Gameweek 14 of the 2024/25 Premier League season took place in the midweek, kicking off December’s festive period of football.
This Gameweek was headlined by the big clash between Arsenal and Manchester United, which the Gunners won, while Manchester City returned to winning ways against Nottingham Forest as Liverpool were held to a late draw at St. James’s Park.
Let’s take a look at all the action from Gameweek 14.
Ipswich Town narrowly lost to fellow relegation strugglers Crystal Palace.
The first half was fairly uneventful till the half-hour mark, after which Eberechi Eze had a great chance when he was played in by Jean-Philippe Mateta, but Ipswich defender Wes Burns did enough to save the goal-bound shot. At the other end, Palace goalie Dean Henderson made a fantastic reaction save to deny Harry Clarke from a Leif Davis corner.
Liam Delap headed straight at Henderson just after the restart before the Eagles broke through in the 59th minute as Mateta moved away from Jacob Greaves before lofting the ball over an advancing Arijanet Muric. Mateta had another chance in the 67th minute after latching onto Eze’s pass but was denied by Muric on this occasion, with Ipswich seeking an equaliser as the clock ran down. Substitute Nathan Broadhead could not quite connect with Greaves’ header across the area following a well-worked free-kick.
The Eagles came away with a massive three points, while Ipswich Town are still waiting for their first home win after their return to topflight football.
New Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy got off to a perfect start to life at the King Power as the Foxes piled more misery on the Hammers.
The hosts opened the scoring in the second minute when Jamie Vardy was put through on goal. The veteran striker struck it into the far post, but the goal was initially denied for offside only for it to be overturned following a lengthy VAR review. The visitors responded well to the early setback, with Danny Ings’ header deflected off the post. Mads Hermansen made a flurry of saves in the first half to keep his side’s lead intact going into the break.
Despite the Hammers dominating in the second half, Leicester doubled their advantage through Bilal El Khannouss in the 61st minute just moments after West Ham saw an equaliser disallowed for a Tomáš Soucek foul as the midfielder was seen impeding Hermansen. Bobby De Cordova-Reid saw his effort disallowed, but the Foxes put further daylight between themselves and West Ham through Patson Daka in the 90th minute. West Ham did score a late consolation goal through Niclas Füllkrug.
While Van Nistelrooy had an impressive debut, his opposite number, Julen Lopetegui, went off to the boos from the West Ham supporters.
Set-piece specialists Arsenal were comfortable winners against Manchester United in this tricky home encounter.
Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli scored early in the third minute but was clearly offside. Thomas Partey missed another chance from a corner when he failed to connect with the ball inside fifteen minutes. United contained the home side well and almost scored the opener before the break through Diogo Dalot, whose shot fizzed slightly wide of the far post.
The second half saw Arsenal score their opener from Jurriën Timber when he glanced his near post header towards goal from a Declan Rice corner in the 54th minute. The Gunners were then rescued by a diving David Raya save from a towering Matthijs de Ligt header intended for the far post. A second corner brought the second goal for Arsenal. Bukayo Saka curled this delivery to the back post, where Partey nodded the ball into the back of William Saliba to double Arsenal’s lead in the 73rd minute. United had no riposte to Arsenal’s two goals.
While Arsenal cut the lead down to seven points at the top, Ruben Amorim suffered his first loss as United boss and has his work cut out going forward.
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Pep Guardiola and his charges heaved a huge sigh of relief as they finally returned to winning ways.
The Cityzens had an early chance for Erling Haaland inside three minutes, but he drove his shot wide of the post. Their opener came five minutes later, however, when Ilkay Gündogan crossed the ball from the left towards Kevin De Bruyne, whose header towards goal was tapped in by a waiting Bernardo Silva. Chris Wood missed a 1v1 against City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, scuffing his shot wide of the post. De Bruyne was involved again as he scored the second from a Jérémy Doku assist in the box, sweeping it beyond Mats Sels in the 31st minute. The hosts went into the break with a 2-0 lead.
The second half continued with City being dominant. Haaland drove upfield before playing a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Doku, who scored past Sels in the 57th minute, wrapping up three crucial points for his beleaguered side. Forest didn’t have any answer for the defending champions.
While City closed the gap to the top to nine points, Forest dropped further down to sixth place.
League leaders Liverpool travelled to Tyneside in a difficult away encounter and had to suffice with a draw, while the Magpies would be happy with a point snatched late in the game.
The home team started with a bang and tested Liverpool keeper Caoimhín Kelleher in the opening minutes of the game. The hosts threatened persistently, with Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon, and Alexander Isak missing decent chances to open the scoring, but Isak plundered his shot into the top of the net in the 35th minute to give his side a 1-0 lead going into the break.
Liverpool started positively in the second half, and five minutes into the restart Mo Salah found Curtis Jones, whose powerful shot found the net for a Liverpool equaliser. Cody Gakpo hit the post from outside the box two minutes later. Gordon fluffed a golden opportunity at the other end when Joe Gomez’s sloppy back pass set him through, but Kelleher came to Liverpool’s rescue. Gordon didn’t miss a second time, though, and slid one through Kelleher in the 62nd minute. Liverpool boss Arne Slot then made some substitutes, which paid instant dividends as the Reds found a second equaliser through Salah, who was found by substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold with a precise pass in the 68th minute. The two were involved again in the 83rd minute when Alexander-Arnold found Salah in the box, who shot into the far post on the swivel, giving Liverpool a 3-2 lead. With time running out, Newcastle tried desperately to find a goal and ultimately got their equaliser from a set-piece opportunity in the 90th minute when an advanced Kelleher misjudged the lofted ball from a set piece and Newcastle defender Fabian Schär sneaked in his shot into the open goal to the delight of the home fans.
