Gameweek 20 of the 2024/25 Premier League season enthralled football fans with hard-fought wins, one-sided encounters, and feisty draws.
While Manchester City returned to form with a bang, Arsenal and Chelsea dropped points and went further behind in the title race. Brentford regained their form by thrashing the struggling Southampton, while Tottenham Hotspur fell further down the table with a narrow loss to Newcastle United.
Let’s take a look at all that transpired in Gameweek 20 of the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Newcastle United
Spurs continued their dismal run of form as they lost another home game to the Magpies, who are now soaring with five wins out of five.
The hosts seized the early initiative in the fourth minute as Dominic Solanke’s diving header from a long Pedro Porro cross from the right earned them the opener. However, two minutes later, Newcastle won back possession and Bruno Guimarães passed to Anthony Gordon, who put the ball into the far post. However, it seemed controversial to let the goal stand as Joelinton had seemingly handled the ball in the buildup.
It was an open game with both teams creating chances. Spurs had one in the 11th minute when Brennan Johnson passed in the box to Solanke, whose shot was blocked by Sven Botman before Martin Dúbravka comfortably saved Pape Matar Sarr’s follow-up. Ten minutes later, Alexander Isak laid up Gordon but Brandon Austin came forward to smother the shot near post. Newcastle were on top now and saw a low Jacob Murphy cross from the right from which Isak couldn’t quite tap home. However, Isak didn’t miss a second time in the 38th minute when a similar opportunity arose with Murphy being the provider yet again, even though Radu Dragusin got a touch.
Spurs did try to put the Magpies under pressure in the second half as Dúbravka produced a good save from Sarr before Brennan Johnson hit the post from the loose ball. Substitute James Maddison curled an effort inches wide in the 81st minute then Sergio Reguilón flashed a shot across goal as Spurs put Newcastle under pressure in the closing stages, but Eddie Howe’s men held on in the 12 additional minutes to take home the three points.
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Arsenal
While Brighton came back to earn a draw, Arsenal dropped crucial points at the Amex Stadium.
The Gunners were the more aggressive side in the early period with their first chance coming in the ninth minute when Gabriel Jesus was played through, but his shot on goal was saved by Bart Verbruggen’s outstretched leg before Jesus was found offside. Arsenal did get the opener in the 16th minute when Ethan Nwaneri exploited yards of space on the right and drove ahead for a fine low finish into the far post—a wake-up call for the Seagulls. Brighton then started to press forward and created a few chances of their own as Simon Adingra missed in front of an open goal. Arsenal could have doubled their advantage before the break, but Jesus missed an easy header as they went into the break 1-0 ahead.
At the hour mark, Brighton got a glorious opportunity to restore parity with a clashing of heads between William Saliba and João Pedro in the Arsenal penalty box, which was deemed as a foul on Pedro and so Brighton won a penalty. Pedro stepped up and converted from the spot to the delight of the home fans. Arsenal only managed one Declan Rice half-chance from the edge of the box after Brighton’s leveller and two tame efforts from Thomas Partey and Leandro Trossard in total. The Seagulls could have grabbed all three points with Yankuba Minteh’s shot that went agonisingly wide of the far post.
While Brighton mustered a draw, it was a damaging result for the Gunners who are now six points off the top having played one game extra.
Southampton 0-5 Brentford
The Saints were put to the sword by the ruthless Bees at St Mary’s Stadium.
The visitors started with intent and found their opener in the sixth minute when Kevin Schade was put through by Mikkel Damsgaard on goal for a fantastic finish in the far bottom corner. Brentford continued to put pressure and missed a couple of chances to double their advantage, the most notable ones being Christian Norsgaard’s header that hit the crossbar before Yoane Wissa squandered a 1v1 chance against the goalkeeper. The only time Southampton threatened was from Tyler Dibling’s lashed effort from the edge of the box that went on the wrong side of the side netting just before the break.
The Bees started the second half as they had started the first and scored two quick goals after the hour mark through Bryan Mbuemo, who first rifled a shot into the net and then converted from the penalty spot after a foul on Sepp van den Berg by Lesley Ugochukwu. The game was already over for the Saints, but the Bees piled even more misery in the stoppage time, first through Keane Lewis-Potter and then through Yoane Wissa for a five-star away performance.
