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Five Things you may have Missed in the Premier League this Weekend
Blogs

Five Things you may have Missed in the Premier League this Weekend

11/03/25 12:16

Five Things You May Have Missed in the Premier League this Weekend

Another weekend of Premier League action has passed us by, and at the end of it has left every side with just 10 (or fewer) games in which to sort out their affairs. For some, like Southampton and Liverpool, outcomes look like destiny, with the two sides separated to such an extent at both ends of the table it would be an achievement if their positions changed at all.

For others, particularly those in the thick of the race for Europe, success is very much there for the taking. Throughout the season, those chasing European football next season have continually been tripping one another up, and as a result, fourth and 10th place are separated by just 7 points.

The intensity inevitably rises as we reach the tail-end of the season, and as a result, there is plenty of drama on and off the pitch as tensions run just a little bit higher. So, without further ado, here are five things you may have missed in the Premier League this weekend.

5. Cole Palmer’s Spot Kick Record in Tatters

As a Chelsea fan, I never thought I would see the day that Cole Palmer had a confidence crisis. And yet here we stand. The Chelsea talisman managed 17 goal contributions in as many games at the start of the season. He has managed just three in the next 17.

In Palmer’s defence, it is not as if he has suddenly stopped creating, but the chances he does provide are often met with wild and wayward finishes that make the opportunity look harder than it actually was.

Despite his drop in form, many had come to view Palmer’s spot kick as, well, spotless. It seemed certain that when Chelsea were awarded a penalty, a goal was the only certain outcome.

However, Sunday’s fixture against Leicester City proved that the Man City Youth graduate is in fact human. With 20 minutes on the clock and the scores tied at 0-0, Jadon Sancho’s quick feet brought a rash tackle from Foxes left-back Victor Kristiansen, and referee Tim Robinson didn’t hesitate in pointing to the spot.

The anticipation around Stamford Bridge was palpable. The fans were expecting Palmer to convert, break his duck, and revert to the creative genius of old, convinced that anything he tried would come off.

But Leicester keeper Mads Hermansen had other ideas. He kept Palmer waiting as long as possible, standing off his line and accusing the Englishman of putting the ball in front of the penalty spot.

In all, the penalty was taken three minutes after it was given, which considering the lack of VAR involved in the decision, is an unusually long time. And Hermansen’s antics appeared to have done the job. While Palmer’s penalty was low, powerful, and on target, it lacked accuracy.

Hermansen, diving to his left, superbly tipped the spot-kick behind for a corner, and Palmer’s face said it all. He was as shocked as everyone else inside Stamford Bridge. While the missed penalty didn’t end up affecting the final result, as Marc Cucurella netted a superb long-distance strike for the only goal of the game on the hour mark, the penalty signifies how far Cole Palmer is from his best form.

The Englishman’s barren run now stands at nine games. Failing to provide a goal or assist for such a long period, particularly as your side's star player, can weigh on even the strongest minds, and Palmer looked like he was carrying a burden throughout Sunday’s game.

While he still plays a vital role in Maresca’s Chelsea side, he needs to let things come to him naturally, because now, whenever he goes for goal, it all looks just that little bit more forced. As a Chelsea fan, I hope his confidence returns soon, because he is such a great asset to the Blue’s, and moreover, to the Premier League itself.

4. Nottingham Forest are the Real Deal

It’s another week where the headline of the Premier League weekend has Nottingham Forest at its centre.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, who let’s not forget only sealed Premier League survival on the penultimate day of last season, continued to defy what few doubters they have left by picking up a crucial, and many would say deserved, 1-0 victory of reigning champions Man City.

Granted, beating Pep Guardiola's team is the easiest it has ever been this season, with the Cityzen’s losing a remarkable 15 of their last 30 games in all competitions. However, Forest can only beat the team put in front of them, and with the quality that still punctuates City’s starting lineup, it was never going to be an easy task.

Strangely it was a mostly drab affair, with City struggling to break down a seemingly impassable Forest backline, while the home side struggled to counter-attack against City’s well organised high line.

