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We’re as you were in the top three, with Arsenal establishing a lead at Christmas that they finally hope to turn into a maiden league title for Mikel Arteta. Manchester City remain the most impressive of the title challengers recently, but don’t sleep on Aston Villa.
It was another bad weekend for the bottom three despite Burnley finally ending their own run of defeats. That’s because Leeds now look rampant at Elland Road; they push West Ham further into trouble ahead of a more gentle run of fixtures.
As for managers under pressure, Thomas Frank continues to talk a good game after we all watched his team lose and badly lack creativity and obvious cohesion in the final third. Plus ca change…
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
- Newcastle 2-2 Chelsea
- Bournemouth 1-1 Burnley
- Brighton 0-0 Sunderland
- Man City 3-0 West Ham
- Wolves 0-2 Brentford
- Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool
- Leeds 4-1 Crystal Palace
- Aston Villa 2-1 Man Utd
Change means nothing for Wolves
In the context of desperately seeking any hope, this was a good midweek for Wolves supporters. Deeply unpopular executive chairman Jeff Shi has left the club. Shi was accused of being the principal architect of Wolves’ dismal slump into Premier League oblivion.
But there are two catches. Firstly, Wolves are still absolutely dreadful on the pitch and that seems unlikely to change any time soon. They have now equalled the longest winless streak at the start of a Premier League season and play Liverpool and Manchester United away in their next two matches.
Also, the club’s statement on Shi stated that he will “remain chairman and chief executive of Fosun Sports Group but will have no operational duties relating to Wolves”. Fine, but Fosun are the ultimate owners, so surely that means that the next executive chairman will be answering to the guy responsible for the downfall? Wolves supporters must push for more change; a half-solution is no good now.
Burnley stop the rot, but at what cost?
No Burnley supporter is going to turn their noses up at stopping a run of seven straight defeats. A draw at Bournemouth is a fine result, albeit a very fortunate one given Bournemouth’s dominance.
There’s also a complicating factor here. Had Burnley lost, Scott Parker may well have been sacked. When you’re trying to survive relegation after a poor half-season, the worst thing can often be getting just enough points to keep a manager in place but not enough to ever escape trouble.
Burnley should not let one lucky result determine their future plans. Fail to take three or more points from their two home games over Christmas (Everton and Newcastle) and Parker should still go.
Now comes West Ham’s season-defining run
If we simplify the relegation battle to one team from Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and West Ham, it has been a sorry month for West Ham. They have taken three points from their last six league matches; Forest have taken 12 and Leeds eight.
The glimmer of hope: those six West Ham games were against teams placed second, third, fifth, seventh, ninth and 14th in the Premier League. Their next five league games are against sides placed ninth, 13th, 15th, 17th and 20th and West Ham have taken seven points from four games against the bottom seven this season.
But that means that there are no excuses now and no margin for error. If West Ham fail to take at least nine points from their next five games, they will likely enter the final third of the season with fewer points than games played and a significant gap to safety. We’re about to find out whether Nuno Espirito Santo has a handle on this job.
Nottingham Forest – Play Fulham on Monday night
Calvert-Lewin continues to deliver for Leeds
I’m writing about Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the second weekend in a row because there’s a case to make that he has been the the signing of the Premier League season so far. And that’s not something even the most rampant Leeds optimist could have foreseen.
Over his last four seasons as an Everton player, Calvert-Lewin never scored with more than 10 per cent of his shots in any campaign; he’s scoring with 19 per cent of his shots this season (and a whopping 46 per cent of his shots over the last five games).
— Leeds United (@LUFC) December 21, 2025
This year, to save me from tears,
I'll give it to Calvert-Lewin
Over his last three seasons at Everton, Calvert-Lewin never scored with more than 18 per cent of his shots on target; he’s scoring with 40 per cent of his shots on target this season (and has scored six of his last seven shots on target). It’s ridiculous and I’m here for it.
Fulham – Play Nottingham Forest on Monday night
Bournemouth are in danger
We all circled the home game against Burnley as the fixture when Bournemouth eased any fears of being pulled into the relegation conversation. Andoni Iraola’s side have now taken four points from the last 24 available and play Chelsea (away) and Arsenal (home) next. It’s only West Ham’s inability to pick up points that leaves Bournemouth looking up rather than down.
To which we must add the Antoine Semenyo problem, with rumours heavily suggesting a January move that the player has hardly moved to refute. Semenyo has scored or assisted 42 per cent of Bournemouth’s league goals this season and replacing him in January would be desperately difficult.
But with Iraola’s own deal expiring this summer and Semenyo’s release clause reportedly dropping at the end of the season, Bournemouth have tough decisions to make.
