that there is little to separate Liverpool and Everton for quality and endeavour. Beto, a striker transformed, was the perfect leader of an attack designed by David Moyes. He occupied both Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, won headers, pressed from the front, laid the ball off to teammates and scored Everton’s equaliser.

Beto equalises for Everton! pic.twitter.com/LeVwNlZ6dx

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Injured after colliding heads with Konate, Beto was given a standing ovation and had his name chanted as a player who exemplifies everything good about this team: industry, self-improvement, squeezing the most out of his strengths and an ability to shut out the mistakes. His is a genuinely heartwarming tale.

There are, however, psychological headaches and hangovers that exist in this fixture and punish those who lack courage. Everton were guilty of sitting on a draw in the game’s final throes, 11 added minutes allowing Liverpool to accrue a little momentum. The European dream can still happen. Everton can still be great under Moyes ahead of schedule. But this one will hurt for a while.

Do Brighton have this summer’s big target?

Jan Paul van Hecke has now been at Brighton for almost six years. He’s had two loans, broken into the first team, become able to play in multiple positions and established himself internationally for the Netherlands, too.

Given his form over the last few months, I wonder whether Van Hecke might become the big central defender transfer story of this upcoming summer. He’s 25, there were leaked reports in April of him “being interested” in a move to a big English club this summer and we know from experience that Brighton will not stand in a player’s way if the fee works for them.

Liverpool need a centre-back; maybe two. Newcastle need a centre-back; maybe two. One of Arsenal and Manchester City always buy a centre-back. Manchester United might well need one. Chelsea need a good one. Let a bidding war commence.

Iraola shows humility and class as Bournemouth swansong begins

Although Bournemouth have announced that Iraola will be leaving at the end of this season, there is no suggestion that it will derail the end of their campaign.

All reports suggest that discussions were amicable and that Iraola is grateful for the manner in which the club accepted his decision. The response, winning away at Newcastle, suggests a ‘business as usual’ mood that epitomises how Iraola has gone about his business. And now, he has the chance to leave as a legend.

Bournemouth boast the longest unbeaten run of any Premier League team this season, a remarkable record now standing at 13 games and counting. European qualification is absolutely a possibility, but there’s a perfectly reasonable chance that Aston Villa win the Europa League and finish fifth. That creates a Champions League opportunity for anyone better than Chelsea and, right now, that certainly includes Bournemouth.

Brentford’s drawing run shows what might have been

Who wants a painfully obvious statement?

There is no difference between drawing three games and winning one by two goals while losing the other two by one. The unbeaten nature of the former record might generate more momentum psychologically, but in the final weeks of the season only the results matter.

"We're on a really exciting journey"

Keith Andrews reflects on Brentford's draw with Fulham and European aspirations…

@julesbreach

TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/7QivwuSBzd

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2026

This is absolutely not a criticism of Keith Andrews, who has been magnificent all season, but Brentford have now drawn five consecutive league matches. They have lost three league games since 6 December. But those draws – Bournemouth, Wolves, Leeds, Everton, Fulham – provide good reasons for wondering “what might have been”.

Brentford’s highest-ever top-flight finish was fifth in 1935-36, in the old First Division. It’s no exaggeration to say that they absolutely could have matched it, which is a ridiculous thing to write with a straight face.

How much have Chelsea ballsed this up?

You have to take a step back to appreciate just how much Chelsea have got wrong this season. Last summer, they were crowned literal world champions. Their creative accounting had allowed another huge spend. They had just finished fourth in the Premier League and looked set to get stronger.

On Saturday evening, Chelsea lost their fourth league game in a row without scoring for the first time since 1998. Liam Rosenior, who actually looked capable of generating some momentum during his early weeks, is now overseeing a period of such painful decline that it may well cause the club to miss out on next season’s Champions League.

"I can only say what I saw. I felt we were the dominant team from minute one to the end of the game."

