It proved to be yet another dramatic weekend in the Premier League as Michael Carrick’s dream start at Manchester United continued at the expense of leaders Arsenal, who suffered a rare home defeat.
Liverpool’s winless run was extended to five top-flight games, which has put the pressure right back on Arne Slot, while the likes of Manchester City, Aston Villa, and Chelsea all claimed wins.
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Arsenal’s fortress falls
- Under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have only ever lost twice when they’ve scored two or more goals, with both defeats coming against Michael Carrick’s Manchester United.
Where to start with this one?
Michael Carrick has enjoyed an extraordinary start to life as Manchester United’s interim manager, dispatching Manchester City and now Arsenal in his first two games.
United produced a superb display to secure a dramatic 3-2 victory at the Emirates, inflicting Arsenal’s first home defeat in 17 matches this season, while it also ended the Gunners’ 25-game run of winning games when scoring first. Mikel Arteta has now suffered just two losses when Arsenal have scored at least twice, both at the hands of Mikel Carrick.
Read: Arsenal vs Manchester United stats and analysis
The defeat shone a harsh light on Arsenal’s attacking struggles. Bukayo Saka has now gone 13 matches in all competitions without a goal, while Viktor Gyokeres has failed to score a non-penalty goal in his last 11 league appearances. Noni Madueke’s wait for another goal stretches to 25 top-flight matches, and Gabriel Martinelli has drawn blanks in each of his last 13 outings.
Perhaps most damning of all, only Gyokeres and Leandro Trossard – both with five goals – sit above ‘own goals’ (4) in Arsenal’s scoring charts so far this season.
Chelsea’s derby dominance
- Chelsea are now unbeaten in 17 Premier League matches against Crystal Palace.
Chelsea’s 3-1 victory away at Crystal Palace extended their dominance in this fixture to 17 Premier League games unbeaten as Liam Rosenior became the first English manager to win his first two Premier League games since Steven Gerrard in 2001.
The afternoon belonged to Estevao, who scored and assisted in a league game for the first time in his Chelsea career. The Brazilian now leads all Premier League teenagers for combined goals and assists across all competitions this season; his new total of seven puts him one clear of Bournemouth’s Junio Kroupi.
Read: Crystal Palace vs Chelsea stats and analysis
Made by Morgan
- Morgan Gibbs-White is now Nottingham Forest’s all-time leading Premier League assist provider with 28.
Nottingham Forest bounced back from the midweek disappointment of losing to Sporting Braga, by giving their Premier League survival hopes a major boost courtesy of an impressive 2-0 win at Brentford, thanks to goals from Igor Jesus and Taiwo Awoniyi.
Morgan Gibbs-White set-up the second, meaning he’s now provided more Premier League assists for Nottingham Forest than any other player in the competition’s history (28), surpassing Ian Woan’s record.
Villa end Toon drought
- Aston Villa finally brought an end to a 17-match winless run away to Newcastle, which had dated back to 2005.
Aston Villa kept their title ambitions firmly alive with an impressive 2-0 victory away to Newcastle, a result that keeps them level on points with Manchester City and within four of league leaders Arsenal.
It was the first time Villa had won in the Premier League at Newcastle since April 2005, ending a run of 17 games without a win.
Emiliano Buendia’s stunning opener was Villa’s 13th goal from outside the box this season, which is the most of any Premier League side and their most in a top-flight campaign since 2007/08 (16).
Spurs centre-backs to the rescue
- Tottenham duo Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are the Premier League’s top scoring defenders this season with four apiece.
Tottenham salvaged a last-gasp point away to struggling Burnley to keep Thomas Frank in a job, for now.
It was the Tottenham centre-backs who once stepped up in the opposition box. Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero both found the back of the net, which means the pair are joint-top of the Premier League’s goalscoring defenders chart this season, with four goals apiece.
Meanwhile, the last-gasp equaliser from Romero denied Burnley a first win since October and meant that the club equalled their longest-ever top-flight run without a win – 14 games – which stretches back to 1970.
Liverpool’s late game woes
- Liverpool are now without a win in five Premier League games for the first time since December 2020 to January 2021.
Liverpool are now winless in their last five Premier League games – for the first time in five years – following their 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth.
For the third time this season, the Reds conceded a 90th-minute, match-deciding goal – their most ever in a single campaign.
The loss also saw Liverpool slip out of the top five, leaving under-fire manager Arne Slot as the odds-on favourite to be the next Premier League boss to leave.
Harry’s new heights
- Harry Wilson has now scored the most goals in a season in his Premier League career.
A 92nd-minute strike from – you guessed it – Harry Wilson secured a dramatic 2-1 victory for Fulham at home against Brighton.
It was Wilson’s eighth goal of what has been a stunning season – only four players have scored more – which has surpassed his previous best of seven, set during his 2019-20 loan spell at Bournemouth from Liverpool.
With 15 Premier League games still to play, the Welshman has plenty of time to continue adding to his impressive tally.
City back in business
- Manchester City are unbeaten in 31 successive matches against clubs starting the day bottom of the Premier League table.
Manchester City returned to winning ways with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Wolves, courtesy of goals from Omar Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo; the latter has now scored three goals in four games for his new club, with each goal coming in a different competition.
City are now unbeaten in their last 31 Premier League games against clubs who started the day rock-bottom of the table, 25 of which they’ve won.
Bowen the benchmark
- Jarrod Bowen has set a new West Ham record for Premier League goal involvements (103).
Jarrod Bowen inspired West Ham to a 3-1 win at home to Sunderland as the Hammers secured back-to-back league wins for the first time since early November.
Bowen set up Crysencio Summerville’s opener, then converted West Ham’s second from the spot, which has propelled his Premier League goal involvement tally to 103 for the club – 216 games, 63 goals, 40 assists – making him the club’s most productive player in Premier League history.
