New Delhi: Premier League matchday 26 started in grand fashion after Brentford thrashed Leicester City 4-0 on Friday. Following the game, Saturday saw Manchester United draw 2-0 late against Everton after being in a two-goal deficit until the 72nd minute. After action at Goodison Park, five matches took place simultaneously with Bournemouth hosting Wolves.
Relegation zone side Ipswich Town faced Tottenham Hotspur who have now pulled themselves much above the 18th place. Fulham hosted Crystal Palace, who are now looking to break into the top ten place. Title contenders Arsenal were playing West Ham, while table’s last-placed side Southampton were facing Brighton.
Arsenal 0-1 West Ham
Jarrod Bowen and @WestHam end Arsenal’s 15-match unbeaten run ⚒️#ARSWHU pic.twitter.com/8UbS0lIaSS
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 22, 2025
Arsenal have been countering too many injuries and at Emirates Stadium, the Gunners did face some heat for not having the squad at full strength. Mikel Arteta has been playing with make-shift tactical plans and West Ham benefited from this. Both sides were unable to threaten each other Jarrod Bowen broke the deadlock after Aaron Wan-Bissaka played a brilliant pass to the Hammers captain in the 44th minute to take a lead at the break.
The second half of the game required West Ham to defend their life to take advantage of their lead from the first half and that is exactly what the visitors did. The Hammers were helped by Myles Lewis-Skelly getting a red card in the 73rd minute, leaving the second-placed Arsenal clawing to make a comeback but the Gunners failed as they stand eight points away from Liverpool at the top of the table.
Bournemouth 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Bournemouth were coming home after being beaten in their last outing at the Vitality Stadium ending in a 2-0 loss against league leaders Liverpool. However, it wasn’t a pleasant outing with Illia Zabarnyi getting a red card which reduced the Cherries to 10 men. Just five minutes later Matheus Cunha scored after Marshal Munetsi deflected a Nelson Semedo cross.
Wolves have struggled in the season and a lead from the first half was enough for them to keep the Cherries away from taking a point this weekend. Wolves came close to scoring their second goal in the 62nd minute but Marshall Munetsi couldn’t confidently dispatch a Jean-Ricner Bellegarde pass. Wolves kept threatening the Bournemouth defence but couldn’t score the second time while Bournemouth created little chance for themselves.
Ipswich Town 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur
Brennan Johnson gave Tottenham Hotspur an early lead at Portman Road when Heung-Min Son dribbled past Ipswich Town’s resistance to lay an easy cross for his teammate in the 18th minute. Eight minutes later the pair again repeated this after Rodrigo Bentacur made a brilliant pass to Son who then ran across the box for Johnson to score his brace. Ipswich managed to pull one back after Omari Hutchinson made a brilliant finish from a Jack Clarke assist.
Luke Woolfenden had scored the equalizer but VAR ruled it offside. After this, the Lillywhites were determined to not let their first-half efforts go to waste with Johnson almost coming close to scoring his hat-trick. Djed Spence scored the third goal after James Maddison made an incredible run inside the box before slipping the ball to his teammate. Dejan Kulusevski sealed the game for Tottenham after Dane Scarlett flicked served him perfectly.
Fulham 0-2 Crystal Palace
It was a slow start to the game, with players from both sides staying cautious at the start of the game. It took 25 minutes for the first shot on target of the match. Fulham though were unable to create chances and Crystal Palace outworked them. Palace took the lead in the 37th minute when Will Hughes’s brilliant corner came right for Maxence Lacroix but Joachim Andersen deflected the ball to his own goal, giving them a lead at the break.
Palace were looking to seal their fate three points from the game while Emile Smith Rowe was fighting for his team to take a single point from the game. However, the English footballer had no assistance from his team while Palace kept creating chances. Daniel Munoz doubled the lead in the 66th minute with Jean-Phillippe Mateta going past his opponents before curling the pass.
Southampton 0-4 Brighton and Hove Albion
Brighton have been in a good touch this season and playing Southampton at St Mary proved no challenge for the Seagulls. Joao Pedro delivered the opening goal in the 23rd minute after managing to go past Aaron Ramsdale from 15 yards. For the most part, the Saints were unable to put any pressure on Brighton as they went into the break with a goal in their pocket.
Returning from the break the Seagulls were ruthless with Georginio Rutter tapping the second goal in the 56th minute after Yankuba Minteh managed to quickly react and served an easy ball for his teammate. Kaoru Mitoma scored the third goal that sealed Southampton’s fate after Pedro played a through ball inside the circle. Mitoma had no problem in moving the huge gap left by the Saints’ defence. The fourth came when Jack Hinselwood scored from Brajan Gruda’s corner.
Injury-riddled Arsenal fail to close the gap between themselves and Liverpool after losing 1-0 to West Ham. Tottenham take a 4-1 win over Ipswich Town, while Brighton and Hove Albion thrash Southampton 4-0. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
