Gameweek 24 of the Premier League brought about two dominating scorelines, feisty encounters and shocking results yet again. Nottingham Forest returned to winning ways with a thrashing of the Seagulls while Liverpool came away with a fighting win against the Cherries. Aston Villa suffered a shock defeat to a struggling Wolves while the Cottagers came back to beat the Magpies away. The big encounter of the week saw the Gunners fire five past a miserable Manchester City.
Let’s take a look at all that transpired in gameweek 24 of the Premier League –
Nottingham Forest blew away the Seagulls thanks to a hat trick by their red-hot striker Chris Wood and some abysmal defending by Brighton.
Forest got the opener in the 12th minute through a Lewis Dunk own goal when he deflected a Morgan Gibbs-White cross into his own net. Gibbs-White turned scorer for the second in the 25th minute when he headed home. Chris Wood then made it 3-0 in the 32nd minute from an Anthony Elanga cross when he prodded home. Brighton was already out of the game.
The second half got even worse for the Seagulls as the goals flowed from the other end. Wood scored from another Elanga assist in the 64th minute and completed his hat trick five minutes later when he converted from the penalty spot to make it 5-0.
City weren’t finished yet as Neco Williams and Jota Silva put their names on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
What a response from Nuno Espírito Santos’s side after the hiding against Bournemouth last weekend while the Seagulls would like to forget this game completely.
A Mohamed Salah brace gave Liverpool three massive points away at the Vitality against a feisty Bournemouth.
Bournemouth had their moments in the first half with Antoine Semenyo’s cracking shot hitting the post before Liverpool opened the scoring in a tightly contested affair. Liverpool was awarded a penalty in the 30th minute for a Lewis Cook foul on Cody Gakpo and Salah converted with precision into the far post. Bournemouth thought they had equalised through David Brooks but Milos Kerkez was adjudged offside in the buildup. Both teams had moments in the first half but Liverpool came away with a slim lead.
Bournemouth attacked in the early period of the second half with the visitors holding on for dear life. The Cherries had the best chance of the game when Marcus Tavernier’s shot hit the post and landed in the path of Justin Kluivert who missed a gaping net from close-range.
The Cherries paid the price for the miss when the in-form Salah curled a precise shot into the far post in the 75th minute to put the game past the Cherries. Liverpool defended well in the last 15 minutes to grab a massive three points at one of the most difficult away grounds in the league.
With this win, Liverpool moved nine points ahead of second placed Arsenal who were due to play Manchester City while Bournemouth’s 11 unbeaten games run came to a halt.
Fulham came back from a goal down to beat Newcastle away at St James’s Park.
Newcastle scored the opener through Jacob Murphy in the 37th minute when Anthony Gordon drove forward with the ball and crossed to Murphy who tapped in at the far post. The Magpies went into the break with a slender lead as Fulham couldn’t manage a shot on target.
However, the Cottagers didn’t give up and came back a team transformed and equalised at the hour-mark through Raúl Jiménez’s far post finish. Alexander Isak came close when he hit the crossbar. It was the visitors though, who deservedly scored a late winner through substitute Rodrigo Muniz who tapped in near post from an Andreas Pereira free-kick in the 82nd minute to break the Geordies hearts.
While Fulham clinched three massive points away from home, Newcastle need to pick up after two back-to-back home defeats in the league.
Arijanet Muric errors cost Ipswich the game as the Saints came back from a goal down to gain three vital points at the Portman Road Stadium.
Southampton gained the lead in the 21st minute against the run of play through a Joe Aribo volley that Muric should have kept out. Ten minutes later though, Liam Delap drew Ipswich level when he collected a through ball from Nathan Broadhead and finished past Aaron Ramsdale in the far corner.
Ipswich Town kept attacking after the restart and were denied by a brilliant Ramsdale in goal who kept his side’s lead intact. Just when it looked like the home side may find a winner, Southampton delivered the killer blow in the 87th minute when Muric couldn’t hold onto a Kamaldeen Sulemana shot near post and parried it in the path of Paul Onuachu for the winner.
The Saints kept hope of top flight survival alive with three massive points as Ipswich missed a big chance to get out of the relegation zone.
Everton put four past a clueless Leicester at Goodison Park this weekend.
