Arsenal dented by defensive injuries
When the team sheets landed at Villa Park, Arsenal’s matchday squad again appeared imperious. Their bench included a £64m striker in Viktor Gyökeres, a trio of tricky wingers in Leandro Trossard, Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli and arguably England’s most exciting teenagers in Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri. But Arsenal arrived top-heavy, the only centre-back among the substitutes the 16-year-old Marli Salmon. By the time Emiliano Buendía clinched victory for Aston Villa with almost the final kick, it was clear Arsenal lacked the defensive solidity behind their pace-setting start; this defeat was only the fourth time since the start of 2022-23 that Mikel Arteta’s side began a league game without Gabriel Magalhães or William Saliba – and it showed. Cristhian Mosquera, potentially sidelined until the new year, was also absent. The good news for all parties – which probably extends to second-placed Manchester City – is that Arsenal and Villa will duke it out again on 30 December in the reverse fixture. Ben Fisher
Match report: Aston Villa 2-1 Arsenal
Ramsdale faces Tyne-Wear pressure
When Régis Le Bris studies footage of Newcastle’s slog of a 2-1 win against Burnley, Sunderland’s manager may have reason for concern for Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby at the Stadium of Light. Le Bris will note the threats posed by Yoane Wissa, who proved quietly impressive after making his debut from the bench, and a renascent Anthony Gordon, but he may also detect cause for optimism. It will surely centre on Aaron Ramsdale’s apparent nervousness in the face of corners, crosses and high balls into the area. The former Arsenal goalkeeper failed to convince and was fortunate to get away with some poor punches. With Nick Pope injured and Newcastle’s third-choice keeper, John Ruddy, now 39, Ramsdale is undroppable. He also looked a weak link on a day when Bruno Guimarães scored direct from a corner, Burnley’s Lucas Pires was sent off and Gordon converted a penalty. Scott Parker’s strugglers registered a sixth straight league defeat but, creditably, refused to fold and missed a last-gasp chance to equalise after Zian Flemming reduced the deficit courtesy of a stoppage-time penalty. Louise Taylor
Match report: Newcastle 2-1 Burnley
Sánchez extends Semenyo’s goal drought
This season has run hot and cold for Antoine Semenyo. After six goals in his first seven games in the Premier League, he has now gone seven without scoring. Not since against Fulham on 3 October has he scored or assisted. It was not for a lack of trying against Chelsea on Saturday. The Ghana forward had five shots, three on target, but found Robert Sánchez in inspired form. Semenyo’s struggles in front of goal have coincided with Bournemouth’s drop down the table. Having troubled the European places in the opening weeks, they are now in the bottom half after no wins in six, but Andoni Iraola saw signs of improvement against Chelsea. “We looked like us,” he said. Enzo Maresca, for his part, was keen to stress how tight the table is. Just five points separate Chelsea in fifth and Bournemouth in 13th. Billy Munday
Match report: Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea
West Ham in need of January boost
West Ham’s December fixture list is unpromising. With Aston Villa visitors on Sunday before a trip to Manchester City, two home games with Fulham and the return with Brighton will complete a rotten 2025 for the club. Just 33 points have been collected in 34 matches thus far, spread over three managers. Can Nuno Espírito Santo clear up the mess left by Julen Lopetegui and Graham Potter? So much relies on Jarrod Bowen’s durability when his goal at Brighton was only his fourth all season, leaving him joint-top scorer with Callum Wilson, whose fitness Nuno did not trust to play two games in four days. Once Wilson arrived to set up Bowen for his goal, West Ham offered a sustained attacking threat, though concurrently became less commanding in midfield. A club with a transfer strategy that often confounds their supporters need a strong January window to make safety more possible, or else Nuno’s good work so far will be wasted. John Brewin
Match report: Brighton 1-1 West Ham
Barry breaks duck after Moyes’s tough love
The reaction to Thierno Barry’s first Everton goal from the home crowd, his teammates and the striker himself was heartwarming, and underlined their desperation to see the 23-year-old rewarded for his tireless performances. It was welcome respite from the pathetic poverty chanting by some Nottingham Forest supporters too. Everton’s player of the match, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, said of Barry: “I’m so happy for him. I think it’s probably one of the loudest you’ve heard the stadium all season, and he deserves that. The last five or so games, he’s absolutely worked his nuts off for us.” David Moyes took the tough love approach, however, insisting a first goal in 17 appearances must kickstart Barry’s Everton career or he will be out of the team. Moyes’ hard line extends to the training ground too, where Everton have been working on improving Barry’s strength. “It’s very difficult to train physicality,” the Everton manager said. “You can get the boys to kick them a bit more in training, which they have done. He’s fallen down a lot but we just play on and he’s not getting anything. He’s getting used to it but he’s not there yet.” Andy Hunter