While Brentford returned to winning ways, Southampton remain bottom of the table, with their survival chances looking even more bleak.
Aston Villa 2-1 Leicester City
Aston Villa secured a win over the Foxes at Villa Park in an engaging second half that saw all three goals of the game.
The first half was particularly uneventful barring Ollie Watkins’s deflected chance until the stoppage time, when Watkins’s cross created problems for the Leicester defence and goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk had to present a strong fist to stop Matty Cash’s strike from the edge of the box.
The second half started more brightly with the visitors finding a glorious opportunity through Stephy Mavididi, who failed to capitalise in the 49th minute in front of a gaping goal. Nine minutes later, the opener arrived for the hosts from Ross Barkley, who struck home from the edge of the box. The Foxes, however, found a way back through Mavididi five minutes later as he scored on the rebound after Villa goalkeeper Emi Martínez had kept out Jamie Vardy’s initial attempt. Ian Maatsen then came off the bench and within minutes won possession on the left wing and set up the cross for Leon Bailey, who found the winner. The Foxes couldn’t find a response and ended up losing yet again.
The Villans have arrested their slide with this win, having dropped points in the last two games, while Leicester are in the bottom two after losing all of their last five games.
Also read: Premier League 2024/25 Sponsors
Manchester City 4-1 West Ham United
Manchester City look like getting back to their usual winning ways with a second consecutive win, having left the Hammers reeling with another thumping loss.
It was the visitors, however, who had two decent early chances—both due to the industrious Mohammed Kudus. In the sixth minute, Crysencio Summerville released Kudus with a superb through ball, but the Ghanaian went wide and hit the side netting. Two minutes later, Kudus set up Tomáš Soucek, but he couldn’t connect properly either. Then the hosts took the lead in the tenth minute as Savinho fired an angled effort from the left side of the box and the ball took a crucial deflection off Vladimir Coufal to wrong-foot Hammers keeper Alphonse Areola. City then started to launch a wave of attack with Areola keeping the Hammers in the game with some fabulous saves. However, City kept knocking on the door and, just before the break, a teasing inch-perfect Savinho cross found Erling Haaland in the box, who didn’t miss from close range for City’s second.
West Ham again created a chance at the restart as Stefan Ortega kept out a Coufal effort after a fine initial drive by Summerville. But once again City responded with the dangerous Savinho, who found a defence-splitting pass to Haaland in the 56th minute, who rounded Areola before chipping the ball into the net. Two minutes later, City extended their lead as Kevin De Bruyne latched onto a poor West Ham pass and teed up Phil Foden, who didn’t miss from 12 yards. The Irons did have another chance in the 67th minute when Ortega kept out Soucek’s effort, but their persistence paid off when they finally breached the City defence in the 71th minute as Niclas Füllkrug fired home from an inviting Soucek pass. However, the game ended without any further change in the scoreline.
Bournemouth 1-0 Everton
Bournemouth came up against a resolute Everton defence yet somehow managed to grab all three points at the Vitality Stadium.
Bournemouth created the first opportunity when a throw into the box was flicked on and Dango Ouattara spun and shot, but the Everton goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, made a good low stop to his right. Antoine Semenyo did score in the 14th minute, but three Bournemouth players were found offside and so the goal was ruled out. Evanilson then fired wide before both Justin Kluivert and Semenyo had excellent chances to score as Everton held on under pressure.
The second half saw Everton better in defence, but they couldn’t muster any chance on goal, highlighting their woes of scoring goals from open play. The game was ultimately settled by David Brooks, who came off the bench and scored a sumptuous volley from a Milos Kerkez cross to end the Everton resistance, after which the Cherries easily controlled the game to end up with all three points.
While the Cherries continue their unbeaten run in the last five games, Everton have the danger of relegation lurking with another loss.
Crystal Palace 1-1 Chelsea
Crystal Palace came back from an early setback to share the spoils with Chelsea at Selhurst Park.
The visitors scored the opener in the 14th minute as a cute dummy from Jadon Sancho led to setting up Cole Palmer in the box, and the in-form Englishman slotted home from close range. Just before the break, Palmer sent Nicolas Jackson through with a teasing through ball, but Jackson went for power over precision and lashed it wide.