In a blistering start to the first half, Everton capitalised on some sloppy Foxes defending to score two goals inside six minutes. In the first minute, a long ball from goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was latched on by Abdoulaye Doucouré as he smashed it into the far corner while the Leicester defenders were caught napping. Five minutes later, Jarred Branthwaite’s measured through ball found Beto in the box and he put the ball past Mads Hermansen from a similar position as the first goal.
Everton kept dominating Leicester and found their third just before the break when James Garner slid a pass to Beto in behind and he slid the ball inside the near post.
Even after the break, the Foxes found it difficult to create a decent goalscoring chance as the Toffees added a fourth late on when defender Caleb Okoli’s clearance bounced off Wout Faes into the path of Ndiaye who put it into the back of the net.
With three consecutive wins, Everton moved further clear of the drop zone while Leicester fell back into the relegation zone.
Wolves beat Aston Villa at the Molineux amidst a controversial decision for the Villa equaliser.
The hosts started brightly and scored the opener in the 12th minute from Jean-Ricner Bellegarde whose powerful strike beat Emiliano Martínez at the near post. Wolves were the better side throughout the first half and could have scored more if not for Gonçalo Guedes missing a host of opportunities to increase the advantage.
Wolves continued to attack in the second half but couldn’t double the lead. Villa thought they had equalised through Donyell Malen’s header but the goal was disallowed for Morgan Rogers preventing a Wolves defender to get across to defend the incoming cross. A lacklustre Villa couldn’t conjure up any goal scoring chances with Wolves forward Matheus Cunha killing the game in stoppage time from a counter attacking move.
Wolves climbed out of the relegation places while Villa stayed behind Bournemouth in 8th place.
Manchester United were beaten at home by the Eagles thanks to a second half brace from Jean-Phillipe Mateta.
United were playing at home but it was the visitors who dominated proceedings in the first half but couldn’t score to take the lead. United also had chances saved off shots from Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte.
However, the deadlock was broken after the 64th minute when Mateta scored from a rebound after the ball had come off the crossbar from a Maxence Lacroix header. United tried to find an equaliser and came close through Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes forcing a couple of saves from Dean Henderson. Mateta scored his second in the 89th minute when he was squared up by Daniel Muñoz who had been set through by Ismaïla Sarr to secure the three points.
In addition to the loss, United suffered personnel loss with defender Lisandro Martinez being carried off on a stretcher with what looked like a serious knee injury.
With this win, Palace climbed above United in 11th while United’s home form remains a concern all season.
The Bees suffered a home defeat to a struggling Spurs who had not won in eight games.
The hosts had a couple of chances to take the lead but couldn’t capitalise. However, Spurs went ahead in the 29th minute with a fortunate own goal when Heung-Min Son’s corner kick bounced into the net off Vitaly Janelt’s back.
Brentford began the second half rapidly and Yoane Wissa hit the bar from close range, as Spurs were largely pegged back in their own half. However, Brentford couldn’t really test the Spurs goalkeeper and could only ping in crosses and corner-kicks.
An under- pressure Spurs finally secured the three massive points in the 87th minute when substitute Pape Matar Sarr put the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson into the net.
Spurs claimed a vital win against the Bees, who dominated large stretches of the game but were unable to convert their possession into anything meaningful.
Arsenal put up a five-star performance against a lacklustre Manchester City at the Emirates.
Sloppy defending from Manuel Akanji led to Arsenal’s first chance inside the second minute as Kai Havertz set up Martin Ødegaard who scored to put the Gunners ahead. Gabriel Martinelli scored too but was adjudged offside before Havertz missed a sitter from close range. David Raya also made a couple of brilliant saves to keep the scoreline intact.
However, City equalised nine minutes into the second half through Erling Haaland’s header from a Savinho cross into the box. A minute later though, Arsenal reclaimed their lead when Phil Foden’s misplaced pass was caught by Thomas Partey whose shot was deflected off John Stones into the far corner.
The Gunners got a shot of confidence after this and piled more misery on the Cityzens with Miles Lewis-Skelly curling his shot past Stefan Ortega in the 62nd minute and then Havertz put the game to bed in the 76th minute with a clinical finish from a counter-attacking move. The Gunners weren’t done yet though and they completed the rout through a fantastic curled finish from Ethan Nwaneri in stoppage time.
This was a statement win from the Gunners as they kept the pressure on table toppers Liverpool reducing the gap to six points while City fell further away from the title race.
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