Liam Rosenior offers his assessment of Chelsea's 1-0 home defeat to Manchester Utd.

@julesbreach

TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/urGystWOHL

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2026

Chelsea cannot afford to miss out on Europe’s premier competition without some significant financial questions. All they needed to do was appoint an experienced, capable manager to oversee mid-season uncertainty. They took an enormous gamble and it is blowing up in their face.

Salah leaves one last Liverpool legacy moment

Roughly 60 seconds before Mohamed Salah opened the scoring, the stadium announcer in the Hill Dickinson Stadium lauded Iliman Ndiaye – whose effort VAR ruled out for an offside call – as the first Merseyside derby goalscorer in this new Everton home, etching his name in history.

Salah did not get the same treatment, unsurprisingly. He will not care.

Moments after Iliman Ndiaye's goal was ruled out, Mohamed Salah gives Liverpool the lead in the Merseyside derby pic.twitter.com/UgNLj0l8cq

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Liverpool’s wavering form and Champions League exit, combined with questions over Arne Slot’s future, have rendered Salah’s farewell tour a little unhelpful. The only way for him to flip that narrative is to contribute in the final third. Remarkably, this was only Salah’s second league goal away from Anfield since October.

Thanks to the events of the 100th minute, you suspect that Salah will always remember this one. Liverpool have a grip on a Champions League place again and the Egyptian is theirs for another five months at least.

Aston Villa’s striker is reborn

Ollie Watkins has a trophy to win, a top-four finish to aim for and a World Cup place to save. He might just be able to achieve all three if he keeps up his current form.

A brace against Sunderland means Watkins now has six goals in his last five Villa appearances between the Premier League and the Europa League; he had two in 15 directly beforehand.

It's Ollie Watkins, AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/hA5rXvJZqZ

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

The difference might just be confidence, but Watkins also seems to be competing physically with more impetus rather than simply running the channels and looking for space. He is occupying central defenders, creating more space for Morgan Rogers and in doing so increasing the chances of receiving the service he requires.

With Dominic Solanke – in the last England squad – hardly prolific at Tottenham, Watkins has the major tournament experience and is surely likely to be back in Thomas Tuchel’s thoughts. Timing is everything.

Man Utd’s talisman flourishes again in his rightful role

Picking faults with Ruben Amorim’s management and tactical prowess is like shooting a blue whale in a barrel. But of all his foolish decisions, the call to play Bruno Fernandes in a deeper central midfield position was the stupidest.

Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation dictated that there was no central attacking midfielder required, even though Manchester United had the most productive central attacking midfielder in the division.

Manchester Utd make the breakthrough at Stamford Bridge through Matheus Cunha

Bruno Fernandes gets his 18th Premier League assist this season in the process!

TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/1eKF8RUNm5

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 18, 2026

That is Michael Carrick’s gain. The interim boss has pushed Bruno further forward, given him the central midfield cover that allows him to stay higher up the pitch and has reaped the rewards. Bruno has 18 assists, two off the all-time Premier League record; 11 of those have come in his last 13 appearances.

Sometimes, football management involves putting the best players in their best role and getting the best out of them.

Read more: Man Utd’s talisman is about to eclipse Henry and De Bruyne

Beware Man City in the springtime

By Mark Douglas

The big moments of Sunday’s heavyweight clash belonged to Manchester City, and none more so than the decisive one when Erling Haaland hooked the winning goal past David Raya mid-way through the second half.

It was a move started by Gianluigi Donnarumma hurling the ball to the outstanding Nico O’Reilly, whose combination with Jeremy Doku was superb before the ball skimmed across the penalty area for Haaland to finish.

"Manchester City in charge, again!"

Erling Haaland powers through to find the back of the net pic.twitter.com/tt04wbQnaz

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

How the big Norwegian relished that moment, the high point of a brutish running battle with Gabriel. The pair engaged in a skirmish that was a throwback to a bygone era, right down to Haaland resisting the urge to sprawl to the floor when the Brazilian thrust his head at him.