Palace started to threaten after the break and Daniel Muñoz set up Eberechi Eze in the box, but Eze dragged his shot wide off the far post. Jackson had another chance to double the Blues’ advantage but failed to find the finish from a tight angle. Chelsea were punished for the misses eight minutes from full-time when Eze slipped into space and unselfishly squared for Jean-Philippe Mateta, who turned the ball home despite being under pressure from Marc Cucurella. Chelsea tried to find a late winner, but their efforts ended in vain.
This was a hard-fought draw for Crystal Palace, while Chelsea dropped points yet again after the shock loss to Ipswich in the last Gameweek.
Fulham 2-2 Ipswich Town
Fulham managed to come back twice to level against a feisty Ipswich Town at Craven Cottage.
Fulham dominated the opening period and Raúl Jiménez missed the target with a header from close range. It was the away side that took the shock lead against the run of play just before half-time when Nathan Broadhead’s cross from the left was headed against the crossbar by Ben Johnson. Calvin Bassey scuffed his clearance straight to Sammie Szmodics and he fired home off the Fulham centre-back.
The second half saw a dramatic period as referee Darren Bond awarded three penalties. The first came to Fulham with a chance to restore parity when Harry Wilson was fouled in the box; the referee waived it off but VAR overturned the decision, and Jiménez tucked it in to equalise. Almost 20 seconds later, Darren Bond awarded a penalty to Ipswich for a foul by Timothy Castagne, and Liam Delap’s emphatic finish gave Ipswich the lead back. Just when it seemed like the Tractor Boys were going to get a second consecutive away win, as they pushed for a third as Jack Clarke hit the left post, Fulham countered and Jiménez was tripped in the box by Davis for the third penalty of the afternoon, which he slammed into the top-right corner in stoppage time to share the spoils.
Liverpool 2-2 Manchester United
This Super Sunday fixture was one of the most entertaining games for the neutrals, especially the topsy-turvy second half that saw four goals being scored with heavy rain beating down at Anfield.
Contrary to popular belief, it was the visitors who looked more assured and started with a lot of belief and aggression. However, the best chance of the half fell to Alexis Mac Allister from a Mohamed Salah cross, but André Onana came to United’s rescue with a superb save. United had a decent opportunity of their own when they breached Liverpool’s high line, and on one occasion Diogo Dalot was released down the left and his cross was inviting for Amad Diallo, but he mistimed his header.
The restart saw Lisandro Martínez give his side the lead in the 52nd minute when he rifled home a ferocious shot from a tight angle after an error from Trent Alexander-Arnold allowed Bruno Fernandes to set up Martínez. However, a lacklustre Liverpool still responded seven minutes later as Cody Gakpo curled home a stunning equaliser before Salah put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot in the 70th minute after a handball by Matthijs de Ligt. United were not finished, though, and substitute Alejandro Garnacho crossed low for Diallo in the 80th minute, who struck home this time round. Both teams had chances to grab all three points late on, with Conor Bradley’s near post shot almost sneaking in and Harry Maguire firing over the crossbar from a Joshua Zirkzee assist, but the spoils were ultimately shared.
While Liverpool missed a golden opportunity to extend their lead at the top, Manchester United’s courageous display deservingly earned them a point—encouraging signs for the Red Devils’ fans.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest’s high-flying 2024/25 campaign continued as they climbed into third place, level on points with second-placed Arsenal, as Wolves fell further closer to the drop zone.
Forest started with purpose, and early in the seventh minute Morgan Gibbs-White was allowed to drive forward while the Wolves defence watched by. He passed to Anthony Elanga, whose return pass saw Gibbs-White score the opener. Forest dominated the proceedings but Wolves had their chances, in particular their forward Jørgen Strand Larsen, who could have had a brace but was wasteful in front of goal. However, Forest doubled their lead with great work from Callum Hudson-Odoi on the left wing, who held off Matt Doherty and then passed to an open Chris Wood, who slotted home. Forest went into the break with a two-goal lead.
The second half was particularly uneventful except for Strand Larsen, who forced another good save from Matz Sels, but the chances dried up for Wolves after that. Taiwo Awoniyi then came off the bench to finish a brilliant game for the visitors with a third goal in stoppage time when he was teed up by an unselfish James Ward-Prowse during another lightning-quick counterattack.
Forest are on a great run of form, having won all of their last six games and continuing to be a dangerous adversary—a sensational turnaround from last season.
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