Football writer Ben Bloom analyses the Matchweek 32 action in the Premier League so far, including big wins at both ends of the table.
With Liverpool winning and Arsenal drawing, Arne Slot’s side moved to the cusp of claiming a Premier League title that could now be theirs as soon as this weekend.
The battle for European spots remains fierce, with only three points separating third from seventh as Newcastle United, Manchester City and Aston Villa all notched emphatic victories.
At the other end of the table, Wolverhampton Wanderers continued their fine run with a fourth successive win, as Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United’s Premier League campaigns continue to go from bad to worse.
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After a run of six Premier League matches that had produced only 10 goals, Man City’s entertainers returned in style by coming back from an early two-goal deficit to thump Crystal Palace.
Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Omar Marmoush, Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly ensured this was only the third time a side had won by a three-goal margin despite trailing by two goals in the Premier League (after Arsenal v Spurs in February 2012 and Man Utd, also against Spurs, in April 2009).
It was also the 63rd time City had scored five goals in a single Premier League match – five more than any other team in the competition.
Palace were far the better team in the early stages, Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards putting the visitors ahead before they had a third goal ruled out by a narrow offside.
Inspired by a wonderful De Bruyne performance, City were soon unstoppable. The Belgian scored and assisted for the 28th time in the Premier League – only Mohamed Salah (42), Wayne Rooney (36), Thierry Henry (32) and Alan Shearer (31) have done so on more occasions.
Ederson, who departed late on through injury, provided the assist for McAtee’s goal to take his assists tally for the Premier League season to four this season – twice as many as any other goalkeeper in a single season in the competition.
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Leicester City ended one of the Premier League’s worst barren runs to put another dent in Brighton & Hove Albion’s hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side had conceded 22 goals since last scoring during a run of eight successive defeats – the second-longest goalless sequence in the same Premier League campaign after Ipswich Town in April 1995 (27 conceded).
However, Leicester twice hit back to equalise from a brace of Joao Pedro penalties to earn a point and avoid losing in the league for only the second time this calendar year.
After a run of four consecutive wins across February and March, Brighton are now winless in their last four league matches, and sit six points off Villa in seventh place.
Joao Pedro twice put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot to take his goal haul to 10 for the season. Only Glenn Murray (13 in 2018/19 and 12 in 2017/18) have scored more Premier League goals for the Seagulls in a season.
Stephy Mavididi netted Leicester’s first Premier League goal since January, with Caleb Okoli adding a second.
Nonetheless, Leicester remain 17 points from safety with only 18 points left to play for. They next face league leaders Liverpool.
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Everton have recorded a competition-high 14 draws this season and their visit to the City Ground looked to be adding to that tally, only for Abdoulaye Doucoure to produce the latest of winners in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Forest have been imperious at home this campaign, losing only twice prior to this match and not since a 3-1 defeat by Newcastle last November.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side had gone 449 minutes without conceding at the City Ground since a Paul Onuachu goal for Southampton in January.
But Doucoure popped up at the death to secure an Everton win and move the Toffees above Man Utd and Spurs into 13th place.
Forest remain in third but, after suffering successive defeats, their cushion to seventh spot is now three points.
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After 73 minutes of frustration, Villa became the first team in Premier League history to have three different substitutes score.
Against already relegated and managerless Southampton, goals from Ollie Watkins, Donyell Malen and John McGinn provided a big confidence boost ahead of Villa’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg with Paris Saint-Germain.
Villa have now scored 10 goals via substitutes in the Premier League this season, with five of those strikes coming in their last three matches.
Amazingly, the wide-margin win came despite Marco Asensio missing two second-half penalties, becoming just the fourth player to achieve the unwanted feat in a Premier League match, after Juan Pablo Angel (February 2005), Darren Bent (April 2010) and Saido Berahino (April 2016).
It meant a fourth successive Villa league win for the first time since April 2023, boosting hopes of a return to the Champions League next season regardless of their match against PSG.
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With their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid upcoming on Wednesday, a much-changed Arsenal team suggested Mikel Arteta believes a Premier League title challenge is effectively over. The hosts are now 13 points behind Liverpool with 18 points to play for.
Thomas Partey gave Arsenal the lead just after the hour mark following fine work from Declan Rice, but Arteta’s side could only come away with a draw.
Rice's assist for Partey
It means they have dropped 16 points from winning positions this season – just one fewer than they had in the past two campaigns combined (eight in 2022/23 and nine in 2023/24).
Rice has now been involved in 16 goals in 44 matches in all competitions this season (seven goals and nine assists), his joint-best return in a single campaign.
Brentford had an Expected Goals (xG) total of just 0.19 against Arsenal – the fourth-lowest for a team to avoid defeat in a Premier League match this season.
Yet Yoane Wissa’s equaliser secured a point, with his 15th Premier League goal this season. Brentford are the first side to have two players score 15 or more goals this season, with Bryan Mbeumo on 16.
