Tottenham’s fears of a ruinous relegation from the Premier League deepened after a 3-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest as Aston Villa took control of the race for a place in the Champions League this weekend.
With Arsenal and Manchester City facing off in the League Cup final, the focus was on the battle for Europe and to stay in the lucrative English top flight.
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Villa re-established a cushion in the battle for Champions League riches as they beat West Ham 2-0 to take advantage of defeats for Liverpool and Chelsea.
West Ham’s defeat also meant Spurs avoided dropping into the relegation zone for now, but they have just seven games to arrest an alarming slide and avoid dropping out of the top tier for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Scroll down for the biggest talking points from the weekend’s Premier League action!
City beat Arsenal to 1st domestic title | 02:40
SPURS SINK EVER CLOSER TO ABYSS
Tottenham fans issued a rallying call for the relegation six-pointer against Forest, descending en masse before kick-off to greet the team bus amid a sea of white.
But it made little difference when it came to matters on the field. Spurs are the only side without a Premier League win in 2026 and remain just one point above the relegation zone.
For the second time this season Forest strolled to a 3-0 victory over the Europa League winners.
Igor Tudor missed his post-match duties due to news of a family bereavement. But the Spurs hierarchy have a huge decision to make over the Croatian’s future in the three weeks before they play again.
Hired to bring an immediate lift, Tudor has collected just one point from a possible 15.
“The whole reason the manager was brought in was because he’s had an impact initially at other clubs – that’s the whole remit for him,” Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports.
“The biggest job is to keep Tottenham in the league, but the whole point was to come in and make an impact really quickly.
“He hasn’t made that impact and I think it was always felt that once you got to this international break, it’s almost a ‘see where we are’.
“Unfortunately for him and the club, it hasn’t worked.
“No manager can come in right now and make the players fitter, make them better. The only thing you can do is make them more confident and have more belief in themselves.
“Someone with an affiliation to the club [could come in] and try and get the supporters involved. It’s ‘how can we keep this group of players and club in the Premier League right now – we need togetherness’.
“With the situation he finds himself with his family and at the club, I think it would be better if Tottenham parted ways with Tudor and looked to bring another manager in between now and the end of the season.”
Liverpool and Chelsea lose AGAIN | 02:20
SLOT LACKS SOLUTIONS TO LIVERPOOL SLIDE
The defending champions slumped to a 10th league defeat of the season as Danny Welbeck struck twice in Brighton’s 2-1 win over Liverpool.
Any hope that Arne Slot’s men had turned the corner in a dominant 4-0 victory over Galatasaray to reach the Champions League quarter-finals proved short-lived.
“This is a backwards step for Liverpool,” former Premier League goalkeeper Rob Green said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“You just don’t know what you are getting from this team. The spine of the team is not there. They are looking around saying ‘what’s going on?’. They can’t find an answer.”
A flat performance lacking intensity, creativity and riddled with individual errors was a familiar feeling for a fan base who have begun to question Slot, less than a year after he delivered the club’s 20th league title.
“I could come up (and) tell you all the reasons why we’ve lost 10 times this season,” Slot said, referencing Liverpool’s lengthy injury list.
Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Alisson Becker were among those missing from the trip to the south coast, while Hugo Ekitike limped off inside the opening 10 minutes.
“It’s not my job to find excuses,” Slot added. “My job is to find answers.”
Slot desperately needs to find those answers during the international break to make a top four charge in their remaining seven games – Liverpool are five points behind fourth place Aston Villa.
The Reds’ Champions League hopes also remain alive, but next month’s quarter-final against defending champions PSG could be ugly if they do not turn their form around.
“If they go and play like that in Paris it could be 10-0,” former Liverpool left-back Stephen Warnock said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“That’s how bad Liverpool were today. Brighton weren’t clinical and tried to walk it in, but PSG will be clinical. It’s very, very worrying for Liverpool.”
Were United robbed of a clear penalty? | 00:47
MAN UTD TO COMPLAIN OVER REF INCIDENT
Manchester United were furious in the aftermath of their 2-2 draw at Bournemouth as their appeals for a penalty when Amad Diallo went down inside the box under a challenge from Adrien Truffert were ignored.
