The pre-penultimate gameweek of the 2024-25 Premier League season served up a memorable Merseyside scrap between the top two, as champions Liverpool blew a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with 10-man Arsenal.
The Gunners’ 14th stalemate of the campaign has them on the cusp of securing Champions League football for next season, while Newcastle United are also in a commanding position in the top-five fight thanks to their 2-0 beating of rivals Chelsea.
The Blues now trail Manchester City by two points in spite of the Citizens being held to an excruciating goalless draw by Southampton, while Nottingham Forest also failed to beat a doomed outfit in Leicester City, playing out a 2-2 stalemate before Evangelos Marinakis astonishingly stormed the pitch.
However, both Forest and Aston Villa are guaranteed to be playing in Europe next season – the latter edged out Bournemouth 1-0 – while Brentford are just about holding onto the coveted eighth place courtesy of their identical win over Ipswich Town.
Brighton & Hove Albion are banging on the door after overcoming Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0, though, but Fulham‘s continental aspirations suffered a potentially fatal blow in a 3-1 home loss to Everton.
Finally, neither Manchester United nor Tottenham Hotspur were at the peak of their powers after their Europa League exploits, and West Ham United and Crystal Palace took full advantage with respective 2-0 victories on the road.
Here, Sports Mole selects its Premier League Team of the Week for the latest round of fixtures.
DEFENCE
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Not a single Tottenham outfielder did themselves justice on Sunday, but stand-in goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was the sole reason that the scoreline was not even more humiliating for his side, making eight saves – seven from shots inside the box – to spare Spurs further embarrassment.
At the other end of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Marc Guehi was not put under as much duress as Spurs’ number two, but the England international was on the ball when the situation called for it; he put in five clearances, five tackles and three interceptions, and a terrific long punt forward should have led to an assist for Eddie Nketiah, but the ex-Arsenal man fluffed his lines.
However, one man who did make a telling impact in the final third was Everton’s Michael Keane, who capitalised on some penalty-box chaos against Fulham to fire in a bullet header, while also registering five interceptions and six clearances on another memorable David Moyes afternoon.
In truth, we could probably have got away with just naming an all-Southampton defence this week, but we have restricted ourselves to just the solitary Saint in Jan Bednarek, who led the extraordinary rearguard effort against Man City with a staggering 13 clearances, three blocks and two interceptions to thwart Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne.
MIDFIELD
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Taking to his new right-back role like a duck to water, Brighton’s Mats Wieffer quelled a normally rampant Wolves left-hand side with a ridiculous nine tackles at Molineux, while also winning the penalty for Danny Welbeck to finally hit 10 goals for a Premier League season.
Welbeck was one of two ex-Man United men to produce the goods away from home, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka did so at the expense of the Red Devils; the West Ham defender played a smart reverse pass to Mohammed Kudus in the build-up to the visitors’ opener, before winning the ball back and teeing up Jarrod Bowen for the Irons’ second.
Wan-Bissaka’s contribution to West Ham’s opening goal was to the benefit of Tomas Soucek, whose cheeky backheel into the bottom corner was nothing short of sumptuous, and the long-serving Hammer also put in five clearances and three blocks to thwart Ruben Amorim‘s toothless attackers.
Soucek’s recent victims Man United are rumoured to be plotting an audacious £85m for Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali, and it is easy to see why after his tremendous display vs. Chelsea; the Italian broke the deadlock with a smart finish into the ground and over Robert Sanchez, while also creating two chances and completing a sensational 96% of passes, including four accurate long balls from four attempts.
ATTACK
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Marinakis confronting Nuno Espirito Santo on the pitch unsurprisingly dominated the Nottinghamshire headlines on Sunday, but among the chaos and disappointment, Forest fulcrum Morgan Gibbs-White was at his brilliant best again, directing a firm header into the back of the net before turning provider with a brilliant delivery onto the head of Chris Wood.
Sticking with the theme of English playmakers toying with the opposition, Crystal Palace maestro Eberechi Eze was far too hot for a makeshift Tottenham defence to handle in North London, opening the scoring with a simple tap-in before spraying a brilliant pass to Ismaila Sarr and having the favour returned to complete his brace.
Eze would not look at all out of place in an Arsenal XI, but at a time where a new long-term contract is apparently being discussed, Leandro Trossard proved his worth to Mikel Arteta against Liverpool; the Belgian whipped in a delightful cross for Gabriel Martinelli to head home and created two big chances in total before coming off with a hamstring problem, one that told the story of Arsenal’s season.
Sports Mole’s Premier League Team of the Week (3-4-2-1): Kinsky; Keane, Bednarek, Guehi; Wieffer, Tonali, Soucek, Wan-Bissaka; Eze, Gibbs-White; Trossard