"He's very lucky"

Should Gabriel have seen red? pic.twitter.com/pDjN7OfvFB

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Haaland was the headline-grabber, but not the game changer; Bernardo Silva and O’Reilly vied for that title while Rayan Cherki was a joy to watch. His slaloming run and impudent finish on 16 minutes felt like a liberty in a game of the magnitude, setting the tone for a game played at breakneck speed.

Rayan Cherki doing his thing pic.twitter.com/VsOlkpjcnu

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Sure enough their lead lasted no more than two minutes. Much has been made about Arsenal’s inability to score goals but here they were presented with one: Donnarumma dawdling before being charged down by Kai Havertz for a gift-wrapped equaliser.

"WOAHHHHH!!"

Kai Havertz pulls Arsenal level in chaotic fashion! pic.twitter.com/A4ZjjDF921

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

At that point, Arsenal were edging it. But, as Arteta is finding out, the last thing you want is to tussle with Guardiola and City in springtime.

Have gritty Arsenal left it too late?

By Mark Douglas

Where has this version of Arsenal been since the clocks went forward?

Forget dejection, Mikel Arteta’s biggest emotion this morning should be regret. Had they been this liberated against Bournemouth, Brentford or Wolves, they would still be in charge of their own destiny.

They still are, to an extent and there’s a deep irony that the contest might now go down to goal difference. An Arsenal side so reliant on set pieces to grind things out earlier in the season now need goals and for things to flow freely in their remaining fixtures. They not only need to win, they need to run up the score against the likes of Newcastle, Burnley and Palace.

Eberechi Eze rattles the post! pic.twitter.com/aipB9QSJCO

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

The chances they created at the Etihad should given them hope. Twice they clattered the woodwork – Eberechi Eze’s shot squirming agonisingly off the inside of the post – and they breached City’s defence on enough occasions to give them hope.

It’s not over yet. But if the bell tolls for Arteta’s team, the regret will gnaw away at him. Why couldn’t they have done this a couple of weeks before?

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Man City 2-1 Arsenal (Cherki 16′, Haaland 65′ | Havertz 18′)

ETIHAD — Mikel Arteta talked of Arsenal having the “fire” to win the Premier League title but his team have once again turned into April arsonists, singeing if not quite torching their best chance of glory in two decades.

They remain top of the table – for now. But this was a humongous win for Pep Guardiola’s mentality monsters, who brushed off the most farcical of first concessions to assert their authority over Arteta’s wobbling Gunners.

"Manchester City in charge, again!"

Erling Haaland powers through to find the back of the net pic.twitter.com/tt04wbQnaz

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Win at Burnley on Wednesday and Manchester City will usurp Arsenal at the summit for the first time since 20 December. They might need to win all six of their matches to hold off Arsenal but still, we have been here before. Only a brave man would wager against them now.

Arteta really only has himself to blame. For weeks it has been screaming for Arsenal to loosen the straitjacket and here he did, to an extent, genuinely setting out to win the game. But what might have worked against Bournemouth was an invitation to an in-form City, who had Rayan Cherki and Nico O’Reilly causing havoc in the pockets of space where their two crucial goals were created.

You only had to witness the wild celebrations at the end to feel the significance of the result. Unfurling a banner proclaiming “Panic on the streets of London” felt, like that bloke chugging from an Arsenal bottle, as if it was for the television cameras but the eruption of noise at the end was certainly not confected. Guardiola punched the air while a pumped up Gianluigi Donnarumma leapt into the crowd. Eberechi Eze, by contrast, folded his shirt over his head. Dejection was etched across red and white faces.

By the time he came out for the press conference, Arteta’s mood had turned to defiance. He was right that his team played well. There was no inferiority complex or Viktor Gyokeres but he didn’t park the bus. Arsenal created chances, probed City and left space. They were also unfortunate, brushing the woodwork twice. Eze’s effort, which curled off the inside base of the post before rebounding into the penalty area, will bring the red half of North London out in a cold sweat for years to come.