Match report: Everton 3-0 Nottingham Forest
Guardiola prepares City for Real test
Manchester City travel to Real Madrid for Wednesday’s sixth Champions League group game sitting in ninth place on 10 points, two fewer than Xabi Alonso’s team, and five behind the leaders, Arsenal. Pep Guardiola rued the 2-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in their last match. “The Bernabéu is not an easy place [to go],” said the manager. “I would say we missed the opportunity in Leverkusen to be close [to the top]. We have three options [more matches] to make the points that we need to [qualify]. I wish when we go to the bigger stages to just play like who we are.” John Stones sustained an injury against Sunderland and could miss the trip. “I don’t know how long he will be out for,” said Guardiola. Jamie Jackson
Match report: Manchester City 3-0 Sunderland
Wilson adds to his collection
Harry Wilson added another stunning goal to his repertoire with the equaliser for Fulham in their defeat to Crystal Palace. The attacking midfielder played a sharp one-two with Raúl Jiménez, flicking the ball round the corner to his teammate before getting it back on the edge of the area, before finding the far corner with an exquisite finish with the outside of his left foot. “It would’ve meant a lot more if we’d got the three points,” Wilson said rather tactfully to Sky Sports. After his hat-trick for Wales against North Macedonia last month – a wonderful free-kick among those goals – and the instinctive shot from distance into Guglielmo Vicario’s empty net at Tottenham recently, Wilson is earning quite the reputation as a scorer of great goals. His form has been a bright spark in a stop-start season for Fulham, who have yet to find the consistency of last year and sit 15th. BM
Match report: Fulham 1-2 Crystal Palace
Brentford fail to ‘hit the levels’ on the road
Keith Andrews looked nonplussed when he was asked if consecutive away defeats against Arsenal and Tottenham were reality checks for Brentford. “As in going away to two teams in the Champions League and not winning?” he said. “The reality is we go to these clubs and go toe to toe. We tried to do it today. We didn’t hit the levels.” The last is a fair assessment: Brentford were nowhere near the required standard when they lost 2-0 at Spurs on Saturday. Away performances have not been good enough under Andrews. Brentford have been strong at home, taking points off Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Newcastle, but it has been a struggle on the road. They created little at Arsenal last Wednesday and were similarly blunt at Spurs, even with Igor Thiago and Mikkel Damsgaard back in the team. Andrews, who has lost seven of eight away games this season, needs to find a way to lift Brentford on their travels. Jacob Steinberg
Match report: Tottenham 2-0 Brentford
Calvert-Lewin is fit and firing again
There was a time, not that long ago, that watching Dominic Calvert-Lewin step up to take a vital penalty would have provoked a spasm of dread. He has actually missed only one of the seven penalties he’s taken in the Premier League, but he had become a player to whom unfortunate things happen. This Calvert-Lewin, though, having scored in each of his previous two games, strode forward and dispatched the penalty with confidence. It’s easy to forget now that there was a time when he was seen as a possible successor to Harry Kane with England. He was big, held the ball up well and had a grace to his movement. He may never have been the finisher Kane is, but he holds the ball up better. Injuries have sapped at him and he hasn’t got in double figures for league goals in a season since 2020-21. Finally, though, he appears fit again – and he’s still only 28. Jonathan Wilson
Match report: Leeds 3-3 Liverpool
Konaté on ‘crime scene’ too much
Before Mohamed Salah got near any mixed-zone microphones, Arne Slot spoke to the media about his team’s lack of defensive solidity after twice throwing away a lead at Elland Road. At 2-0, Ibrahima Konaté slid in unnecessarily on Wilfried Gnonto in the penalty area and conceded a spot-kick that Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored. On Konaté, whose form has dropped off this season, Slot said: “Unfortunately for him, he does a lot of things well but he has been a bit too much on the crime scene. He has been involved in goals we have conceded.” Slot has struggled to field a regular back four this season – he went with Conor Bradley at right-back and Milos Kerkez at left-back against Leeds, having started Joe Gomez and Andy Robertson against Sunderland on Wednesday. Gomez replaced Bradley after 68 minutes on Saturday, shortly before Leeds staged their comeback. BM
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 15 | 19 | 33 |
| 2 | Man City | 15 | 19 | 31 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 15 | 7 | 30 |
| 4 | Crystal Palace | 15 | 8 | 26 |
| 5 | Chelsea | 15 | 10 | 25 |
| 6 | Everton | 15 | 1 | 24 |
| 7 | Brighton | 15 | 4 | 23 |
| 8 | Sunderland | 15 | 1 | 23 |
| 9 | Liverpool | 15 | 0 | 23 |
| 10 | Tottenham Hotspur | 15 | 7 | 22 |
| 11 | Newcastle | 15 | 2 | 22 |
| 12 | Man Utd | 14 | 1 | 22 |
| 13 | AFC Bournemouth | 15 | -3 | 20 |
| 14 | Brentford | 15 | -3 | 19 |
| 15 | Fulham | 15 | -4 | 17 |
| 16 | Leeds | 15 | -10 | 15 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 15 | -11 | 15 |
| 18 | West Ham | 15 | -12 | 13 |
| 19 | Burnley | 15 | -14 | 10 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 14 | -22 | 2 |
