Premier League 2024/25: Gameweek 18 Recap

Boxing Day brought Gameweek 18 of the 2024/25 Premier League season, which brought more shock results, exhilarating late drama, top-half scuffle, and relegation scraps. 

Let’s take a look at all the action from Gameweek 18.

Manchester City 1-1 Everton

Manchester City dropped points at home again with a draw against a feisty Everton. 

On the back of draws against Arsenal and Chelsea in previous Gameweeks, the Toffees arrived at the Etihad in a buoyant mood. The Cityzens, on the other hand, were coming into this game with run of poor form continuing after a loss to Aston Villa at the weekend. 

City started the game with intent, attacking the Everton defence from the word go. Joško Gvardiol’s header from a corner struck the post in the second minute, and City weren’t to be denied for long as Jérémy Doku put Bernardo Silva through in the box, who poked the ball into the far corner in the 14th minute to give his side the lead. City then had a few chances to add to their opener, but Erling Haaland and Silva failed to take advantage and paid the price as, in the 36th minute, Everton’s attack paid dividends when Abdoulaye Doucouré’s curling cross evaded everyone to land fortuitously for Illiman Ndiaye who scored the equaliser. The first half ended 1-1.

City had a glorious opportunity seven minutes after the restart when Savinho was fouled in the box for Vitalii Mykolenko’s late challenge and City were rightly awarded a penalty. However, Jordan Pickford came to Everton’s rescue with a save, and even though he headed the parried ball into the net, Haaland was way offside. For the rest of the half, City couldn’t manage any more clear-cut chances. 

City find themselves in seventh in the league table with just one win in 13 games. 

Newcastle United 3-0 Aston Villa

Both Newcastle and Aston Villa came into this game at St James’ Park on the back of emphatic wins. 

The Magpies made a blistering start to the game as Anthony Gordon’s curling effort found the top corner inside two minutes. Villa almost equalised through Lucas Digne’s free kick, which forced a great save from Martin Dúbravka. Matters got worse for the Villans when striker Jhon Durán left his foot in on Fabian Schär in the 32nd minute, leading to Anthony Taylor brandishing a straight red card, which was backed up by VAR. Playing with ten men, Aston Villa were left to chase the game but went into the break only a goal down.

However, the Magpies took charge after the restart, doubling their advantage at the hour mark as Alexander Isak scored from a Jacob Murphy pass in the box. A marginal offside call denied Isak his brace as he blasted into an unguarded net following fine work from Murphy again. Villa were on the back foot as Newcastle created chance after chance; Joelinton made it three in stoppage time to complete the rout. 

With three wins in a row, Newcastle have now climbed into fifth place, while Villa would consider themselves unlucky with the controversial red card that changed the entire complexion of the game. 

Chelsea 1-2 Fulham

Chelsea hosted the Cottagers in the most entertaining game of this Boxing Day Gameweek, which ended in late drama.

The Blues started with intent at home and opened the scoring with an individual piece of brilliance from the in-form Cole Palmer in the 16th minute as he drove forward with the ball, skipped past two Fulham defenders, and slotted it past a diving Bernd Leno into the net. Raúl Jiménez had a great chance to equalise on the counter but pulled his shot wide a few minutes later. Chelsea did try to double their advantage but went into the break with a slender 1-0 lead.

Chelsea started the second half brightly as well, and five minutes later Levi Colwill headed in a Palmer cross but was denied for offside. Fulham then started to dominate the possession as Antonee Robinson missed a chance to equalise. Fulham super-sub Harry Wilson then headed in the equaliser in the 80th minute to restore parity. Late drama ensued as Rodrigo Muniz found Saša Lukic’s pass on the counter to ensure victory for Fulham deep in stoppage time to the delight of the travelling fans and the Fulham support staff on the ground.

This loss at home has dented Chelsea’s chances in the title race, which up until recently had been looking like it would heat up nicely. Fulham, on the other hand, have now gotten two draws and a win against the top three teams in consecutive games.

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Nottingham Forest continued their rich vein of form with another win at home against a struggling Spurs side. 

After last weekend’s thrashing against Liverpool, Spurs were looking to improve their performance at the City Ground. They dominated possession and looked more dangerous early on, with the home side looking for opportunities to hit them on the counter. And their chance came against the run of play as Morgan Gibbs-White became the instigator for the opening goal, driving forward with the ball until the final third and putting through Anthony Elanga, who opened his body and cut the ball over Fraser Forster into the far corner. Brennan Johnson forced a great save from Matz Sels just before the break. 

Right after the break, Johnson almost equalised but Sels came to Forest’s rescue again. An injury-ravaged Spurs couldn’t manage many clear-cut chances in attack and were further hurt when Djed Spence was sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow-card offence. 