But the big moments belonged to City, none more so than the decisive one that saw Erling Haaland hook the winning goal past David Raya midway through the second half.

The move was started by Donnarumma, hurling the ball to the outstanding O’Reilly. His combination with Jeremy Doku was superb, skimming a ball across the penalty area for Haaland to finish.

How he relished that moment, the high point of a brutish running battle with Gabriel Magalhaes. The pair engaged in their own running battle that was a throwback to a bygone era, right down to Haaland resisting the urge to sprawl to the floor when the Brazilian thrust his head at him.

Read more

• Daniel Storey: Everton pay the price for David Moyes’ lack of courage
• Bobby Manzi: Man Utd’s talisman is about to eclipse Henry and De Bruyne

He was the headline grabber but not the game-changer. Bernardo Silva and O’Reilly vied for that title while Cherki was a joy to watch. His slaloming run and impudent finish on 16 minutes felt like a liberty in a game of the magnitude, setting the tone for a game played at breakneck speed.

Sure enough their lead lasted no more than two minutes. Much has been made about Arsenal’s inability to score goals but here they were presented with one: Donnarumma dawdling before being charged down by Kai Havertz for a gift-wrapped equaliser.

At that point Arsenal were edging it. But, as Arteta is finding out, the last thing you want is to tussle with Guardiola and City in springtime.

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Everton 1-2 Liverpool (Beto 54′ | Salah 29′, Van Dijk 90’+10)

HILL DICKINSON STADIUM — They filled the Hill Dickinson Stadium with hope that this new place might mark the start of a new future too. European football was on the agenda; it still might be. More immediately, they aimed to set the tone against the neighbours.

Everton were the better team for all of the first half and some of the second; that doesn’t matter at all now. There have been too many sickening late moments for this fanbase in this fixture. As the Liverpool end sang and danced for 15 minutes after full-time, you added this one to the list.

Virgil van Dijk scores in the 100th minute! pic.twitter.com/akencyyjoX

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 19, 2026

Until Virgil van Dijk’s cruel late blow, this was an afternoon to conclude that there is little to separate Liverpool and Everton for quality and endeavour.

Beto was the goalscorer, a striker transformed and the perfect leader of an attack designed by David Moyes. He occupied both Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, won headers, pressed from the front, laid the ball off to teammates and scored Everton’s equaliser.

Injured after colliding heads with Konate, Beto was given a standing ovation and had his name chanted as a player who exemplifies everything good about this team: industry, self-improvement, squeezing the most out of his strengths and an ability to shut out the mistakes. His is a genuinely heartwarming tale.

But there are psychological headaches and hangovers that exist in this fixture and punish those who lack courage. Everton were guilty of sitting on a draw in the game’s final throes, 11 added minutes allowing Liverpool to accrue a little momentum.

The European dream can still happen. Everton can still be great under Moyes ahead of schedule. But this one will hurt for a while.

Read more

• Bobby Manzi: Man Utd’s talisman is about to eclipse Henry and De Bruyne
• Daniel Storey: Coventry City’s promotion is a monumental victory for resilience

Roughly 60 seconds before Mohamed Salah opened the scoring, the stadium announcer lauded Iliman Ndiaye as the first Merseyside derby goalscorer in this new Everton home, etching his name in history. Salah did not get the same treatment, unsurprisingly.

He will not care. Liverpool’s wavering form and Champions League exit, combined with questions over Arne Slot’s future, have rendered Salah’s farewell tour a little unhelpful. The only way for him to flip that narrative is to contribute in the final third. Remarkably this was only Salah’s second league goal away from Anfield since October.

Thanks to the events of the 100th minute, you suspect that Salah will always remember this one. Liverpool have a grip on a Champions League place again and the Egyptian is theirs for another five months at least.

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