The Red Devils took the lead from the penalty spot earlier in the game and interim manager Michael Carrick was left baffled by how both incidents could be treated differently.
“We should have had another penalty. Obviously, if you get one, you must get the other,” Carrick said.
“It’s pretty much identical for me, two-hand grab. Either way, he’s got one wrong, but to give one and not give the other, I can’t get my head around it, I think it’s crazy.
“It’s a bit baffling, really.”
“Because of that, they score and then it’s chaos after that, really,” Carrick added.
“We should have had another penalty and the game would have been totally different.”
United also suffered the blow of finishing the game with ten men as Harry Maguire was shown a red card for bringing down Evanilson and conceding a penalty.
The result did not hurt United drastically as they remain in third place – one point above Aston Villa and six points clear of fifth placed Liverpool.
But they are set to officially complain to the Professional Game Match Officials over the contrasting decisions.
Not everyone believes they were hard done by, however.
“They will complain but they didn’t complain when Dalot wasn’t sent off in the Manchester derby,” former Premier League referee Mike Dean said on Sky Sports.
“I think the two incidents are completely different.
“Maguire is a dead cert, it’s a simple decision. It’s easy – it’s a sending-off all day.
“The first one could have been a penalty but there was doubt about how he went down – that’s why he hasn’t given it. I could see why he didn’t give it. And I can see why it’s referee’s call.
“I understand they have made a complaint but you have to backtrack as well because they have had a few calls [in their favour] this year that have gone on referee’s call.”
Kepa drops cross in nightmare moment | 00:30
WORLD CHAMPIONS CHELSEA HIT THE WALL
A bright start for Liam Rosenior as Chelsea boss has been swiftly forgotten after a run of four consecutive defeats.
After a humbling 8-2 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, the Blues were soundly beaten 3-0 at Everton to miss the chance to climb back into the top five.
Rosenior is hoping the upcoming international break will provide a much-needed rest for his shattered squad.
Chelsea’s success at the Club World Cup in July meant they had barely any break between last season and this.
“I don’t want to be seen to make excuses because that was not good enough. The last week hasn’t been good enough,” Rosenior said.
“I think if you’re a logical-thinking person and you look at the workload and the amount of games that the players have played it’s a pretty simple conclusion to come to.”
Everton’s victory further tightened the battle for a Champions League place, particularly with a tough run-in to come for Liverpool and Chelsea.
Only seven points separate Liverpool in fifth from Bournemouth in 13th. But Villa opened up a six-point lead on Chelsea after their first win in five league games.
Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin told BBC Radio 5 Live that the Blues are “not getting the best” out of their players at present.
“You need to find out why that’s happened,” he said. “That can’t be allowed to happen in the Premier League.”
‘Would have been unfair’ to drop Kepa | 00:40
MANAGER TAKES BLAME AS NEWCASTLE EMBARRASSED IN DERBY
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe took full responsibility as the Magpies were beaten at home by fierce rivals Sunderland.
The 2-1 victory by the Black Cats means they won both Tyne-Wear Derby clashes in their first season back in the Premier League in almost a decade – having triumphed 1-0 at the Stadium of Light in December.
Newcastle cut a tired figure on Sunday.
It was their 51st match of the season, having performed strongly in the Champions League before being knocked out by Barcelona in the Round of 16 and making deep runs in the domestic cups.
Club legend Alan Shearer was not interested in excuses, however.
The Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer took to social media to lament “a pathetic, weak, lazy, limp second half from Newcastle”.
Howe was not shying away from the disappointment caused by such a display in one of English football’s fiercest derbies.
Adding to the pain for Newcastle supporters, the result pushed Sunderland ahead of them on the table by a point, into 11th.
“Very painful. Most of all, painful for supporters. They’re the ones I think about now,” Howe said in his post-match press conference.
“Once you haven’t performed and you know the size of the game and you don’t deliver, you expect to be criticised and you understand why. I understand the reaction at the end. We haven’t done our jobs well enough today and we’re desperately disappointed in ourselves.
“I don’t look to deflect it anywhere and I certainly won’t deflect it to my players. I protect my players until my last breath. That’s how I look at it and it’s going to be a tough, painful few days for me.”