It took over an hour for either keeper to be seriously tested. With just over 20 minutes remaining, Callum Hudson-Odoi pulled his trademark run inside, and managed to whip a shot around a couple of City defenders. However, the ball, seemingly destined for the far corner, was somehow tipped onto the post by Ederson, who with his sight obscured by his own defenders, reacted on pure instinct alone.

From then on, Forest were in the ascendancy, and 15 minutes after Ederson’s wondersave, the Brazilian goalkeeper was once again the centre of attention.

Morgan Gibbs-White pinged a beautiful long ball out to Hudson-Odoi, who this time found himself on the opposite wing. Driving into the box and facing up Josko Gvardiol, a quick shift to his right foot opened a line of sight to Man City’s near post.

While his side-footed shot was with accuracy and no shortage of power, Ederson’s positioning made a goal unlikely. However, seemingly misjudging the flight of the ball, the City keeper could only slow the ball on its way into the net, and Forest were en route to another massive upset in their surprise chase for Champions League football.

Nuno Santo deserves enormous credit for the work he is doing at the City Ground. He has instilled a fiery belief in his side that they are good enough to mix it up with England's best. However, the player’s deserve equal praise.

They have taken their manager’s word so literally that not only are they ahead of some of England’s most illustrious clubs in the league; they are now realistic front-runners for a Champions League spot, and could be facing off against Europe’s finest come next autumn.

3. Joao Pedro rescues Brighton from the Spot … Again!

Joao Pedro is quietly having an excellent season down on the south coast. Notching eight goals and six assists in 22 Premier League games, it is hardly a surprise that he is being linked with other, more established European contenders, both in England and abroad.

Over the course of his time with the Seagulls, Joao Pedro has developed a bit of a love story with the penalty spot. Taking 15 during his stint at Brighton, the Brazilian has netted 14 of those, and nodded on the rebound after the solitary miss against Aston Villa.

This total makes up 50% of his 28 goals for the club across all competitions. He is one cool customer from the penalty spot, rarely looking uncomfortable. This weekend that was needed more than ever.

Brighton hosted Fulham on Saturday, and were looking for revenge after suffering a 3-1 defeat to the Londoner’s in December. However, they fell behind 10 minutes before halftime to a neat Raul Jimenez half volley (topped with an … interesting celebration).

Fortunately, Fabian Hurzeler’s side kept their heads up, and equalised six minutes later through a tremendous Jan Paul van Hecke header, which levelled the scores as they players went inside for water and orange slices at the interval.

The second half was one way traffic. Brighton chased all three points with vigour, while it seemed that Marco Silva’s Fulham side was happy to hang on and defend for a point. And it seemed that the visitors' plan had worked, as eight minutes into overtime, the scores remained 1-1.

However, after some lovely skill for Danny Welbeck on the touchline, the ball became loose inside the Fulham penalty area, and as Fulham centre-back Joachim Andersen went to clear it, Joao Pedro stuck out a leg, got his toe to the ball, and sacrificed his shin, as Andersen made contact with that instead.

The noise inside the Amex was deafening, the thrill of a 98th minute penalty coursing through their veins, and the fans knew they had the perfect player on hand to dispatch just such a chance.

Joao Pedro, taking deep breaths from 12 yards, picked his spot, struck the ball with precision, and buried it in the bottom right corner, past the despairing dive of Bernd Leno, sealing a crucial three points in his sides chase for European football.

He never looked likely to miss, and with the pressure of a spot-kick being the last kick of the game, not many players are able to look as relaxed as Pedro. Fabian Hurzeler will need all the composure he can get if he and his Seagulls are to challenge the likes of Newcastle, Chelsea, Bournemouth and Man City for Champions League and Europa League football.

2. It’s the hope that kills you Saint's fans …

Poor old Southampton. Bottom of the league, two wins all season, and on track to match, or even beat, Derby County’s record of the fewest points (11) in a Premier League campaign, the Saint’s return to the English top flight has brought nothing but misery.

