Week 25 in the Premier League was brilliant, dramatic and tense all at the same time. This is what it’s all about.
MORE — Latest Premier League table
Liverpool struggled past Wolves after Arsenal won late on at Leicester to briefly cut Liverpool’s lead atop the table to four points. Manchester City secured a big win against Newcastle, Spurs edged past Manchester United and there were big wins for European hopefuls.
A busy weekend is in the books and you can read about what we learned below.
Premier League Week 25
Friday 14 February 2025
Brighton 3-0 Chelsea — Highlights, recap & analysis
Saturday 15 February 2025
Leicester City 0-2 Arsenal — Highlights, recap & analysis
Aston Villa 1-1 Ipswich Town — Highlights, recap & analysis
Fulham 2-1 Nottingham Forest — Highlights, recap & analysis
Man City 4-0 Newcastle United — Highlights, recap & analysis
Southampton 1-3 AFC Bournemouth — Highlights, recap & analysis
West Ham 0-1 Brentford — Highlights, recap & analysis
Crystal Palace 1-2 Everton — Highlights, recap & analysis
Sunday 16 February 2025
Liverpool 2-1 Wolves — Highlights, recap & analysis
Spurs 1-0 Man Utd — Highlights, recap & analysis
Premier League Week 25 — What we learned
Liverpool make their own breaks and get a big one, too
Liverpool’s 2-0 first-half lead was well-earned, as Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, and Mohamed Salah harried the Wolves midfielders and back line. But sometimes breaks help determine a title race, and Liverpool can feel pretty fortunate as Ibrahima Konate should’ve been sent off late in the first half and only one of Diogo Jota’s two clever dives to win penalties was overturned by VAR. Already on a yellow card, Konate left his feet and bodychecked an airborne Matheus Cunha who had already headed a ball outside the Liverpool 18. Match referee Simon Hooper whistled for a foul but somehow the yellow card he drew was shown to Wolves’ center back Emmanuel Agbadou for a loud protestation. Letter of the law it’s hard to argue that Konate deserved to stay on, and Arne Slot subbed the center back off at the break. There’s no guarantee that Wolves would’ve scored two or three goals instead of the one they got playing 11v11 for the final 45 minutes, but these three points feel a lot better than what might’ve come off a second-consecutive blown lead and Premier League draw.
Bergvall, Maddison bring the quality Angeball needs
To play Angeball at its very best you need to have the ball and Spurs duo Maddison and Bergvall are so good on it and keeping it. They dictated the tempo in the first half and with ageing stars Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes United’s only fit midfielders left, Bergvall and Maddison ran rings around them. When your entire style of play is built on winning the ball back as quickly as possible to attack, you need players who can then keep it and sustain attacks and create some magic. Sarr and Bissouma are good at winning it back but not the best at keeping it and having two cool-headed central midfielders to calm things down and speed things up gives Spurs more control in games. Both came off in the second half with Sarr and Bissouma on for more defensive solidity but it was noticeable how Spurs struggled to keep any control late on. That was because Bergvall and Maddison weren’t around to control things and that duo are key moving forward.
Merino can be the emergency answer for Arsenal
Mikel Merino has arrived in the box at key moments throughout this season but on a few occasions he hasn’t had the finishing touch to score. That wasn’t an issue on Saturday as he came on as an emergency striker and finished twice late on to give Arsenal a huge boost in their pursuit of hunting down Liverpool. Merino is a holding midfielder by trade but he does have a knack of arriving into the box and getting in good areas. Mikel Arteta has seen that and has come up with a very creative solution after Arsenal lost striker Kai Havertz to a season-ending injury, with Gabriel Jesus also out for the rest of the season and the duo of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli still out. If the excellent Ethan Nwaneri and Leandro Trossard focus on whipping in brilliant crosses like they did on Saturday, they know Merino will be able to finish them and time his runs to perfection. The only issue for Merino now is that teams will be prepared for him to arrive in the box more often. He may not play every game up front between now and the end of the season but in certain games and in certain situations Merino has proved he can be called upon. In a title race you need unlikely heroes and Merino was certainly that on Saturday.
Hojlund continues to struggle as wastefulness highlights Amad’s absence
Rasmus Hojlund looked like a striker who has scored just two times in 19 Premier league appearances this season. The Danish forward is lacking in confidence and that will happen when midfielders are played ahead of you up top, which has happened a lot recently. Others around Hojlund were better, with Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee showing some nice touches and dangerous on the counter. But both wasted huge chances, Garnacho in the first half and Zirkzee in the second. That highlighted the brutal absence of Amad Diallo, who announced on Saturday he has suffered an ankle injury which will keep him out for some time. If the 22-year-old winger was on the pitch at Spurs he would have surely buried one of those big chances. United are missing their top goal contributor in the Premier League (six goals, six assists) and it showed. Bruno Fernandes did his best to get United going in attack but they have lost eight of their last 12 Premier League games and never looked like they believed they could get an equalizer.
New signings lead City’s nearly-perfect blowout win
Manchester City looked like Manchester City, a welcome sight especially against a top opponent in a four-star demolition. It would be all desserts and drinks for the City faithful were it not for Erling Haaland’s late knee scare but he walked off the pitch for his substitution in no apparent distress to at least grant the illusion of safety on a great day at the Etihad. Omar Marmoush scored three very different and aesthetically-pleasing goals, while Nico Gonzalez was very, very good in the center of the park and Abdukhodir Khusanov showed no signs of the jitters that plagued his City debut. There’s a limitless ceiling on Guardiola’s City when they City play this well, and they’ll need that form with Real Madrid and a rested Liverpool up next, back-to-back.
Everton thriving at the extremes of the pitch (and Jarrad Branthwaite is elite)
No one’s mistaking Everton for a world-beater, as the Toffees under David Moyes are getting solid efforts from all parts of the squad as well as a regression to the norm when it comes to bounces. What’s different about this team is that they are looking very strong at the extremes of the pitch. Carlos “Charly” Alcaraz was lively underneath Beto up top — and attackers in form have not been the norm for Everton aside from now-injured Iliman Ndiaye since Dwight McNeil was hurt in December. Similarly, Jarrad Branthwaite missed a lot of time at center back for the Toffees and now both he and James Tarkowski have found their groove. Branthwaite piled up 18 defensive actions and sent 10 passes into the six, and must be considered the best young Everton prospect since John Stones skipped town at the same age (22).
European hopefuls Fulham leaning on Nuno’s old boys Jimenez and Traore
Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo will have been torn to see his former Wolves stars Raul Jimenez and Adama Traore flying for Fulham and being instrumental in their win against his current team. On one hand he will be ruing them but on the other he will surely be pleased to see the duo back hitting the heights which helped his Wolves side qualify for Europe. Jimenez and Traore have both been on a long journey back to the peak of their powers and it’s fitting that they seem to have finally got back their together. They each grabbed an assist and were so dangerous throughout as Traore was a constant threat and provided brilliant crosses (not least for Smith Rowe’s opener and setting up Jimenez for an early chance) and Neco Williams will be glad to see the end of him. Jimenez led the line so well for Fulham, linking up play, getting on the end of attacks and going close to scoring on multiple occasions. Jimenez and Traore have led a European charge for an unfancied Premier League club before and they’re doing it again for Fulham. Again, Nuno will be upset that his Forest side couldn’t stop Jimenez and Traore but deep down he’ll be pleased to see two players who helped him make his name in England finally getting back to their best.
