When Manchester City kicked off against Sunderland on New Year’s Day, which was only seven days ago, they were within a win of Premier League leaders Arsenal and had the Gunners looking nervously over their shoulders.
But Pep Guardiola’s side drew that game to slip four points adrift. Since then, they have drawn two more, and are in grave danger of handing the title over to Mikel Arteta’s men. Last weekend, City led Chelsea until the 94th minute when Enzo Fernandez scored a scrappy goal at the third attempt, and on Wednesday, City again conceded another leveller to throw two points away against Brighton.
Erling Haaland, without a goal in three games, which represents a drought for the Norwegian scoring machine, gave City the lead from the penalty spot after Jeremy Doku had been fouled by Diego Gomez, but Kaoru Mitoma equalised for the Seagulls in the second half. The Sky Blues created three big chances late in the game but fluffed them all, registering only six shots on target from 22 attempts.
Once again, Pep Guardiola cut a frustrated figure on the touchline, and it is hard to fathom why his team has suddenly lost its bite since the turn of the year.
Arsenal went into this midweek round with clear daylight between them and the rest, and now they have a great chance to stretch the gap to eight points when they play Liverpool on Thursday night, following City’s slump. And Aston Villa, level on points with the Sky Blues, failed to win for only the second time in 14 outings when they were held to a 0-0 draw away to Crystal Palace.
Bees up to fifth
The West London derby between Fulham and Chelsea grabbed the Premier League 2026 news headlines, as the first Blues game watched by new manager Liam Rosenior. And he must know he has plenty of work to do after seeing his new side fall to eighth in the league table following a 2-1 defeat. Wing-back Marc Cucurella was red-carded early in the game, and the Cottagers went ahead thanks to a brilliant Raul Jimenez header. The Blues levelled through Liam Delap, but Fulham’s in-form Harry Wilson made it 2-1 with his seventh goal of the campaign.
This was a great result for Marco Silva’s men, but the Kings of West London right now are Keith Andrews’ Brentford, who climbed up to fifth place in the Premier League table after they swept aside Sunderland 3-0. And the red-hot Igor Thiago continued his scoring streak with a double to follow on from his hat-trick against Everton last time out. Thiago has scored 16 so far this term and is clear in second place in the race for the golden boot, four behind Haaland and six ahead of Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo. And he has just become the highest scoring Brazilian in the Premier League in a single season, passing the tallies or Roberto Firmino, Matheus Cunha, and Gabriel Martinelli. That is some company to keep, so what price would be needed to take Thiago away from Brentford?
Yehor Yarmolyuk scored the Bees’ third with his first goal in 90 games to round off a great week. Not so long ago, the SBOTOP Premier League 2026 betting odds pitched the Bees as one of the relegation candidates, but Andrews has picked up where Frank left off, and Brentford are dreaming of European football again.
So the Bees are fifth, and Newcastle United moved up to sixth after they won a seven-goal thriller against Leeds United, Harvey Barnes netting the winner in the 12th minute of injury time.
Forest win the “Survival Cup Final”
If ever there was a man who knows how to scrap for a tight win, it is Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche. And his Nottingham Forest side did just that as they beat 18th placed West Ham United 2-1 to pull seven points clear of the drop zone in 17th.
The Hammers looked to be on their way to a victory, which would have closed the gap to one point, when Forest centre-back Murillo put through his own net. But after Cysensio Summerville’s strike was ruled out midway through the second half, the Hammers began to choke, and goals from Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White gave Forest a vital three points.
That result was bad news too for Burnley, who played out a 2-2 draw with Manchester United in the Red Devils’ first game following the sacking of Ruben Amorim. The Clarets remain eight points from safety, but it could have been worse after a quick-fire Benjamin Sesko double had turned the game in United’s favour.
A brilliant strike from Jaidon Anthony made it 2-2, but Burnley could not find a winner Now, much like West Ham, they have a mountain to climb.
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