WHY THIERNO BARRY’S TURNAROUND PROVES MOYES WAS RIGHT TO IGNORE THE CRITICS
Thierno Barry continues his hot form with a 76th-minute equaliser for Everton against Leeds. Get the full match report and analysis.
Thierno Barry couldn’t catch a break at first. He went 16 games for Everton without a goal, and it looked rough. But now? He’s scored four times in his last nine matches, and his latest strike pulled a point out of the fire for a Leeds United team that honestly just fell apart.
Barry’s first few months on Merseyside were tough—confidence clearly shot. But once he finally got off the mark in that 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, something clicked. Tonight, he was right where he needed to be, pouncing on a sluggish cross from Idrissa Gueye and turning it into a reward for Everton’s fight and effort. They deserved it.
Leeds actually started strong. James Justin put them ahead about half an hour in, finishing from close range after a storm of attacks. Everton were lucky to reach halftime just one goal down.
For Everton fans, this was the energy they’d been craving, especially after a brutal week where Jack Grealish got ruled out for three months with a broken foot. Watching Barry, Gueye, and Ndiaye take charge in the second half, you could feel the mood shift. Moyes’ team looks in safe hands.
Leeds really could’ve put the game away early. Pascal Struijk hammered a shot over the bar, and Ilia Gruev wasn’t far off either, both inside the first 15 minutes. In between, Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a chance for Leeds when Anton Stach sent him through, but Jake O’Brien managed to throw him off just enough to keep the ball out.
Farke, under pressure from those five losses in six games—not to mention the boos from fans against Villa—switched up the formation. He leaned heavily on his full-backs, and for a while, Justin and Jayden Bogle made it work. Justin even opened the scoring, blasting home after Bogle’s cross split the Everton defence.
Joe Rodon started that move, grabbing a loose ball and linking up with Bogle and Stach, whose passing just sliced through Everton. Justin timed his run perfectly, stormed into the box, and buried it.
By halftime, Leeds looked set for their first away Premier League win in almost four months. Calvert-Lewin nearly made it two, too, smacking the post after another great ball from Bogle.
But after the break, Everton woke up. Around the hour mark, they started piling on the pressure. Ndiaye saw a goal-bound shot blocked by Sebastiaan Bornauw, and just a few minutes later, Thierno Barry forced Karl Darlow into a full-stretch save with a clever outside-of-the-boot effort.
Barry hadn’t scored much since arriving in England, but with about 15 minutes left, he beat Bornauw to Gueye’s low cross and smashed the ball into the roof of the net. The Hill Dickinson crowd went wild—suddenly, you felt like Everton could win this.
Gueye almost turned hero again moments later, rattling the crossbar with a rocket from the edge of the box. The comeback wasn’t complete, but Everton’s attitude and energy had completely changed the game.
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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