Premier League Winners and Losers: Arsenal's Poise, Ekitike's Brilliance, and the Hollow Excuses

The Premier League title race tightens once more, though the relegation scrap has lost its earlier momentum. Let's examine who's thriving and who's floundering across the division.

Winners

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta's decision to frame this run-in as an opportunity to be enjoyed rather than endured proved astute following the Manchester United setback. While pundits queue up to predict another Arsenal collapse, the numbers tell a different story: three defeats this season, three immediate victories in response.

Their rivals have stumbled too. Manchester City drew with injury-ravaged sides; Aston Villa lost at home to ten men. Yet the reaction to these slip-ups pales beside the hysteria that greets Arsenal's occasional wobbles. One defeat in nine games hardly constitutes a crisis, yet it's treated as such. Tune out the noise and the Gunners will be fine.

Hugo Ekitike

His 14th and 15th goals of the campaign see him surpass some illustrious company. The last Liverpool player not named Mohamed Salah to finish top scorer was Philippe Coutinho in 2016/17, with Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard managing 13 goals apiece in prior seasons. Ekitike has eclipsed them all.

This isn't merely prolific; it's the work of a 23-year-old fully embracing his role as the Reds' primary attacking weapon. His movement, finishing, and ability to needle Newcastle—the very club who might have expected him to fill Alexander Isak's shoes—speaks to remarkable maturity. The most expensive player in British football history might soon need to take notes.

Michael Carrick

Credit him for putting Roy Keane and Gary Neville's absurd stance to bed: the notion that Manchester United shouldn't appoint Carrick even if he won every remaining fixture. He's already matched Ruben Amorim's longest winning run. Navigate Spurs and West Ham in the coming weeks and the doubters should pipe down.

Brentford

A season that defies logic given their summer departures. Third against the top half, first against the current top six, yet seventh in the actual table. They've done the double over Unai Emery's Aston Villa and sit in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Keith Andrews and those who backed his promotion deserve enormous credit for this remarkable trajectory.

Spurs

Fundamentally, an institution beyond improvement.

Angus Gunn

His first Premier League clean sheet since January 2022 came as a half-time substitute in a ten-man display. Those 45 minutes against Nottingham Forest may prove crucial for Craig Gordon's World Cup prospects, and they underline how Sean Dyche has these players operating to his specifications. Only five clubs have conceded fewer since he took charge of the league's third-worst defence. If Forest stay up, there's no mystery why.

Chelsea

Consecutive thrilling finishes mask underlying chaos. Rosenior's team is gloriously entertaining but tactically chaotic—brilliant comebacks stemming from poor starting XI selections. Consecutive joy masks an inability to find consistency. Deploying Benoit Badiashile or starting Alejandro Garnacho represents the sort of desperation that won't yield trophies.

Bournemouth

Eight unbeaten, then eleven without a win, now three victories and a draw. That's Andoni Iraola's fingerprint. Eli Junior Kroupi has been genuinely special.

David Moyes

Four more draws would simultaneously reach 200 Premier League stalemates and surpass Arsene Wenger's record. If he doesn't immediately deploy "that's what I do, draw" in response, he deserves labeling a coward.

Everton's goal rationing is remarkable too. Eight teams above them have scored at least eight more, yet no Toffees player has scored twice in any competition all season. Beto and Thierno Barry are learning patience beautifully.

Wolves

Play like that in the Championship and Adam Armstrong and Che Adams would combine for 200 goals, even before spending £10m on Barry Bannan.

Losers

West Ham

Paco Jemez's touchline complaint about Nuno Espirito Santo's substitutions proved prescient. Bringing Max Kilman on in stoppage time to shore things up may have worked twice, but thirty minutes with a slender advantage at Stamford Bridge felt reckless. Chelsea's goals that followed weren't individual errors, but the strategy of soaking up pressure in that stadium for that duration was questionable.

Nuno hasn't kept a clean sheet in 32 games across West Ham and Forest. No club has squandered more points from winning positions this season. Add a third of their 18 dropped points and they'd be level with Forest and Leeds. Either coaching or mentality requires urgent correction.

Crystal Palace

Oliver Glasner's frustration is evident. He'd prefer not discussing transfers the day before deadlines; he wants recruitment sorted weeks earlier so his team can develop cohesively. Yet the 45 minutes against Nottingham Forest—being outplayed by a 17th-placed side with ten men—can't entirely be blamed on late January spending.

His inability to coach against low blocks represents the real issue. Since last season's start, Palace have possessed over 50 per cent in fourteen Premier League matches, winning just three. Against Forest with 67 per cent possession, their limitations without progressive passers were brutally exposed. His resentment toward the hierarchy—recruiting for both a departing coach and his successor—is bleeding onto the pitch.

Newcastle

Eddie Howe's PSR excuses ring hollow when his bench at Anfield contained two centre-forwards signed for a combined £120m, watching three wide forwards operate in perpetual 4-3-3 formation. One win from eight against the top six; only the bottom three have fewer points against the elite. This was supposed to be Newcastle's breakthrough season. Instead, the gap has only widened.

Aston Villa

Unai Emery was right to tell everyone to stop discussing the title. One home defeat to ten-man Brentford with Tammy Abraham up front, chasing the game with substitutions, confirms they're not contenders. They should stop gazing upward at Arsenal and start looking nervously over their shoulders at resurgent Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool.

Antonee Robinson

No defender has been dribbled past more frequently per 90 minutes this season. Knee surgery, missed pre-season, and facing Amad Diallo will do that.

Fabian Hurzeler

Is James Milner really worth your job?

Leeds

The only club to lose multiple games by four goals or more this season—both to Arsenal, football's creative attacking void.