Liverpool would rue the defensive errors that cost them two crucial points in a high-octane encounter at Tyneside.
Unai Emery’s Villans returned to winning ways as they swatted the Bees away at Villa Park with an emphatic first-half performance.
After a string of disappointing displays in recent games, Villa took the early initiative and opened the scoring from a moment of individual brilliance in the 21st minute when Morgan Rogers rifled a powerful shot into the top-right corner. Villa doubled their advantage seven minutes later when Ollie Watkins was awarded a penalty for a foul on him in the box by Ethan Pinnock. He stepped up for the spot-kick and sneaked the ball past Mark Flekken, who did get a hand to it. Matty Cash further compounded Brentford’s misery when he scored a volley on the near post past Flekken in the 31st minute.
The situation seemed bleak for Brentford even after the break as Villa continued to attack, but they couldn’t add a fourth. Against the run of play, the Bees did pull one back through Mikel Damsgaard in the 54th minute as he caught a loose ball in the box and rifled it in the top of the net after moving past the Villa defenders. However, Brentford couldn’t breach the Villa defence again.
Everton thumped a hapless Wolves at Goodison Park to run clear from the relegation zone.
The Toffees were put into an early lead with Ashley Young, who beat José Sá from a free-kick in the tenth minute. Set pieces were a huge problem for Wolves the entire game. James Tarkowski’s header went in a few minutes later, but Orel Mangala had intervened with an opponent in an offside position when the cross was delivered, so the goal was ruled off by VAR. Jørgen Strand Larsen’s glancing shot was then saved by Pickford to deny Wolves an equaliser. Mangala then made up for his offside and doubled Everton’s lead when his deflected shot from outside the box found the net in the 33rd minute.
Wolves’ set-piece fragility was further exposed four minutes into the second half when defender Craig Dawson turned into his own goal when trying to deny Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Iliman Ndiaye had the ball in the net for a fourth just after the hour mark, but the referee blew for a push on Sá in the build-up, with VAR confirming the decision. Everton completed the rout in the 72nd minute courtesy of another Dawson own goal, who this time diverted the ball in as he lunged to block Calvert-Lewin’s stooping header.
Gary O’ Neil walked away to boos and chants from his own supporters, while Sean Dyche had a breather with an emphatic win for his side ahead of the huge Merseyside Derby coming up at the weekend.
The Saints were thumped by an impressive Chelsea side who have quietly climbed up to second place in the table ahead of London rivals Arsenal.
An unmarked Axel Disasi headed from an Enzo Fernández corner in the seventh minute to open the scoring for the visitors. But Chelsea’s lead was cancelled out by Joe Aribo four minutes later as he headed past Chelsea keeper Filip Jorgensen. Southampton’s style of playing from the back cost them for the umpteenth time in the 17th minute when Noni Madueke latched onto a sloppy back pass from Saints goalkeeper Joe Lumley and set up Christopher Nkunku, who found the net. Madueke then curled in a third in the 34th minute before the Saints’ night went from bad to worse five minutes later as Jack Stephens pulled Marc Cucurella’s hair at a corner and was sent off for violent conduct.
With numerical advantage, the Blues dominated proceedings in the second half and had several chances missed. They finally scored their fourth when Cole Palmer tapped in an Nkunku shot in the 76th minute. Substitute Jadon Sancho completed the rout in the 87th minute as Enzo Maresca’s side made it seven games unbeaten in all competitions.
Southampton continue languishing in the relegation zone, seven points adrift of safety. Already their chances of survival in the topflight are looking very slim.
Spurs’ poor form in the away games continued with a narrow defeat against the Cherries.
Eight minutes in, Dominic Solanke ran through on goal but put the ball over the crossbar. Bournemouth then opened the scoring in the 17th minute through a Dean Huijsen far-post header from a corner. Spurs could not find any attacking threat in the first half as Bournemouth almost doubled the lead before the break when Fraser Foster saved a Marcus Tavernier header.
Ange Postecoglou brought on Son Heung-min after the break to change the game and at the hour mark, and Son did affect the game, creating a scoring chance for James Maddison, but his shot went wide of the post. Bournemouth scored through Evanilson in the 70th minute when Spurs were sloppy playing out of the back, but they had a lucky escape as he was adjudged offside. Bournemouth were particularly wasteful as Tavernier scuffed a free shot over the post with ten minutes to go and missed more chances in the closing stages, but Spurs couldn’t take advantage.
Spurs’ abysmal run continues with their sixth loss of the season, while Bournemouth continue impressing against the big teams at home.
An Alex Iwobi brace took Fulham to sixth place in the league table with this win over the Seagulls, continuing their brilliant start to the season.
The game started with an error from Brighton goalie Bart Verbruggen as his sloppy back pass was intercepted by Iwobi, who smashed it into the net for Fulham to take an early lead in the fourth minute. However, post that early howler, Brighton controlled the game and created several chances. First João Pedro was denied by Bernd Leno from a tight angle and then Simon Adringra’s close-range effort was kept out by the Germany international. Jan Paul van Hecke fired his header over the crossbar. The Seagulls were a goal down but went into the break with momentum.
Brighton deservedly equalised after the restart when Van Hecke’s long pass into Pedro was laid down into the path of Carlos Baleba, who struck a powerful left-footed volley into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box. The game was in the balance until Andreas Pereira had his corner deflected into the Brighton net by their own midfielder Matt O’Riley. Iwobi then capped a brilliant performance by scoring his second in the 87th minute, ensuring all three points for the home side.
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