Frank can’t keep pulling the wool over eyes at Tottenham
“I think that throughout the game it was a very good performance,” was Thomas Frank’s first answer to Tottenham’s in-house interview after the home defeat to Liverpool. Now I’m not saying that Spurs didn’t show some fight after they went 2-0 down with 10 men, but come on now.
Liverpool had taken four points from their previous six away league games and just conceded three at Elland Road. Spurs started the game tentatively and it’s still very hard to work out how Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani and Mohammed Kudus, all three moments players in a system team, will create clearcut chances regularly.
Over the last 10 league games, only Burnley (seven) and Wolves (none) have taken fewer points than Spurs’ eight. In those circumstances, supporters want to see change rather than upselling “very good” performances that end in defeat. I asked my colleague Kat Lucas what she thought about this and she replied only using emojis.
Lewis-Potter takes his chance for Brentford
“If we get Keane into those positions, we know he will score goals with his movement and the timing of his runs,” said Keith Andrews after the win at Wolves, all delivered with a smile after conceding that Lewis-Potter has been eager to get higher up the pitch.
Lewis-Potter has suffered a little at Brentford, picked as a makeshift full-back last season to cover for injury and then struggling for regular league minutes in 2025-26.
But with Brentford needing to share the goals around more (Igor Thiago had scored exactly half of their league goals this season before Saturday), an energised young forward determined to prove that he belongs in the final third is a very useful thing indeed.
Newcastle squandering leads is killing momentum
Newcastle were magnificent in the first half against Chelsea, blowing away the cobwebs of their desperate derby performance the previous weekend. They merited being three or four goals up, such was their dominance.
But you have to make leads stick and it’s something that Eddie Howe is badly struggling with. Only Arsenal have scored first in more Premier League matches this season, but only Wolves and West Ham have a worse record in those circumstances. Add in the Champions League and Newcastle have squandered 21 points from winning positions so far in 2025-26.
A brace for Nick Woltemade this afternoon
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) December 20, 2025pic.twitter.com/N5QhjLL8jG
Here’s the weird thing: last season Newcastle let only seven points slip from winning positions. They have gone from the best in the division at it to one of, if not the, worst. That’s not good enough after the summer spend.
Read more: Nick Woltemade shows Newcastle have moved on from Alexander Isak
Everton’s predictable creativity issues laid bare
Last week we wondered how Everton might create chances without Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall; the answer appears to be they won’t. Judging them against Arsenal and the best Premier League defence is unfair, but Everton failed to have a first-half shot at home in the league for only the second time in 20 years.
David Moyes picked Charly Alcaraz in the Dewsbury-Hall role, but the Argentinean was entirely ineffective. Tyler Dibling came on with 15 minutes left but he’s clearly struggling for confidence and form too.
For the games against Burnley and Forest, I wonder whether Moyes may consider switching things and starting Dibling wide left, Dwight McNeil on the right and bringing Jack Grealish central but with licence to roam. Grealish too is not really producing right now – one goal or assist in his last nine games.
Brighton are finding out the Premier League is a young man’s game
I’m using Brighton vs Sunderland as the example of a trend here. Yes, that’s partly because the game was 0-0 and not enough happened.
The matchday squads for this game on Saturday contained 24 different players aged 23 or under, of which 17 played a part in the game. Only one player over the age of 28 (Granit Xhaka, 33) started the game.
And it could have been more. Carlos Baleba (21) of Brighton had left for AFCON and would likely have played a part. Chemsdine Talbi, Habib Diarra, Noah Sadiki and Simon Adingra were all missing for Sunderland and they are all aged 23 or under too. These are two clubs reinforcing the principle that the Premier League is a young man’s game for clubs looking to extract value from the transfer market.
A weird climate surrounds a brilliant mood at Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace have qualified for knockout European football, albeit in underwhelming fashion. They are three points off the top four in the Premier League at Christmas, which is ridiculous. There should be no “but” here.
And yet there is a weird climate building here. Oliver Glasner’s future is up in the air and this week brought weird rumours from Spanish media about a potential departure. Daniel Munoz and Jean-Philippe Mateta have invited rumours about summer exits to bigger clubs. Marc Guehi’s own future will be up for debate without a new contract and then there’s Adam Wharton to think about.
It’s really a lesson to every supporter of non-financially elite clubs: enjoy your time in the sun; bask in it. Because a bully will probably be along soon to try and ruin it.
Yoro indicative of Man Utd’s defensive problems
Ruben Amorim’s side played above pre-match expectations at Villa Park, but lost because they missed clear chances and were unable to stop Villa in the moments. Perhaps that is no surprise: United haven’t kept a clean sheet in 10 games and have conceded six goals in two matches during which they outperformed opponents in the space of six days.
Sunday’s most guilty party was Leny Yoro. Morgan Rogers’ goals were both brilliant, but a central defender’s job is to make life as hard as possible for an attacker. Both times, Yoro allowed Rogers the time to control the ball and then barely applied any pressure as Rogers moved closer towards the goal.