With this win, Nottingham Forest have moved provisionally into third. 

Southampton 0-1 West Ham United

The Saints continued their dismal run at home as they lost to the Hammers on Boxing Day. 

West Ham missed a brilliant chance in the opening few minutes when Carlos Soler’s shot hit the crossbar. Southampton, playing under new boss Ivan Juric, showed great initiative after that, creating several chances as Paul Onuachu forced saves off a few close-range headers. Saints ran the first half and were unlucky to not have taken the lead. West Ham were completely dominated in the first half and also suffered three injuries before the break: Max Kilman went off before Lukasz Fabianski was stretchered off after a collision, and then Soler limped off at half-time. 

Minutes after the break, there was a red card handed to West Ham’s Guido Rodríguez for a challenge on Kyle-Walker Peters, but it was demoted by VAR as the midfielder had slipped and also tried to stop himself while going into the tackle. Moments later, Tomáš Soucek headed the ball across the goal, which was flicked on by Niclas Füllkrug for Jarrod Bowen to tap home. West Ham could have added another through substitute Crysensio Summerville, but he scuffed his shot wide, and then through Mohammed Kudus, who hit the side netting. Onuachu missed another big chance of the game as he nodded wide of goal on the stroke of injury time, while Tyler Dibling fired over a good chance with virtually the last kick of the game. 

The Hammers have now gone unbeaten five games in a row in the league, while the Saints stay bottom. 

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Bournemouth 0-0 Crystal Palace

The Cherries and the Eagles played out a goalless draw at the Vitality Stadium. 

Bournemouth were particularly wasteful in attack and would rue the missed chances. The hosts went closest when Antoine Semenyo’s close-range shot was cleared off the line in the 23rd minute by Ismaïla Sarr. Apart from this, neither team got any clear-cut chances in the first half. 

The second half saw Bournemouth miss a string of chances, with Semenyo dragging one of his shots wide. Substitutes Evanilson and Philip Billing also scuffed scoring chances. Palace did see Eberechi Eze kept out by Kepa Arrizabalaga as Bournemouth raced off to the other end, forcing Dean Henderson into a reaction save from Enes Ünal. Palace held on in the final minutes to move five points clear of the bottom three as Semenyo’s header missed the target by inches.

With this draw, the Cherries have failed to close the gap on Arsenal in fourth and were trumped by Newcastle, who moved into fifth. 

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Manchester United

Wolves hit a struggling Manchester United with another defeat at Molineux Stadium. 

Manchester United lacked any zip and intensity, though they did have an early half-chance that Bruno Fernandes couldn’t capitalise on. Wolves rushed into action from there on, with Matheus Cunha particularly dangerous on the ball. Jørgen Strand Larsen forced a save from André Onana from a header. Nelson Semedo also got into action and went close with a deflected long-range effort before half-time. However, the half ended goalless. 

Minutes into the restart, though, Semedo was on the end of a rash challenge from Fernandes, which resulted in a second yellow for the Red Devils’ captain. Semedo was in the thick of it again moments later as he crossed in for Larsen to head home, but Wolves’ celebrations were cut short by the offside flag, which was upheld by VAR. But Wolves weren’t to be denied a second time when they opened the scoring in the 58th minute as Cunha’s in-swinging right-footed corner kick evaded everyone and ended up into the far corner, United’s frailties on set-pieces exposed yet again. Already a man down, United couldn’t conjure up any opportunities and Wolves killed off the game in the ninth minute of stoppage time when Cunha raced ahead on the counter and passed to Hwang Hee-chan, who slotted home.

With this win, Wolves moved clear of the drop zone, while Ruben Amorim’s United have now suffered four defeats in the last five games. 

Liverpool 3-1 Leicester City

With Chelsea dropping points, the prerogative was on Liverpool to stretch their gap at the top, and they did precisely that with a comeback win against Leicester City. 

The Foxes delivered a surprise blow to the home side by scoring inside six minutes through Jordan Ayew’s shot on the turn from a Stephy Mavididi low cross into the box. However, Liverpool took control of the game after that, with Mohamed Salah coming close as his trademark left-footed shot hit he crossbar. But Liverpool levelled courtesy of an unstoppable curling effort into the top-right corner from Cody Gakpo just before the break. 

The Reds came back after the restart and took the lead within four minutes as Curtis Jones tapped home from an Alexis Mac Allister cutback into the box. Salah then killed off the game late on when he drove forward and struck past Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk to score his 16th league goal of the season. 

While the Reds sit comfortably at the top with a seven-point gap, Leicester languish in 18th place—a point from safety. 

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