FROM BEST TO WORST: THE SHOCKING COLLAPSE OF EVERTON'S MIDFIELD
Days after beating Man Utd, Everton suffered a 4-1 thrashing by Newcastle, fueled by Pickford's errors and the season's fastest goal. The team must recover quickly for the Tuesday match vs Bournemouth.
The post-mortem for Everton's disastrous game against Newcastle United began well before the final whistle at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Just days after what seemed like their best showing of the season against Manchester United, Everton crashed back down to earth, getting hammered by Newcastle.
Newcastle cruised to their first away win since April, thrashing Everton 4-1. Malick Thiaw scored a lightning-fast goal within 55 seconds. Eddie Howe's team dominated from there. Even though Everton tried to fight back, they were already down 3-0 by halftime, leaving many feeling the game was over.
Knowing their team barely scores three goals in a game, some fans left at halftime. James Tarkowski and Jordan Pickford were already dissecting the mess after Nick Woltemade scored Newcastle's third goal just before the break.
Pickford's mistake gifted Newcastle their second goal, letting Lewis Miley's shot slip right through him.
Then, Pickford was helpless as Thiaw headed in his second goal later in the game.
Even Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's goal—arguably the best of the match—offered little comfort, especially considering Thierno Barry's continued bad luck.
I think we were flat from the start, Everton defender Jake O’Brien admitted. We gave them chances we usually wouldn't.
They scored, and it was an uphill battle from there. We gave them a chance right away, and we were lucky Jordan saved it. But then they scored, giving them momentum.
O'Brien continued with his frank assessment: at times, we held the ball well but left ourselves too exposed.
They took advantage of our sloppy mistakes. Usually, we'd defend those, but that's football.
We were happy on Monday, but today is different. It's important to move past this and go into Tuesday with a positive attitude, aiming for three points.
Next, David Moyes and his team travel to the South Coast to face Bournemouth on Tuesday night. The Vitality Stadium hasn't been kind to Everton in recent years.
Bournemouth is returning home after a 3-2 loss to Sunderland on Saturday. Still, Andoni Iraola's team is unbeaten in all six of their Premier League home games this season.
It's good that the game is on Tuesday. "We need to put Newcastle behind us and get going again because we have a lot of games coming up," O'Brien said.
There are a lot of points to grab, so we need to go into it with a fresh mindset and try to get something out of it.
AWONIYI DOUBLE LEAVES NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON THE VERGE OF PREMIER LEAGUE SAFETY
Nottingham Forest moved closer to safety with a 3-1 win over Chelsea, while West Ham fell into the relegation zone after Spurs won.
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Nottingham Forest came out of the weekend looking pretty safe after pulling off an impressive 3-1 win at Chelsea. They’re almost clear of the relegation mess. Tottenham’s big away win at Aston Villa shook things up too, and now West Ham are back in the bottom three, running out of time faster than ever.
Forest have stepped up just when they needed to, leaving West Ham and Tottenham behind with a string of solid performances. Honestly, no one saw this coming, especially since Vitor Pereira shuffled his lineup with eight changes, fresh off a Europa League win against Aston Villa.
Even so, Forest were ahead within 90 seconds, thanks to Taiwo Awoniyi’s quick strike. By the 15th minute, Igor Jesus calmly buried a penalty after Malo Gusto’s reckless foul in the box. Chelsea had a chance to get back in it, but Cole Palmer wasted a penalty right before the break after a scary head collision involving Jesse Derry.
Awoniyi doubled down and scored again early in the second half, pushing Forest six points ahead of West Ham with just three games left.
West Ham’s weekend started badly; they looked flat and lost to Brentford. Things got worse Sunday night when Tottenham pulled off their first back-to-back Premier League wins since August 2025, beating a heavily rotated Aston Villa side 2-1.
Forest is now out of West Ham’s reach, or almost. Tottenham’s still close enough for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team to worry, but with three tough games coming up, Spurs could stay up even without another win, unless West Ham digs deep and pulls off something unexpected before their home finale against Leeds.
Right now, Forest can practically taste safety. Spurs finally see a way out after weeks of struggle. As for West Ham, they’re left hoping for a miracle, a last-minute twist to dodge the drop.
CESC FABREGAS CONFIRMS INTEREST IN PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN AMID CHELSEA'S MANAGER SEARCH
As Chelsea searches for a new manager, Cesc Fabregas breaks his silence on his future at Como and his Premier League ambitions.
Cesc Fabregas recalls exactly how a conversation with Jose Mourinho prompted him to join Chelsea, despite having the opportunity to return to Arsenal.
After winning six trophies in just three seasons, the Spanish World Cup winner left Barcelona for the second time in 2014. That summer, Fabregas made a move back to the Premier League, signing with Chelsea for about €33 million.
He already knew English football well. Fabregas had arrived at Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003 and made 212 Premier League appearances for them. When he decided to leave Barcelona, Manchester City also wanted him, but Chelsea convinced him, mostly thanks to Mourinho.
Talking with talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings on YouTube, Fabregas laid out how it all happened. “Honestly, when I made up my mind to leave Barcelona, my first thought was just to go back to Arsenal. They had this buyback clause; they had two weeks to use it after I told them I was leaving. They knew about it but didn’t take it. That surprised me a little, but in the end, I had to think about my career. I was 27, at the peak of my career, and I wanted to continue performing and winning trophies. City and Chelsea were both options.
“But when Mourinho spoke to me, that was it. He showed me his plans for the team and told me about Diego Costa, Courtois, and Filipe Luis and how, with those guys, we’d win the league. He was right, by the way. We won both the Premier League and the Carling Cup.”
Fabregas wasted no time winning over Chelsea fans. On his debut at Burnley, he set up two goals, including a stunning assist for Andre Schurrle. He finished his first season at Chelsea with five goals and 24 assists, along with Premier League and League Cup medals.
Things dipped the next season. Fabregas got just 15 goal contributions, and Chelsea slipped all the way to tenth. But when Antonio Conte took charge in 2016-17, they bounced back, and Fabregas picked up another league title.
He added an FA Cup win in 2018, his second, after his earlier one with Arsenal, and left for Monaco a few months later. His last Chelsea match came in the FA Cup against Nottingham Forest. When he got subbed off, he couldn’t hold back tears.
Chelsea supporters still sing about him; that “Oh, Fabregas is magic...” chant sticks around. And with his name in the conversation for a possible return, maybe they haven’t seen the last of him yet.
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