Which is why, for 53 minutes, Southampton fans would have been overjoyed as they watched their side frustrate, and even take the lead over Arne Slot’s irresistible Liverpool side.

Resolute in defence for the first 45 minutes, forcing Liverpool into half-hearted long-range efforts, their hard work was rewarded in added time, as a total breakdown in communication between Virgil Van Dijk and midweek Champions League hero Alisson allowed Will Smallbone to slot into an empty net.

Leading at the home of the best team in England at half time, Saint’s fans were starting to think “they couldn’t, could they?”. Well, six minutes into the second period, it turned out they in fact could not.

Darwin Nunez reacted brilliantly to a Luis Diaz cross to smartly divert the ball in at the near post, and three minutes later, an admittedly soft penalty allowed Premier League Player of the Month Mo Salah to give his side the lead from the spot.

Liverpool had come out for the second half a totally different team, and had seemingly got rid of the European hangover in a heartbeat. They kept hammering on the Southampton door, creating chance after chance, and eventually were rewarded, as dogged Luis Diaz chase earned the Reds another penalty, this time for handball.

And in the form Salah has been in, there was only going to be one outcome. Dispatching it into the top corner, he sent Liverpool 16 points clear at the top, a gap that would only be reduced to 15 after Arsenal’s failure to beat an unspectacular Manchester United.

For Southampton, the result sums up their season. Able to produce flashes of brilliance and team cohesion in spells, they simply cannot maintain it throughout the full 90 minutes. Though few thought they would survive, even fewer would have predicted them being this poor. Ivan Juric has taken on an impossible job, and it remains to be seen whether he will be given time to rebuild in the Championship.

1. Bruno Brilliance and Arsenal’s Crumbling Wall

Where would Ruben Amorim, and more importantly Manchester United, be without the irreplaceable Bruno Fernandes. He has been their talisman ever since his arrival in 2019, and his 91st goal for the club saw them take the lead against an unambitious Arsenal side, who saw their title race come to a premature end. Closing a 15 point gap in nine games seems beyond doable for Mikel Arteta’s side.

Opting to play a low block, in an attempt to keep Arsenal at arms length, Amorim’s tactics restricted United’s attackers to rare counter-attacking opportunities. It was an understandable approach, given Arsenal netted seven against PSV Eindhoven in midweek, but nevertheless, Fernandes, Garnacho and co. would have been impatient for the ball to come their way.

Down the other end, the defensive approach was working, and Arsenal were becoming frustrated at the lack of openings and wasteful finishing. It seemed that frustration bubbled a little too close to the surface for Leandro Trossard, who eventually hauled down Garnacho 25 yards from his own goal, in a reckless, irritated challenge.

Of course, Fernandes presided over the free-kick, like we have all seen so many times before. A superb striker of the ball, many Arsenal fans were fearing that David Raya would be forced into action here.

But Fernandes’ strike rendered the Spanish goalkeeper a despairing bystander, as the ball arrowed over the wall and into the near corner, far out of reach from the diving shot-stopper.

After the match, Christian Eriksen went on record saying how United had noticed that Arsenal’s wall was significantly further back than the regulation 10 yards. For Fernandes' goal, the official distance between the wall and the ball was calculated to be 11.2 yards, giving the Portuguese maestro that much more room to get the ball up and down.

Fernandes exploited this defensive peculiarity brilliantly, and though his free kick didn’t seal all three points, it certainly helped them avoid defeat. He is vital to any chance of United recovering some form under Amorim.

So impressive has the attacking midfielder been that he sits alongside Mo Salah and Erling Haaland as the only player to contribute to 25 or more goals over the course of the last three seasons. While Salah and Haaland are doing that with title chasing clubs, Fernandes is producing these numbers at a club closer to the relegation zone than third. You tell me which is more impressive.

Arsenal will be kicking themselves; a draw against the worst Manchester United side in decades certainly isn’t conducive to title contention, and with Liverpool running away with, Mikel Arteta might need to start looking a little more carefully at his “process”.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist
Harry Pascoe

Lead Writer

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