Premier League 2024/25: Gameweek 16 Recap

The Premier League games never cease to amaze. Gameweek 16 of the 2024/25 season has gone by, featuring feisty encounters, shock results, and entertaining football. 

From the Gunners being held to a draw by the Toffees to Nottingham upsetting the Villans. While Liverpool and Fulham contested a dramatic draw, the Magpies ran riot against the Foxes and United piled more misery on Pep Guardiola’s City grabbing a dramatic late win in the Manchester Derby – a weekend that didn’t disappoint. 

Let’s take a look at all the action from Gameweek 16 –

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Ipswich Town

A late dramatic winner from Ipswich Town spelled more trouble for Gary O’Neill’s Wolves.  

Both teams came into this game on the back of three defeats but it was the Wolves manager Gary O’Neil who was under more pressure at the Molineux. Ipswich opened the scoring in the 15th minute courtesy of an own goal by Matt Doherty who deflected in Conor Chaplin’s strike after it had hit defender Toti Gomes.

Wolves though started to grow in the game and had two glorious chances to equalise before half-time. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde blasted his shot over the crossbar after being teed up by Mario Lemina, while Jørgen Strand Larsen’s tame shot was saved by Arijanet Muric.

However, Wolves got the reward for their efforts in the 72nd minute with the in-form Matheus Cunha slotting home from a tight angle. Cunha missed another chance to win the game for his side. Wolves’ defensive woes on set-pieces reared up again late in stoppage time when Jack Taylor nodded in Harry Clarke’s inswinging delivery from a corner giving Kieran Mckenna’s side a much-needed three points. Wolves’ troubles multiplied further with full back Rayan Aït-Nouri being sent off for a second yellow after the final whistle for an incident involving the opposition player Wes Burns. 

Liverpool 2-2 Fulham

A 10-man Liverpool salvaged a point in a dramatic draw against the Cottagers at home. 

The visitors started with intent and opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Andreas Pereira found a cross from Antonee Robinson and volleyed it in goal. Things got even worse for Liverpool in the 17th minute when Andy Robertson was sent-off for 

denying a goal scoring opportunity to Harry Wilson outside the box. The first half ended with Fulham leading 1-0. 

However, Liverpool came back immediately after the break and levelled the score through Cody Gakpo’s diving header from a Mohammed Salah cross into the box. Liverpool dominated even when Fulham had a numerical advantage but fell behind in the 76th minute again when Fulham hit them on the counter with Robinson providing a cutback for Rodrigo Muniz to flick into the open goal. Diogo Jota then came off the bench to rescue a point for Liverpool in the 85th point when he received a pass from Darwin Núñez and neatly finished it past Bernd Leno. 

Both Liverpool and Fulham had late chances to find a winner but neither could force the issue, ending the game with honours even. 

Arsenal 0-0 Everton

Arsenal failed to close the gap at the top when they drew against Everton at home. 

It was the visitors who created the first decent chance in the 5th minute with Abdoulaye Doucouré’s shot blocked by a sliding Gabriel Magalhães. However, it was all Arsenal after that but an inspired Jordan Pickford denied Martin Ødegaard and Gabriel Martinelli in the first half. 

A few minutes into the second half, Arsenal were yet again denied by Pickford when he dived to the left to save Bukayo Saka’s clever near post shot. The Gunners continued to dominate proceedings but Everton’s defence put up a strong resistance and even thwarted a number of set-piece opportunities that Arsenal had in succession. Arsenal wanted a late penalty following a coming together between Vitalii Mykolenko and Thomas Partey but VAR denied the request.

For all their efforts on goal, the Gunners were frustrated by a dogged Toffees and failed to capitalise on Liverpool’s dropped points against Fulham while Everton earned a hard-fought point. 

Newcastle United 4-0 Leicester City

The Magpies decimated the Foxes in a one-sided encounter at St. James’s Park. 

Anthony Gordon was denied the first goal early when his powerful strike was superbly saved by Mads Hermansen. The winger was exceptional and caused Leicester all kinds of problems. Anthony Gordon’s cutback found Jacob Murphy in the 30th minute and he struck home making up for his miss moments ago. Newcastle led by a goal into the break.

However, Hermansen was replaced by Danny Ward due to injury and five minutes into the restart, the foxes conceded two goals. In the 47th minute, Bruno Guimarães headed home at the far post and three minutes later, Alexander Isak’s header found the goal giving the Magpies a three-goal cushion. Leicester could barely get going when Murphy scored his second from an Isak assist at the hour-mark to kill the game and round off a rampant display for the home side. 

With this win, the Magpies climb up to 11th place while the Foxes are only four points from the drop zone. 

Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa

Nottingham Forest turned the game around in the late stages to take all three points against Aston Villa.

The first half was particularly uneventful with no clear-cut chances by both sides.

However, the second half started with intent from the home side and just after the hour-mark Emiliano Martínez showed great reflexes to put out Nicolás Domínguez’s header off the line. A minute later though, Jhon Durán met John McGinn’s clipped cross to head home beating Matz Sels in the Forest goal. 

