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Premier League 2024/25: 5 things we learned from Matchday 21 of the season

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Premier League 2024/25: 5 things we learned from Matchday 21 of the season
Premier League 2024/25: 5 things we learned from Matchday 21 of the season

New Delhi: The latest matchday of the Premier League weekend came to an end following Amad Diallo’s heroics against Southampton last night, helping his side to a 3-1 win. Manchester United ended a run of three consecutive home defeat, sending Southampton deeper into the deep dark hole of relegation. Before that, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea all dropped points with Arsenal being the only top four team to earn a win on this matchday, covering up ground on league leaders Liverpool.

After winning two back to back league games, Manchester City failed to build on that and were pegged back to a draw, blowing away a two goal lead in the final 10 minutes of the game. It doesn’t look like the Cityzens are quite back to top form yet but one team that seems to be firing on all fronts are Eddie Howe’s Newcastle. The Magpies earned another comfortable victory that sees them break into the top four of the Premier League once again. Let’s dive in to find out more about this week’s Premier League action!

5) Alexander Isak is on track to create history

Newcastle United are on a dream run right now and are on a nine match winning streak in all competitions. The Magpies saw off Wolves in their latest encounter, winning the game 3-0 to propel them into the top four once again. Two Newcastle stars have been in top form in this run and they did so once again against Wolves, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon. Iska scored the first two before assisting Gordon’s goal to wrap up the three points for Eddie Howe’s men.

With his goals against Wolves, Isak has now scored in eight consecutive Premier League games, becoming only the fourth player in history to score in eight successive Premier League appearances. He is only three games shy of Jamie Vardy’s record of scoring in the most number of successive games and with the kind of form he’s in, it certainly seems like he will break Vardy’s record of scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League games this season.

4) Ange Postecoglou is living on borrowed time

Spurs seem to be having one of their worst seasons in recent memory. The North London club are sitting outside of the top half of the table for what seems like an eternity now and have slipped to 14th following their defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates. The Lilywhites haven’t won at the Emirates since 2010 and failed again on this matchday despite taking the lead in the game. With Arsenal’s win, they have now completed a double over Spurs this season, gaining the bragging rights for the rest of the season over their arch rivals.

The pressure is now building on manager Ange Postecoglou following yet another disappointing performance. They were almost humiliated by non league side Tamsworth FC in the FA Cup over the weekend and then missed a host of chances against Arsenal to win the game. Ange has overseen 11 Premier League losses this season, which is more than Everton, who recently sacked their manager and the same number as relegation threatened Ipswich Town. If they manage to lose the Carabao Cup second leg to Liverpool, Postecoglou might just be shown the door before the season ends.

3) Nottingham Forest making a credible charge towards UCL

Nottingham Forest have been the biggest surprise package of the season and they established themselves firmly in the UEFA Champions League race. Forest remain the only team to have beaten Liverpool this season and followed that impressive performance once again, this time at home, snatching a point away from Liverpool. They became the first team to avoid defeat to Arne Slot’s team over two games in the season, establishing themselves firmly in the top four.

There have been only three games this season in which Mohamed Salah hasn’t scored or assisted this season and two of those games came against Nottingham Forest, proving their effectiveness. They have beaten the likes of Manchester United, Aston Villa and Spurs in addition to Liverpool and are the only team to have beaten Brentford at home this season. Nuno Santo is building something special this season and this might be the greatest achievement in Premier League history since Leicester City’s title winning season 10 years ago.

2) Chelsea desperately need a back up to Nicolas Jackson

It’s now been five games without a win for Chelsea as they were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Bournemouth. Actually, the Blues were lucky to even leave with a point as Reece James scored a peach of a free-kick right at the death to rescue his side. James’ first Premier League goal of the season made him only the second Chelsea player to score in these last five league games of the season. Since winning 2-1 against Brentford in the middle of December, Chelsea have scored just four goals in five games, with three of those coming from Cole Palmer. The team’s performance against Bournemouth was highly encouraging to look at but was extremely frustrating as well.

They created a host of chances and the result should’ve been beyond any doubts by half time if not for Nicolas Jackson. The Senegalese forward started the season well but hasn’t scored since the Brentford win and missed huge chances in this game as well. Despite getting an assist, Jackson was frustrating to watch as he missed three big chances in the game, hit the woodwork once and finished the game with an xG of 1.11 but no goals. This performance made it clear that Chelsea need a proper number nine to compete with Jackson giving the Senegalese’s tendency to be wasteful in front of goal.

1) Amad Diallo is Man United’s saviour once again

Manchester United were absolutely dismal for most part of the Southampton game last night and were staring at the jaws of defeat with less than 10 minutes remaining on clock. As he has done countless times this season, Amad Diallo was once again the Saint the Red Devils needed to snatch a win against the Saints. Diallo scored thrice within the span of 12 minutes to win the game for Manchester United and also notched up his first ever career hattrick.

This wasn’t the first time Diallo got Manchester United out of pickle this season as he’s scored a last minute winner in the Manchester Derby and also scored a late equalizer in the draw against Liverpool. Five of his six Premier League goals for United this season have either been winners or equalizers and that just proves how important Diallo has been to the club in this difficult period. With his hattrick against Southampton, he became the second youngest Manchester United player to achieve a hattrick, behind only Wayne Rooney in the list.

 Following the end of Matchday 21 mid week fixtures, the Premier League continues to get heated up with lots of thrills and some spills. Let’s dive in to find out the key takeaways from the latest round of action!  Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today

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