Set pieces, VAR drama and everybody arguing about rights and wrongs until we all fall out. The final minutes of West Ham vs Arsenal probably determined the destination of the Premier League title and fitted the narrative of this season perfectly.

That result also gave Tottenham Hotspur a huge advantage for avoiding relegation and it’s perfectly possible that everything is sorted out before the final weekend there.

Still, we will always have the Champions League race. There may be five teams or six. It may be any one of the “B” teams or none of them. Aston Villa may qualify via two routes or none at all. What great fun.

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

  • Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
  • Brighton 3-0 Wolves
  • Fulham 0-1 Bournemouth
  • Sunderland 0-0 Man Utd
  • Man City 3-0 Brentford
  • Burnley 2-2 Aston Villa
  • Crystal Palace 2-2 Everton
  • Nott’m Forest 1-1 Newcastle
  • West Ham 0-1 Arsenal

Edwards is feeling the strain at Wolves

Rob Edwards has had a funny old week. It started with him being called a “w–ker” by large swathes of Molineux, continued with a pre-match press conference in which he stressed that the current situation is not his fault and ended it with him telling a number of players that they had to leave the club because they were “embarrassing” and didn’t value their jobs.

Edwards is broadly right about the attitude and aptitude of certain players, but this is swallowing him whole too.

I’m not sure whether you get to call out everybody else with your 12 per cent win ratio and hope to still be the guy everybody trusts over the summer. Which makes the decision to leave Middlesbrough as foolish as we always feared it might.

Burnley’s rare gem

Liam Delap scored 12 goals for a relegated club last season and got a £30m move to Chelsea. Zian Flemming has scored 10 goals in a dreadful Burnley team that has spent too much of this season failing to attack with purpose.

These are different things, obviously: age, nationality, physical prowess. But it’s worth pointing out that Flemming is a rare case at Burnley, an individual who deserves to have no shade thrown at him for his performances this season.

It would be a smart piece of business for one of the promoted clubs to make Burnley an offer this summer.

West Ham’s perfect denouement

The sheer controversy and messiness of the whole thing was perfection. What better way to mark the likely defining moment in both the title race and relegation battle than a six-minute examination of slow-motion replays to determine the legitimacy of a goal from a set piece while everybody in the stadium waits and is further indoctrinated not to celebrate goals.

I think the decision was right – plenty will disagree and that’s fine. I agree that there was a lot else going on and probably other offences by both teams, but the foul on the goalkeeper went above and beyond them.

But that’s not the point. This season has been a slog because of the set-piece aesthetics and the long VAR delays and we’re in serious danger of ruining the entertainment of the product. Sunday was the perfect denouement.

Tottenham

Play Leeds United on Monday night.

Leeds

Play Tottenham on Monday night.

Now the fun begins for Nottingham Forest

Two months ago, it seemed vaguely unthinkable to Forest supporters that they would avoid final-day drama. They had escaped that fate in 2022-23 and 2023-24; they have done so again.

That is the only certainty here. Forest need a new recruitment structure led by a new sporting director. They will need a host of new players with high-profile names linked elsewhere, starting with Elliot Anderson. I’m still not convinced that Vitor Pereira will stay, if he is not Evangelos Marinakis’s long-term option.

Supporters must take a leap of faith that Forest get this summer right having made so many mistakes in 2025. Right now, I don’t think there is a Premier League club whose league position next season is harder to predict.

Crystal Palace’s January recruitment raises questions

Towards the end of August, Matt Hobbs was appointed by Crystal Palace as their sporting director. To say that Hobbs’ previous work at Wolves was questioned by supporters would be understating it. Hobbs was replacing Dougie Freedman, who did a brilliant job in finding bargains from abroad and in the EFL.

In January, Hobbs’ first window, Palace signed two forward players for approximately £75m. Those players have since provided three league goals and an assist.

On Sunday they looked unfit for purpose and desperately short of confidence. Hobbs will get this summer to prove himself, but it’s a terrible start.