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How different Ipswich's season might have been if they could hold onto leads. Once again, at Stamford Bridge, it was a case of so near but so far as Kieran McKenna’s side relinquished a two-goal advantage to draw 2-2 with Chelsea.
The visitors scored twice in the opening half when Julio Enciso and Ben Johnson traded roles as scorer and provider. Enciso’s first goal of the season came after a league-high 35 unsuccessful shots in the Premier League. Everton’s Jesper Lindstrom now holds the record of most shots without scoring this campaign, with 28.
But Ipswich have lost 27 points from winning positions, more than any other team in the Premier League this season, as an Axel Tuanzebe own goal and a wonderful Jadon Sancho strike levelled the score. Sancho’s goal ended a run of 16 Premier League matches without finding the net.
Chelsea’s total of 34 shots was their most in a league game in which they failed to win since a 0-0 draw with West Ham United in January 2014.
Cole Palmer has now gone 14 matches without scoring, while Nicolas Jackson has not managed a goal in 11 games.
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Liverpool could potentially wrap up the Premier League title in their next match after edging past West Ham. Should Arsenal lose at Ipswich and Liverpool beat Leicester, Slot’s side would become champions with five matches remaining.
There was a familiar architect to this win, with Salah, fresh from signing a new two-year contract, providing Luis Diaz an early opener.
Salah has been directly involved in 45 Premier League goals this season (27 goals and 18 assists), a new record for a player in a 38-game season, overtaking Henry from 2002/03 and Erling Haaland in 2022/23, who both produced 44 goal involvements.
The hosts’ superiority faded after half-time though, and West Ham gained a deserved equaliser courtesy of an Andy Robertson own goal.
Captain Virgil van Dijk then headed his side to victory in the last minute of normal time to ensure Liverpool have won each of their last six Premier League matches at Anfield.
Since his Premier League debut in September 2015, Van Dijk has scored more goals in the competition than any other centre-back, with 24.
West Ham are now winless in their last five Premier League matches.
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Wolves’ resurgence under Vitor Pereira continued with a fourth successive Premier League win for the first time in their history.
Prior to Pereira's arrival, Wolves had claimed only nine points from 16 matches this season, but have now earned 26 from the same number of games under the Portuguese head coach – more than the bottom three Premier League clubs combined during that time.
Rayan Ait-Nouri’s opener after just 85 seconds was their earliest Premier League goal, with Jorgen Strand Larsen, Matheus Cunha and a Djed Spence own goal adding to Wolves' joy.
Since Ange Postecoglou took over at Spurs ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, only West Ham and Sheffield United (both seven) have scored more Premier League own goals than the six of Spurs.
Mathys Tel and Richarlison twice reduced the deficit to a single goal, but Spurs swiftly conceded again on both occasions.
Only the bottom three clubs have lost more Premier League matches than Spurs’ 17 this season.
That is the most defeats they have suffered in a league campaign since 2003/04. Now down to 15th, Spurs are in danger of matching their lowest Premier League finish of 15th in 1993/94.
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With a first league double over Man Utd since 1930/31, Newcastle edged closer to Champions League football next season, moving one point off third with a match in hand.
Newcastle have won 12 of their last 16 Premier League games since mid-December – during that period only Liverpool (41) have picked up more points than Newcastle’s 36. Slot’s side have also played two more matches in that time.
Two goals from Harvey Barnes, and one apiece for Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, ensured a resounding win, with Barnes notching three goals and two assists across his last four league appearances.
Ruben Amorim’s side have won only two of their past nine top-flight games, with their 14 defeats matching their highest tally of Premier League losses from last season.
Amorim dropped goalkeeper Andre Onana, but his replacement Altay Bayindir made a mistake to gift Newcastle one of their four goals.
Only Southampton and Villa, with 19 and 13 respectively, have made more errors leading to goals in the Premier League this season than Man Utd's 12, who made two against Newcastle.
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Antoine Semenyo’s first-minute goal proved decisive as AFC Bournemouth boosted their European hopes with a 1-0 victory over Fulham at the Vitality Stadium.
Semenyo’s eighth Premier League goal of the season was enough to snap a run of six top-flight matches without a win for the Cherries.
Bournemouth – who pegged Fulham back to a 2-2 draw late on in the reverse fixture in December – had to hold onto their lead for all but the opening 53 seconds of Monday’s encounter.
Evanilson squandered a chance to make matters more comfortable for Bournemouth when he hit the crossbar from close range, but Fulham could not make their hosts pay for that profligacy.
The victory takes Bournemouth up into eighth, a place above Fulham and right back in the mix for European qualification, while the Cottagers’ slim hopes of pushing for a UEFA Champions League place have likely been extinguished.
Bournemouth have now matched their record Premier League points tally of 48, which they set last season.