Forest Rising, Spurs Sinking: The Premier League's Shifting Fortunes

The Winners

Vitor Pereira has already established himself as the second-most successful Forest manager this season in terms of points accumulated – and the finest by pure atmosphere alone – with his Wolves predecessor holding first place to showcase just how chaotic the City Ground's campaign has been. Forest have now netted 19.3% of their entire Premier League goal tally against Spurs alone, despite ranking as the second-lowest scorers across the division. Only Manchester City, Arsenal, and Chelsea have managed more victories by three goals or more, making this season's results utterly bewildering.

Yet Pereira has developed a genuine talent for stabilising sinking ships. His Portuguese approach at Wolves – built on collective spirit, tactical discipline, and psychological resilience – is beginning to take root at Forest. The emphasis on "sacrifice" and togetherness has started reshaping a fractured squad. After accumulating five points from three matches, Forest have seized momentum in the relegation battle and climbed above Spurs in the process.

Brian Brobbey produced something genuinely special: a 90th-minute Tyne-Wear derby winner that would have made Thierry Henry nostalgic about Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka. Pure obstinacy and relentless pressing got the job done.

Everton delivered their most authentic performance in years. David Moyes observed that it resembled Goodison at its mid-2000s peak – the gritty centre-forward grafting for reward, watertight defensive organisation, goalkeeper heroics preserving a clean sheet, and a statement victory over a vastly wealthier opponent. This unlikely European push, orchestrated by Moyes, feels like the most harmonious partnership between manager and club in modern Premier League history.

Jordan Pickford gets to enjoy a week alongside Jason Steele after Sunderland pulled off a 90th-minute heist at St James' Park against Newcastle.

Ross Barkley has become instrumental for Aston Villa, the only top-seven side to secure three points this weekend. His emergence as a starter – born partly from midfield injuries – has steadied Villa after winning just once in seven league games. Barkley's first 12 Premier League appearances came from the bench, but he scored against Manchester United in his first start since January 2025 and proved quietly excellent against West Ham. Unai Emery demands extraordinary commitment from squad players to earn regular football.

Fabian Hurzeler has engineered a stunning recovery from the depths of the James Milner controversy when Brighton had won just once in 13 games. Four victories in their last five – with only a narrow Arsenal defeat breaking the run – has suddenly thrust them into European contention. That loss was the sole game Milner missed; Brighton's record when he starts stands at P6 W4 D1 L1 with 9 goals for and 5 against. An inviting run-in awaits: Burnley, Spurs, Chelsea, Newcastle, Wolves, and Leeds before a final-day showdown with Manchester United. Danny Welbeck's form has been exceptional, with Milner suggesting the Brighton forward is "ageing like a fine ribena" at club level.

Marco Silva edges closer to achieving his life's ambition at Fulham: finishing a Premier League season with identical wins and losses. Across four full campaigns, he's never quite managed it – 15 wins and 14 defeats with Everton in 2018/19, then 15-16, 13-17, and 15-14 across three Fulham seasons. This could finally be his moment, with both Silva and top scorer Harry Wilson contracted only until summer.

Manchester United can no longer finish 15th mathematically, which ordinarily wouldn't warrant celebration, yet represents genuine progress given Ruben Amorim's acceptance of mediocrity. Michael Carrick's side faces 23 days without a fixture – even longer for Harry Maguire. United's dropped points under Carrick have coincided exclusively with tight turnarounds: the February 10 West Ham draw after facing Spurs on February 7; the March 4 Newcastle defeat following Crystal Palace on March 1; and the March 20 Bournemouth stalemate after Aston Villa on March 15.

Bournemouth have matched their club record for longest unbeaten Premier League run at 11 games, equalling the best defensive streak across the top flight this season. Only Manchester United and Arsenal share this achievement. Arsenal were last to beat the Cherries on January 3, when Bournemouth sat 15th and nine points clear of relegation. Since then, only three teams have accumulated more points than the Cherries, who now sit four points adrift of probable European qualification.

Caoimhin Kelleher has proven that deploying backup keepers in the Carabao Cup final works perfectly well, whilst deploying Kepa decidedly does not. Only David Raya (12 in 2023/24) has kept more Brentford clean sheets in a single Premier League season.

The Losers

Spurs haven't won a final game before an international break since October 2023 – when they topped the table after beating Luton, now mid-table in League One. Since then, their record reads P10 W1 D1 L8 F9 A21: a masterclass in inflicting maximum misery on supporters forced to contemplate existential defeats for weeks. This latest 3-0 home drubbing against a relegation rival ensures three weeks of torment before their next fixture, practically begging the board to make a decision they lack the courage to execute.

Eddie Howe faces mounting pressure as Newcastle's season deteriorates.

Chelsea endured a torrid afternoon that epitomises their wider collapse, threatening Champions League qualification and potentially costing Liam Rosenior his job. His Strasbourg promotion has looked disastrous for months, leaving permanent damage on his CV. Yet this fundamentally remains Chelsea's dysfunction. The starting eleven and three substitutes cost £748.4m collectively – every outfield starter and most bench options individually exceeded Everton's costliest player, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at £28m. The Toffees' midfielder's tireless running and defending won a midfield battle Chelsea should never have been competitive in. More spending won't solve this; it will be thrown at it anyway.

Liverpool sit fifth, just three points clear of Brentford and Everton, with seven games remaining. Arne Slot articulated the problem perfectly after Brighton's defeat: "At our club we're also looking at the situation and the challenge we had during this season, and then we might be a bit more realistic, why the season has gone the way it has gone. But still it's not good enough no matter how much excuses I can come up with, it's still not good enough for the position you're in right now." The injuries, late goals, and summer departures cannot justify such expenditure producing a fifth-place finish. The last Liverpool manager to lose ten Premier League matches in a single season was sacked by October the following year. This has felt uncomfortably Brendan for some time.

West Ham suffered only their third defeat in ten league games, though all three losses came against otherwise mediocre Champions League pursuers in Chelsea, Liverpool, and Aston Villa. They still face Everton and Brentford from that bracket, but Nuno's strategy appears risky: West Ham rank fifth of seven in a mini-table of bottom-seven fixtures.

Burnley might face relegation if they're not careful – though they don't seem to have noticed.

Leeds have produced a peculiar run of 0-0, 0-0, 0-1, 0-1, and 1-1 across five games – binary football at its most uninspiring. Wisely, they've opted not to be Spurs or West Ham, so survival should follow.