Newcastle’s big regret

When Newcastle United sold Elliot Anderson to Forest in July 2024, paying £20m for a third-choice goalkeeper who has never made a league appearance for them, it was widely regarded as necessary to avoid a points deduction for breaching PSR rules.

As they watched Anderson score an equaliser against them at the City Ground, ahead of summer during which he may well move for more than £90m, you wonder whether Newcastle’s decision makers rue that call. Would a deduction of several points have been worth it to keep a local lad around whom they could have built an entire team?

Also, Newcastle effectively sold their stadium to themselves to record a profit in their most recent annual accounts. Rather than sell Anderson for Odysseas Vlachodimos, why was that not their strategy before?

Sunderland’s season of goalless draws

This clearly isn’t all on Sunderland, who were the better team against Manchester United for almost all of the match, but this was their fourth 0-0 of the season. Again, that’s fine; Sunderland grinding out draws demonstrates competence.

But this particular goalless draw was statistically significant because it was the 27th of this Premier League season. Which is as many 0-0s as there were in the last two seasons combined.

The good news: we’re a long way from 1998-99, when goalless draws (49 in total) made up 13 per cent of all Premier League matches. Which is absolute filth.

Andersen costs Fulham a shot at Europe

Fulham are not entirely out of the European equation, given they face Wolves away and Newcastle at home in their final two fixtures. But they missed a glorious chance to jump into the top half and it’s mainly Joachim Andersen’s fault.

All Fulham had to do was to keep their heads, pull Bournemouth around the pitch and bank on them tiring. Instead, Andersen jumped two-footed into a wild challenge before half-time. He had the temerity to complain about the yellow card he received on the field but looked a little more sheepish after the upgraded red.

It was thick, it was nonsensical and it potentially cost Fulham three points. Andersen’s £30m move from Crystal Palace was already fairly unpopular amongst supporters. Not sure this will help.

Everton have thrown away Europe

David Moyes had a chance to take Everton into Europe and it is being frittered away. Everton have gone five games with a league win at the worst possible time. They have hit the worst form of their season in the home straight.

The weirdest aspect of this run is how loose Everton have become defensively. We would ordinarily expect his teams to tighten up when the pressure increased, shutting down matches and perhaps playing low-margin football.

Instead, the opposite. Everton have conceded two or more goals in each of their last five league games having done so four times in 15 league games immediately prior. After the Manchester City draw, Moyes described Everton’s defending as “shit”. More of the same this weekend.

Early goals kill Chelsea’s spirit

A true surprise: Chelsea were forced to claw their way back into a Premier League match after conceding an early goal. It has been the pattern of their entire season.

The top four clubs in the Premier League, Chelsea’s intended peers before the start of the season, have conceded nine goals in the first 10 minutes of their league matches this season combined – that’s nine goals in 143 matches. Chelsea have conceded nine goals in the first 10 minutes on their own (36 matches).

It gets worse. Chelsea’s goal difference in the first 10 minutes of their games this season (-7) is better only than Burnley in the Premier League. That should be a cause of deep embarrassment.

Brentford’s summer homework

Simply beaten by a more expensive, better team on Saturday evening, and no shame in that. But there is one interesting aspect of Brentford’s season that we can take the chance to point out: they need a dominant creator.

Igor Thiago has scored 22 league goals because a wide variety of teammates have created chances for him. No Brentford player has more than four league assists and no Brentford player ranks in the top 30 for chances created. Five players have created between 25 and 40 chances: Damsgaard, Kayode, Jensen, Schade and Ouattara.

If Brentford can improve the consistency of chance creation from one or both of their wingers, and keep Thiago, there is no reason to think that they can’t maintain a top-half position next season under Andrews.

Hurzeler contract marks Brighton’s shift in mood

When Brighton lost 1-0 at Villa Park on 11 February, they were 14th in the Premier League, seven points off the bottom three, hadn’t won in six games and had scored four goals in the process.

Fabian Hurzeler had been booed by home fans after a defeat against Palace and booed by away fans at Villa. Such was the disconnect, players picked out of position and Hurzeler looking a little scared to take risks in search of victory, many – me included – wondered whether this might be his last season.