It looked as though lady luck had deserted Forest when Chris Wood thought he had equalised but his effort was chalked off for an offside decision after a lengthy VAR check. However, the hosts refused to throw in the towel and their efforts paid dividends when Nikola Milenkovi? connected his head to a Morgan Gibbs-White cross in the 87th minute. Three minutes into stoppage time, Anthony Elanga provided the finishing touches to a cutback from Elliot Anderson to give his side a massive three points at home. 

With this win, Forest went up to fourth spot in the table ahead of Manchester City. 

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Brighton and Hove Albion 1-3 Crystal Palace

The Eagles stunned the Seagulls to take all three points at the Amex in a frantic first half display. 

Palace found the opener through defender Trevor Chalobah in the 27th minute when he scored from a loose ball that dropped in the six-yard box off a Palace corner. Six minutes later, Palace doubled their lead with Ismaïla Sarr nodding home Tyrick Mitchell’s left-wing cross. The Seagulls did take control of proceedings with Henderson denying Brighton from a Kaoru Mitoma low drive. 

After the break, Brighton brought on Julio Enciso and launched wave after wave of attack with Eagles goalie Dean Henderson brought into action time after time. Henderson first parried off Lewis Dunk’s header from a corner and then tipped off Enciso’s curling effort around the right post. Palace somehow kept Brighton at bay and then delivered the killer blow when Sarr drove through the midfield and shot past Bart Verbruggen to score his brace and Palace’s third in the 82nd minute to stun the home fans. Brighton did get a consolation in the 87th minute from a Marc Guéhi own goal when trying to clear the ball but Palace avoided any further mishaps and won the match 3-1.

A huge sigh of relief for Oliver Glasner as his side is slowly and surely improving while Fabian Hürzuler’s headache just got worse with a third poor result from his side. 

Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United

The Manchester Derby ended in a dramatic last gasp defeat for the Cityzens compounding Pep Guardiola’s problems even further. 

City took the early initiative and created a few clear-cut chances but failed to convert. City had the first shot on goal in the 20th minute when Jérémy Doku jinked past
Noussair Mazraoui and his cross fell to Phil Foden, who volleyed just off-target. Foden played well with Erling Haaland and had another effort that deflected wide. The hosts did find the opener in the 30th minute from a short corner routine with Joško Gvardiol’s header into the far post exposing United’s set-piece frailties yet again. 

Even after the restart, City were the dominant side but failed to convert half-chances which came to hurt them in the end. Ederson made his first save after the hour-mark from an Amad Diallo flick-header that could have ended up in the net. United got the closest when Bruno Fernandes was played through but tipped his shot over the bar in the 76th minute. Diallo started to cause City all sorts of trouble. United’s equaliser came from a Matheus Nunes error with Amad Diallo pouncing on his sloppy back pass and ended up being fouled by Nunes and awarded a penalty. United Captain Fernandes stepped up to convert the spot-kick and equalise. United now smelt blood and went looking for a winner. Amad Diallo controlled a long ball from Lisandro Martínez and sneaked the goal in from a tight angle to give United the victory in stoppage time. 

Ruben Amorim’s United has now beaten City twice with two different teams this season as pressure mounts even further on Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.

Southampton 0-5 Tottenham Hotspur

A five-star Spurs hammered a woeful Saints at the St. Mary’s Stadium this Gameweek.

Spurs opened the scoring inside the first minute when Djed Spence drove the ball forward and played through James Maddison who swept in the opener. Spurs were 2-0 up after 12 minutes when Heung-Min Son slotted home after Jan Bednarek’s poor header, and 3-0 two minutes later, with Son turning provider for Dejan Kulusevski to turn the ball home from close range. The Saints were already out of the game within the first quarter of an hour. That was enough for the home fans to direct their frustrations towards Russell Martin but the fourth from Pape Sarr in the 25th minute led to a mass exodus of disappointed fans from St Mary’s. Already four down, the Saints had yet another half to play. The Saint’s manager was already down the tunnel before the end of the first half with Maddison scoring his brace and Spurs fifth from the tightest of angles. 

The second half was the exact opposite of the first with no intensity. Even Dominic Solanke, Son and Maddison were withdrawn with one eye on the Carabao Cup quarterfinals against Manchester United. Southampton could barely muster a response and suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Spurs with their top-flight survival looking really bleak. 

Chelsea 2-1 Brentford

Chelsea cut down the lead at the top to two points with a feisty win against the Bees who have been particularly woeful away from home. 

Chelsea dominated possession in the first half but failed to create any clear-cut chances, However, Chelsea deservedly took the lead through Marc Cucurella’s header minutes before the break. 

Nicolas Jackson should have doubled the Blues lead on the hour mark when he struck Jadon Sancho’s cross over from six yards out. Brentford came close to making them pay when Christian Nørgaard forced a finger-tip save from Robert Sánchez.  Minutes later, Fábio Carvalho’s sliding effort bounced down off the bar inches from crossing the line to the relief of the Stamford Bridge crowd. Chelsea did get a second from Nicholas Jackson finish on the back of a blistering counter attack in the 80th minute. Brentford did get a late consolation in the 90th minute through Bryan Mbuemo but failed to even get a point away from home. However, Chelsea’s win was marred by a Cucurella sending off in stoppage time for an altercation with Kevin Schade. 

Chelsea was the only team in the Top three that took advantage of others dropping points and looking ready to give a fight for the league title.