ASTON VILLA STUN ARSENAL LATE: BUENDíA WINNER SPARKS TITLE RACE
Unai Emery's Villa beat Arsenal 2-1 to close the gap on the leaders. Cash and Buendía scored in the thrilling Premier League clash.
Mikel Arteta knew going to Villa Park wouldn't be easy for his Arsenal team, the current Premier League leaders. In January, Aston Villa came back from two goals down to tie Arsenal at their home stadium, a result that put Arsenal behind Liverpool in the title race. Two seasons ago, Villa beat Arsenal twice, including a late away win that helped Manchester City win the league.
So, Arteta and Arsenal knew they had a tough job against a Villa team that had won 12 of their last 14 games, including eight of their last nine league games. Unai Emery also knew it wouldn't be easy against an Arsenal side that had won 17 of their 21 games this season and improved their team over the summer. Even with Cristhian Mosquera out with an ankle injury, they still looked strong. Interestingly, Arteta replaced Emery as manager six years ago, aiming to win a title they haven't won since 2003-04.
Have Villa now joined the title race? The fans went wild after Emiliano Buendía, who came off the bench, scored in the 94th minute to win the game, their ninth in the last 10 matches, suggesting they have. Emiliano Martínez, the former Arsenal goalkeeper, joined his Villa teammates in celebrating the win. This game, between the teams now in first and second place and only three points apart, certainly lived up to the hype, especially considering Villa's slow start to the season.
Villa took the lead in the first half with a goal from Matty Cash. Just minutes after Declan Rice blocked Cash's shot, the Villa right-back scored through the legs of David Raya after Timber touched Pau Torres's cross. Emery celebrated as the Villa players ran to the corner flag to celebrate with Cash.
Arteta made quick changes, bringing on Viktor Gyökeres and Leandro Trossard at halftime. Trossard almost scored a volley in the 50th minute, and soon after, he tied the game. Declan Rice won the ball and set up Ødegaard, who found Bukayo Saka. Martínez saved Saka's cross, but Trossard scored on the rebound.
"Just win your games and see what happens," Arteta had said before the game. While Arsenal had momentum after tying the game, Villa didn't give up. Donyell Malen shot just wide, and Martínez saved a shot from Ødegaard. In the end, Buendía scored the winning goal almost at the last second.
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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