Hurzeler signed a new three-year contract last week, Brighton have lost twice since Villa Park and are a decent shot to finish in the Premier League’s top six. Silly game, silly to try to predict it.

Rayan and Kroupi lead the way for Bournemouth

It’s a slightly tenuous statistic, granted, but fascinating anyway. According to Opta, Rayan’s goal against Fulham meant that two different teenagers had scored in three consecutive Premier League matches for Bournemouth this season. It’s the first time in Premier League history that’s happened.

Isn’t that just the perfect embodiment of Bournemouth’s recruitment work?

They are heading for European football, have their new manager appointed and ready to start as soon as the season ends and have elite clubs sniffing around players who are yet to reach the age of 20 because they’re Premier League regulars. It is deeply annoying for everyone else.

All or nothing remains a possibility for Aston Villa

No Aston Villa fan would argue that Unai Emery did the wrong thing against Tottenham now, given their dominant victory over Forest on Thursday night. But taking only one point from their previous two league matches against sides in the bottom four creates fragility around the rest of the season.

Villa play Liverpool immediately before the Europa League final – having rested against Tottenham, they surely have to do the same. They then travel to Manchester City on the final weekend, four days after the final. Taking one point from those two games is a perfectly reasonable outcome and would give Bournemouth a sniff of fifth. Lose them both and Brighton could overtake them.

Which puts a vast amount of pressure on the final: Champions League football, trophy, Emery’s legacy. How are the nerves, Villa supporters?

Liverpool fans vent their anger at Slot

If you assumed that the anger from Liverpool supporters towards Arne Slot was restricted to caterwauling on social media, Saturday proved you wrong. Such was Liverpool’s continued stumbling, sluggish performance, Slot was booed on three separate occasions: half-time, full-time and when Rio Ngumoha was substituted.

In his pre-match press conference, Slot conceded that next season may also be a year of transition. I think that’s a dangerous PR line to settle on, given the evident impatience at how this team has declined so quickly and how much the new signings have struggled for form.

There is no personality within this team. They defend poorly, they attack in piecemeal patterns and they rely upon exceptional individual moments that are usually overshadowed by the flaws within the collective. And that’s not good enough.

Man Utd’s relevant concern

There was no secret to Manchester United’s drop in quality against Sunderland, where they managed a single shot on target and it came in second-half stoppage time. Michael Carrick made five changes and none of the players who came in impressed. Manuel Ugarte, Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee were the biggest disappointments; what’s new there.

This is interesting because of what next season brings. Carrick has succeeded so far at United, but on a diet of a single match every week; he hasn’t had to make many changes to the first team and that will surely change next season.

In fact, Carrick has faced more than one match a week three times since taking over. The second fixture in each case: West Ham (a), Newcastle (a) and Leeds (h). United lost two of those games and drew the other. It’s a relevant concern.

Man City’s weird substitute anomaly

Omar Marmoush scoring Manchester City’s third goal against Brentford was significant, and not just because you’d basically forgotten that Marmoush existed. It was the first time that a Manchester City substitute had scored since the opening day of the league season.

Given City’s squad depth, that seems extraordinary. Guardiola’s substitutes have scored as many as Sean Dyche and Liam Rosenior’s did (in 18 and 13 games respectively) and three fewer than Michael Carrick’s in 15 matches.

Guardiola does wait a little later than most to make changes – although his 133 in total ranks midway – but it’s still interesting to see that decline in numbers. In 2021-22, City made just 79 substitutions and those subs scored 10 times, more than any other team in the division.

Arsenal’s defining player

There was a good deal of fevered reaction to Bruno Fernandes winning the Football Writers Association Player of the Year award last week, with Arsenal players overlooked. Declan Rice came second, with Erling Haaland third.

I don’t even think that Rice has been Arsenal’s most defining player this season. That honour goes to David Raya, who has won Arsenal countless points with phenomenal saves, excellent decision-making and distribution that has improved markedly since joining the club.

Goalkeepers hardly ever win awards. The campaign starts here.

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