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Merino Saves The Day: Premier League Round-up
Blogs

Merino Saves The Day: Premier League Round-up

18/02/25 03:04

Premier League Round-up: Matchday 25

From unlikely hero's to disappointing collapses, matchday 25 in the Premier League was nothing short of entertaining. A look into the weekends action and results.

Brighton 3-0 Chelsea

Chelsea’s recent struggles went from bad to worse as they suffered a second consecutive defeat to Brighton.

The Seagulls knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup last Saturday with a 2-1 victory, thanks to goals from Rutter and Mitoma.

Mitoma would haunt Chelsea once again, scoring a goal of the season contender, having brought down goalkeeper Verbruggen’s long ball with a ‘Messi-like’ touch before curling the ball into the bottom corner.

Minteh would add a second just before half-time finishing from close range off an assist from Welbeck. The Gambian winger would add a second to his tally on the day, following another assist from Welbeck in the second half.

The loss meant that Chelsea had won just two of their last ten matches in the Premier League.

Leicester City 0-2 Arsenal

Mikel Merino would be the unlikely hero for Arsenal, as the Spanish midfielder would be deployed as a striker in the absence of Havertz - who will miss the remainder of the season through injury.

The Gunners would start the game with a front three of Sterling, Trossard and Nwaneri but would fail to convince Arteta that a goal was coming as a unit.

A half-time introduction of Merino would surprisingly spark some life into the Gunners, as he would replace Sterling.

17 year-old sensation Nwaneri, who has come close to giving Arsenal the lead in the first half if it wasn’t for the woodwork, would find Merino to break the deadlock.

Merino would find himself amongst the goals just three minutes later to seal the victory.

Another disappointing defeat for a Leicester team that could have taken the lead had it not been for Lewis-Skelly’s efforts in stopping de Cordova-Reid.

The win put Arsenal six points behind Liverpool as things stood, in the race for the Premier League title.

West Ham United 0-1 Brentford

Brentford would win their third consecutive match away from home, thanks to a first-half goal from Kevin Schade.

A comfortable display from the Bees, who had two goals by Yoane Wissa ruled out for offside and had hit the post on multiple occasions.

Despite winning the possession battle, Graham Potter’s West Ham side failed to have that cutting edge in front of goal, resulting in just three shots on target from 13 shots.

The loss sees West Ham sit 16th in the table, having failed to win in any of their last four matches.

Southampton 1-3 Bournemouth

Bournemouth’s push for European football continued with an emphatic 3-1 victory against south coast rivals Southampton.

The Cherries would take a 2-0 lead after just 16 minutes, thanks to goals from Dango Ouattara and Ryan Christie. Kamaldeeb Sulemana would pull one back for the Saints but a late strike from Marcus Tavernier would sink Ivan Juric’s side.

Southampton are currently rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table with just nine points from 25 matches.

On the other hand, Bournemouth see themselves 5th in the table, just one point outside the Champions League places.

Aston Villa 1-1 Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town provided a brave performance against an Aston Villa side who continue to chase European football.

The biggest highlight of a pretty uneventful first half was the sending off of Ipswich’s Axel Tuanzebe for two yellow card offences.

Relegation battling Ipswich would take the lead through Liam Delap, who had got onto the end of Omari Hutchinson’s cross - the 10th goal of the season for the English striker.

Villa would pull one back thanks to Ollie Watkins reacting first to Marcus Rashford’s free-kick, which had happened to crash off the crossbar.

Ipswich goalkeeper Alex Palmer would make sure Kieran McKenna’s side would leave with a point, stopping a deflected effort from Rashford.

With the points shared, Ipswich climb above Leicester City into 18th position while Aston Villa rise to 9th.

Manchester City 4-0 Newcastle United

January signing Omar Marmoush introduced himself to English football with a hat-trick against Newcastle United to keep Manchester City’s Champions League aspirations alive.

Having struggled to defend their Premier League title, Manchester City bounced back from a 5-1 defeat against Arsenal on the 2nd February.

Marmoush opened the scoring in the 19th minute, getting on the end of Ederson’s long pass before a comfortable finish saw him add a second just five minutes later.

The Egyptian attacker would round out his hat-trick with a finish from ten yards out. Just 14 minutes separated the opener and the third goal.

Newcastle would struggle to really get into the game, registering just one shot on target and 38% possession.

James McAtee would add a fourth on the day for the Citizens with a close range finish off a flick-on from a corner.

Three points for Manchester City see Pep Guardiola’s team sit 4th in the league standings.

Newcastle had failed to capitalise on a chance to move to 4th in the table, instead falling to 7th.

Fulham 2-1 Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest’s fairytale season took a hit as Fulham would take all three points from the clash at Craven Cottage. It would take just 15 minutes for Marco Silva’s side to take the lead, as Adama Traore picked out Emile Smith-Rowe who headed home over Morato.

Chris Wood took his tally to 18 goals on the campaign just eight minutes later, curling a deflected low effort into the bottom corner. Relentless pressure from Fulham after the half-time break was enough to grab a winner in the 62nd minute.

Raul Jimenez was able to get his head onto the end of an inswinging corner, which fell to Bassey who would head the ball into the back of the net.

Fulham registered 25 shots and ten on target compared to Nottingham Forests’ eight shots with two on target.

Fulham climbed to eighth in the table, five points behind the Champions League positions while Nottingham Forest remained third.

Crystal Palace 1-2 Everton

A first Premier League start for Everton’s Carlos Alcaraz resulted in a fifth consecutive match without a loss for Everton.

Alcaraz, who had joined the Toffees in January from Brazilian side Flamengo, slotted home a close range effort with ten minutes remaining to sink Crystal Palace.

Beto continued his impressive form, having scored the opener in the 42nd minute before Jean-Philippe Mateta scored his 11th of the season to level the scoring.

Everton climbed to 14th in the table, 13 points clear of the relegation zone.

Crystal Palace sit 13th in the Premier League on the same number of points as Everton after 25 matches.

Liverpool 2-1 Wolves

Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League table remained at seven points, as Mohamed Salah continued his incredible form against Wolves.

Liverpool would take the lead 15 minutes from kick-off thanks to Luis Diaz, who was able to get on the end of a deflected cross from Salah.

The Egyptian attacker would take his tally to 23 goals, converting from the penalty spot in the 37th minute.

With Liverpool looking towards another comfortable win, Wolves would put the pressure back on in the second half. A goal from Matheus Cunha in the 67th minute would put a scare into Liverpool.

Vitor Pereira’s side would continue to push for an equaliser but fail in their attempts.

Wolves sit 17th in the Premier League, two points above the relegation zone.

Tottenham 1-0 Manchester United

James Maddison silenced the critics as he scored the winner in a clash between two of the Premier League’s most disappointing sides.

Having missed almost a month of action through injury, Maddison would make an instant impact capitalising on Onana’s attempt to parry Lucas Bergvall’s attempt to safety in the 13th minute.

Manchester United would have opportunities to level the scoring but failed to hit the target on many occasions.

Djed Spence continued his impressive form picking up the Player of the Match award for the evening.

The win takes Spurs to 12th in the table and secure a first home league win since November. Manchester United fall to 15th in the Premier League.

Tottenham supporters would stay after the final whistle to protest against the clubs ownership and Daniel Levy.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist
Reece Coughlan

Writer

English Premier League
19/02/25 19:30
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