OPINION: WHY MANCHESTER CITY’S RECENT SLUMP IS HANDING ARSENAL THE PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE
Chelsea’s late draw at Man City leaves Arsenal clear at the top. Explore the fallout for Liverpool, Man Utd, and the title race.
Chelsea did Arsenal a big favor in the title race, with Enzo Fernandez smashing in a stoppage-time equalizer that kept Manchester City from closing the gap at the top. City took the lead in the first half through Tijjani Reijnders and looked set to pick up three points, but Fernandez stepped up and grabbed a late 1-1 draw for Chelsea—just three days after they sacked Enzo Maresca.
That late goal, on a freezing night at the Etihad, means Arsenal finish the busy holiday stretch six points clear. They’ve collected 48 points from 20 games, while City and Aston Villa sit on 42.
Draws were the theme of the day. Liverpool stretched their unbeaten run to eight league games, but they let in yet another late goal and had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Fulham. Cody Gakpo looked like he’d won it for Liverpool deep into stoppage time. Then Harrison Reed unleashed a 30-meter rocket in the 97th minute to snatch a point for Fulham.
City are still fourth with 34 points, just three ahead of both Chelsea and Manchester United. United had Matheus Cunha to thank for a point after his equalizer earned them a 1-1 draw at Leeds.
Pep Guardiola’s City had built up pressure on Arsenal with six straight wins and were right on their heels at Christmas, but they’ve lost momentum with back-to-back draws—first at Sunderland, now at home against Chelsea.
As for Liverpool, their title hopes are all but done. Their habit of conceding late goals is starting to threaten even their top-four chances. They went behind to Harry Wilson’s early strike at Craven Cottage, but Florian Wirtz—who’s finally finding his feet at Liverpool—leveled things up. Gakpo’s late goal looked like a winner, but then Reed stunned them with his screamer. Liverpool have made a habit of letting in late goals: they did it against Crystal Palace and Chelsea in October and again at Leeds last month. Arne Slot summed it up: “Unfortunately, I’ve been experiencing this for months now.”
Manchester United under Ruben Amorim have only lost two of their last 14 league games, but too many draws against weaker sides are holding them back. After Tuesday’s embarrassing draw at home to bottom club Wolves, they dropped more points at Leeds and were lucky to escape with a draw after Brenden Aaronson put Leeds ahead. Cunha’s equalizer—just his fourth since his £62.5m move from Wolves—rescued a point, but it did nothing to lift the mood around Amorim, whose job security is still a talking point.
Tottenham’s home struggles continued with a 1-1 draw against Sunderland, piling more pressure on Thomas Frank. Ben Davies thought he’d delivered a rare home win, but Brian Brobbey powered in an 80th-minute equalizer.
Newcastle finally found some form as captain Bruno Guimaraes headed them in front against Crystal Palace, and Malick Thiaw sealed a 2-0 win that nudged Eddie Howe’s side into the top half.
The Premier League keeps rolling with a full slate of midweek games: Arsenal hosts Liverpool on Thursday, and City takes on Brighton on Wednesday.
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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