New Delhi: Matchday 20 of the Premier League season began in exciting fashion as new England head coach Thomas Tuchel made his presence known in English football once again as he was in attendance for three huge games this weekend. He started with Newcastle United’s continued strong run of form, when securing a hard-fought 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur. Elsewhere, Bournemouth extended their impressive unbeaten streak to eight games with a narrow 1-0 win over Everton at the Vitality Stadium. As we enter the second half of the league season, things are starting to heat up as every dropped point has it’s consequences now.
At the top end of the table, Manchester City showcased their dominance with a commanding 4-1 victory over West Ham United, securing back-to-back wins for the first time since October. In a cruel twist of fate, this was Manchester City’s turn to take advantage of teams around them faltering. Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool, all of whom sit above Man City in the table dropped points this weekend as they were all held to draws in their fixtures. Let’s dive in to find out what the key learnings were from the latest round of Premier League action.
5) The End is Neigh for West Ham’s Julen Lopetegui
Julen Lopetegui is officially worse than the man who took West Ham down. 🙃 pic.twitter.com/WVbnhmA8b9
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) January 6, 2025
While the writing has been on the wall for Julen Lopetegui since October, it finally seems like the time has come for the Spaniard to bid farewell to his short return to the Premier League. The former Wolves boss was appointed as West Ham gaffer in the summer but things haven’t gone well for the former Real Madrid boss since taking over in May. The Hammers were on the receiving end of another hammering in their latest league fixture.
After being thrashed 5-0 at home by Liverpool in the previous game, Manchester City demolished them 4-1 this past Saturday at the Etihad and it seems to have hammered the final nail in Lopetegui’s coffin. Reports have been doing the rounds since last night that West Ham are on the verge of parting ways with Lopetegui and replacing him with former Chelsea boss Graham Potter and it looks like an official announcement will be made sooner rather than later.
4) Lapse of concentration costs Ipswich Town once again
Twice Fulham went behind, and twice Fulham came back.
An entertaining game in London as Fulham & Ipswich Town score four goals — three of them penalties — and share the points.#FFC remain ninth; #ITFC stay in the relegation zone, but are now level on points with Wolves. pic.twitter.com/7x3blUX01v
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) January 5, 2025
Ipswich Town ended their 2024 in memorable fashion with their first Premier League home win in over 20 years as they saw off Chelsea 2-0 in their final league clash of the year. They almost followed that up with another win over a West London side but a last minute penalty saw them held to a draw against Fulham. Raul Jimenez’s late equalizer denied Ipswich their first back-to-back wins of the season. This wasn’t the first time that the Tractors Boys were denied vital points right at the death.
The draw to Fulham was fourth different occasion where Ipswich Town were denied points by conceding a goal in added time. They lost 4-3 to Brentford in 90+6 after the game was heading to a draw. The following week they were pegged back on level terms in 90+4 by Leicester City when the game was 1-0 in their favour. Bournemouth snatched victory in 90+5′ i early December when the game was level at 1-1. That’s six points they’ve lost in added time this season. If they had managed to hold on in the final moments, they’d have been at 22 points now and sitting in 15th place.
3) Southampton on course to be the worst ever PL side
Southampton have fewer points at this stage of the season than Derby County did back in 2007/08. 😬
The Rams finished on a record low total of 11 points in that campaign.
Will Southampton beat that? #BBCFootball #CRYSOU pic.twitter.com/fm9yrAnj2E
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) December 29, 2024
Southampton are the worst side in the league currently and have been for the most part of the season. The Saints have had a sorry return to the Premier League and it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to avoid the drop this season. The arrival of new manager Ivan Juric hasn’t been able to inspire them to stop the rut and the Croatian has overseen three defeats in three games in charge. This weekend they suffered their third 5+ goal thrashing of the season at home as they were beaten 5-0 by Brentford, giving the Bees their first away win of the season.
With that hefty loss, they have officially had the worst ever start to a Premier League season in history. Their six points from 20 games is the joint-lowest total of points a Premier League side has managed after 20 games, alongwith the 2005-06 Sunderland side. However, Southampton have a worse goal difference than the Black Cats which makes them worse than them. They have gained less points at this than what is the worst ever Premier League side in history, the 2007-08 Derby County side. The Rams had seven points after 20 games and ended the season with 11 and at this point, it doesn’t seem the Saints will be able to reach that figure.
2) Are Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea running out of steam?
Chelsea go winless in their last FOUR Premier League games 🤝❌❌🤝 pic.twitter.com/wPz6PIqWNH
— LiveScore (@livescore) January 4, 2025
Turn your minds to one month back, in the beginning of December, and everyone was claiming Chelsea to be Liverpool’s nearest title contenders and now, in the beginning of January, their are question marks over the Blues even making it into the top four come the end of the season. Life comes at you fast, and if you’re in any way associated with Chelsea, it comes at you faster. The Blues once again lost points from winning situations as they were held 1-1 by Crystal Palace. With the draw to Palace, Chelsea are now winless in their last four games for the first time since May 2023.
In each of the last four games, the Blues haven’t been as clinical as they were in the beginning of the season. They only had one shot on target against Palace from the 15 total shots they took with Nicolas Jackson in particular being wasteful in front of goal. What makes their run worse is that all these games were seen as winnable for Maresca’s side but they’ve only picked up 2 points from a possible 12. So the question that remains is are they running out of steam or is this just a blip? Only time will tell.
1) Manchester United still have a fight left in them
Manchester United’s midfield trio of Manu Ugarte, Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo won a combined 25 ground duels in Sunday’s draw vs. Liverpool 👏
Deserved a win 👊 pic.twitter.com/Bg8pJompZq
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 5, 2025
Possibly the most shocking result of the weekend was saved for the biggest game of the weekend as Manchester United travelled to Anfield to avenge Liverpool’s 3-0 drubbing of them earlier in the season. The Red Devils had been on a four game losing streak prior to the clash and it seemed like Liverpool would run circles around them but what transpired was something else. For much of the first half, Manchester United seemed like much the better side and should’ve scored at least twice before half-time.
They drew first blood in the second half as Lisandro Martinez scored United’s first goal at Anfield in over six years but soon found themselves on the losing end of the scoreline. Just when it seemed like Liverpool would take the three points, Amad Diallo struck back for United, winning them their first point since he won them their last points of they earned prior to the Liverpool game. Harry Maguire had the chance to win the game at the death but blasted his shot over the bar as the score remained level but Manchester United showed that they aren’t down at out yet. They went toe-to-toe with the best side in the league and that might given them the morale boost that they desperately needed.
Following Nottingham Forest’s win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last night, Matchday 20 of the Premier League season is now in the history books. Dive in to find out the key takeaways were from the latest round action. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