United’s football relies upon intensity all over the pitch; Yoro was repeatedly the opposite. You know what Rogers is going to do when he gets the ball – why make it easier for him?
Read more: Ruben Amorim faces the greatest test of his Man Utd reign
Sunderland’s ridiculous clean sheet record
In 2024-25, the three promoted clubs kept eight clean sheets in 114 combined attempts. In 2023-24, the three promoted clubs kept five clean sheets in 114 combined attempts.
However, 12 of those attempts each season were against each other. Factor in only clean sheets against non-promoted clubs and you have a record of 10 clean sheets from 204 matches against non-promoted clubs, or roughly one every 20 attempts.
This season, Sunderland have played 16 league games against non-promoted clubs. They have kept six clean sheets. Do not sleep on how mad that is.
How Liverpool can get the best out of Wirtz
This iteration of Liverpool, whereby Arne Slot is trying to protect the defence and keep the attack in motion while acclimatising new players and avoiding becoming consumed by the pressure swirling around him, is absolutely fascinating because we are seeing experimentation happen in real time.
On Saturday evening, it was Florian Wirtz that I found most interesting. During the first half, Liverpool only had two purely attacking players on the pitch: Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike. The problem: Wirtz dropped a little deep to pick up the ball, Ekitike was isolated and Wirtz had too few passing options in front of him.
The change came at half-time, Alexander Isak on for the injured Conor Bradley. Then (and because of the numerical advantage), Wirtz was able to find more space, play higher up the pitch and work alongside two forwards; the game changed. The injury to Isak complicates matters, but this nip-and-tuck, more-defensive-and-then-more-attacking shuffling from Slot is absorbing viewing.
A weird old week at Chelsea
Just another normal seven days in Chelsealand. It started with Enzo Maresca insinuating that he wasn’t backed by the club’s hierarchy, followed by a leaked news story about Manchester City being interested in appointing him in the summer. Maresca then gave it the “No, I’m really happy here” in his pre-match press conference, which all felt a little transparent.
The team on the pitch is equally baffling. Chelsea were rotten in the first half but excellent thereafter. Ordinarily you’d praise the manager for an inspirational team talk, but then Joao Pedro revealed that he had told Robert Sanchez to go long to him (which is how the equalising goal was scored). Last year, the story was that Sanchez would be dropped by Maresca if he kicked the ball long.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 20, 2025
work from Joao, and Rob will take the assist.
#CFC | #NEWCHE pic.twitter.com/ko6l9yHwLY
It’s all just impossible to get a handle on, behind the scenes and on the pitch. One minute you think that Chelsea are title contenders (fair enough, given the vast spend). The next minute you think that the manager is probably going to be sacked soon and he’s asking for more experience at a club where the entire transfer strategy surrounds buying youth.
Rogers makes his mark again for Aston Villa
Morgan Rogers is having a season to remember. It’s only three months since Aston Villa supporters were booing his contributions. Now he’s in the form of his career and gaining heavy support for a role in Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI in the World Cup next summer.
Rogers has become a cheat code, in that he can alter the entire course of a match even when his team is not playing particularly well. The two goals against Manchester United were fabulous, gaining possession, cutting inside and then curling shots into the far corner that were unsaveable.
Could this move create a role for him on the left of England’s midfield? Marcus Rashford has possessed the shirt, but there would be far less competition than centrally, where Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer are likely to fight for a starting role.
Haaland reverts to type for Man City
It’s something that we have kept an eye on recently, but Erling Haaland really has become a penalty box poacher recently. It was interesting to see him on Saturday occasionally asking for the ball to be played directly over the top. Without Ederson or Kevin De Bruyne, City are missing that option.
But it barely matters. Against West Ham, Haaland had only 13 touches of the ball in 90 minutes and yet eight of these (62 per cent) were inside the penalty area. Haaland has had 107 touches in the attacking penalty area this season, eight more than any other player.
But the remarkable bit is how high a proportion of his touches come in the box. The percentage for the other four players in the top five for penalty box touches ranges between 11.8 and 14.8 per cent. Haaland’s percentage: 30.1.
1-0 to the Arsenal
If it feels like Arsenal are grinding out games to go top of the Premier League at Christmas, the evidence spectacularly bears it out.
Under George Graham, the famous chant was “1-0 to the Arsenal” as supporters gleefully owned the accusation that the team was boring but functional. It began in 1994, when Arsenal won two Cup Winners’ Cup knockout home legs and then the final against Parma by that scoreline.
But in 1993-94, Arsenal won only seven league games 1-0. In their title-winning seasons under Graham, they won three and five games by that scoreline respectively. This season under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have already won four league games 1-0 and have won seven games 2-0 in all competitions. It’s functional and it’s working.
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