Arsenal stayed out in front with a ruthless north London derby win, Manchester City kept the chase alive with a tight victory over Newcastle, and the race for the top five gained fresh tension as Liverpool and Manchester United found ways to win while Chelsea found another way to wobble.
Arsenal arrived with questions after dropping points in back-to-back games at Brentford and Wolves, then answered them in the harshest venue possible. Their 4-1 win at Tottenham was a proper statement, powered by Eberechi Eze’s brace and Viktor Gyökeres’ two late-dagger moments in a second-half surge.
Manchester City, meanwhile, did what title chasers must do: bank the points even when the game isn’t clean. Nico O’Reilly’s first-half double anchored a 2-1 win over Newcastle at the Etihad, but the second half had enough edge to suggest the run-in won’t offer many comfortable afternoons.
Liverpool also leaned into late drama, nicking a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest via Alexis Mac Allister deep in stoppage time. It was the kind of result that doesn’t scream dominance, but it does whisper know-how.
Manchester United made theirs count too, grinding out a 1-0 win away at Everton. It wasn’t flashy — it was necessary.
Chelsea, though, let another lead slip, drawing 1-1 with 19th-placed Burnley after Zian Flemming’s stoppage-time header, and a red card turned the mood of the game. Tottenham, stuck in 16th and still looking over their shoulder, left the derby battered and with the bottom three uncomfortably close.
Arsenal’s 4-1 win away at Tottenham wasn’t just three points; it was a performance that screamed composure in a week where the pressure was obvious. The scoreline matters because derbies can easily turn into emotional, chaotic games, yet Arsenal made it look like a contest they’d prepared for rather than merely survived.
What stood out was how Arteta’s side handled the “crunch game” psychology: they played with conviction, didn’t wait for Spurs to collapse, and kept attacking with purpose even after getting their noses in front. In a title race, that’s the real flex—showing you can win big when the stakes rise, instead of tightening up and hoping.
And the timing couldn’t be louder. With Manchester City still winning and the table offering no breathing room, Arsenal needed a response that carried beyond the weekend, and a four-goal away derby is exactly the kind of result that lands in rival dressing rooms like a warning.
Manchester City’s 2-1 win at home to Newcastle did what champions do: it banked the points even when the game had awkward moments, with Nico O’Reilly scoring twice in the first half to build the platform. It also kept them right on the leaders’ trail—close enough that any wobble above them becomes an invitation.
The bigger question is how Manchester City win from here. Games like this can look fine in the results column, but they also hint at a potential issue for the final stretch: when matches get tight, Manchester City may need longer spells of control—slower tempo, fewer transitions, and more “we decide where the game is played” football—to reduce the odds of late chaos or dropped points.
Can they get away with riding moments? Sometimes, yes—especially with the quality they have in key areas. But across the last 11 games, the title isn’t usually won by the team that looks best in highlights; it’s won by the team that turns tricky fixtures into calm, repeatable wins, and that’s the standard Manchester City themselves have set in previous run-in
The table says it’s tight: Manchester United are fourth on 48 points, while Chelsea and Liverpool are level on 45 (fifth and sixth). Villa, third on 51, still have a cushion — but recent draws mean the chase pack can smell them again.
Liverpool’s win at Forest was described as fortunate, and it took stoppage-time chaos to get over the line. But late winners also point to resilience — Liverpool have scored a Premier League winning goal in the 90th minute or later three times this season, more than anyone else.
United’s 1-0 away win at Everton wasn’t about fluency; it was about collecting points in awkward places. On form and momentum, United look slightly better set than Chelsea right now, while Liverpool’s ceiling is obvious — but their floor still feels a touch too low to call them clear favourites over both Chelsea and Villa just yet.
Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Burnley felt like a repeat of the same warning signs: decent stretches with the ball, but not enough control when the game state turns. João Pedro put them in front, yet the match swung after Wesley Fofana’s red card, and Burnley eventually found a late equaliser through Zian Flemming.
That sequence matters for the wider top-five conversation because it’s not just “one bad moment” — it’s a pattern of Chelsea dropping leads at home this season.
The Premier League’s own round-up noted they’ve now dropped 17 points from winning positions at Stamford Bridge, which is a brutal figure when the margins between fifth and eighth are so thin. The football isn’t always the issue; it’s the game management — slowing momentum, defending the box properly in the final phases, and resisting panic when the plan changes.
Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat to Arsenal wasn’t merely a derby loss; it was a scoreline that underlined how fragile they look in big moments right now. It also landed at the worst possible time because Spurs are no longer living in the “too big to worry” zone — they’re 16th on 29 points, only four clear of the relegation places.
Is relegation genuinely on? The threat is real in the sense that the cushion is small and confidence looks brittle, especially with tough fixtures ahead. It doesn’t mean Spurs are the most likely side to go down, but it does mean they can’t treat matches as “get-right games” anymore — they need points, quickly, and they need a clearer identity under Igor Tudor than what showed in the derby.
