The Premier League’s Gameweek 29 saw some momentum shifts and positional changes after some tremendous results on the board.
Gameweek 29 of the 2025/26 Premier League season had the feel of one of those rounds that changes the mood of a season, and Arsenal were the clear winners even before anyone reached for the wider arguments about style, control or spectacle.
Their 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion, secured by Bukayo Saka’s early strike, moved Mikel Arteta’s side seven points clear at the top and reinforced the simplest truth of March football: title races are often shaped by teams who can win without needing to charm anyone.
Manchester City, by contrast, turned what should have been a routine home assignment into a deeply frustrating 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest. Pep Guardiola’s side twice went ahead through Antoine Semenyo and Rodri, but Forest replied through Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliott Anderson, leaving City with a result that felt damaging both numerically and emotionally.
Liverpool produced the surprise of the round for all the wrong reasons, losing 2-1 away to Wolves despite dominating the ball and piling up chances. Arne Slot’s side had 65.8 percent possession, 19 attempts and 11 corners, yet Wolves scored with their first shot through Rodrigo Gomes and then snatched it late through Andre, a script that exposed how little control Liverpool really had when the game turned.
Aston Villa’s slump deepened in painful fashion as they were beaten 4-1 at home by Chelsea, a result that made their earlier hold on third place feel increasingly distant. Villa had started brilliantly through Douglas Luiz, but Joao Pedro’s hat-trick and a Cole Palmer strike swung the game hard in Chelsea’s favour and left Unai Emery’s team looking far less secure than they did a few weeks ago.
Then there were Tottenham, whose 3-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace pushed a bad season into genuinely dangerous territory. With West Ham winning at Fulham and Forest taking a point at the Etihad, Spurs are now only one point outside the bottom three, and what once sounded dramatic now feels unavoidable; this is no longer just underachievement, it is a survival fight.
Arsenal prioritise results over romance
The noise after Arsenal’s win centred on how they played rather than what they earned, especially after Brighton & Hove Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler said only one side tried to play football and called for tougher rules on time-wasting. It was a familiar post-match argument, but the data makes a large part of that criticism look shakier than the outrage suggested.
Sky Sports, citing Opta, reported that the ball was actually in play for 53 minutes and 58 seconds at the Amex, while Arsenal’s season-long ball-in-play average is 55.6 percent, which is above the Premier League average and only slightly below Brighton’s 56.1 percent. That does not mean Arsenal were expansive or entertaining, but it does mean many of the accusations about extreme gamesmanship were factually overstated.
More importantly, this is the point in the season where the table matters more than the mood around a performance. Arsenal are now on 67 points, seven ahead of Manchester City, and this was exactly the type of narrow away win that can decide a title even when the football itself invites debate.
Manchester City: Dropped points, rising pressure
Manchester City’s 2-2 draw with Forest could prove one of the defining slips of the Premier League title race because it was a missed opportunity wrapped inside a warning sign. They were at home, they twice had the lead, and they still allowed a struggling opponent to walk away with a point, which is the kind of outcome that looks even worse when the team above you keeps collecting wins.
The damage is obvious enough in the standings, with Arsenal on 67 points and City on 60, even if Guardiola’s side have played one game fewer. The pressure is also about to spread across competitions, with City facing Newcastle in the FA Cup and then Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on March 11, so the margin for recovery is being squeezed by the calendar as well as the table.
Liverpool: A costly lack of control
Liverpool’s defeat at Wolves was alarming because it was not built on a lack of territory but on a lack of authority. They had most of the ball, most of the shots and most of the set-piece pressure, yet Wolves still carried the sharper edge, first through Rodrigo Gomes and then through Andre after Alisson’s long ball went straight to Yerson Mosquera in the build-up to the late winner.
The good news for Arne Slot is that the damage is still reversible. Liverpool are sixth on 48 points, level with Chelsea in fifth and only behind on goal difference, so the route back into the top five is very much open if they can turn sterile dominance into cleaner, earlier incision.
Aston Villa: From comfort to concern in the Premier League
Aston Villa’s slide is no longer a minor wobble but a genuine threat to their Champions League hopes after a 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea left them fourth on 51 points, level with third-placed Manchester United and only three points clear of both Chelsea and Liverpool.
What will frustrate Unai Emery most is that Villa actually began the night like a side ready to steady themselves, with Douglas Luiz scoring after just 150 seconds and Villa Park briefly looking set for a statement result.
That is what makes this defeat feel more serious than a bad night against a dangerous opponent. ESPN’s match report noted Villa have now won just one of their last six games, and the eye test matches that number: they are not defending with authority, they are not managing moments calmly, and their margin for error has disappeared.
Villa’s goal difference is only +5, far lower than Chelsea’s +19 and well below the profiles usually associated with comfortable top-five finishes, which underlines how fine their position really is. The good news for Emery is that the race is still in Villa’s hands because they remain fourth today.
But the collapse against Chelsea suggested that unless they recover their defensive balance and start taking their chances earlier in games, their route to next season’s Champions League will become far more complicated than it looked a few weeks ago.
Tottenham’s faltering Premier League survival bid
Yes, there is now a realistic chance Tottenham go down. That sounds extraordinary attached to a club of Spurs’ size, but the table and the form both point in the same direction after the 3-1 home loss to Crystal Palace left them only one point outside the bottom three.
The underlying run is even more troubling than the latest result. Before the defeat to Crystal Palace, Spurs had won only two of their previous 19 Premier League matches, taken 12 points in that spell, gone 10 games without a win and lost four in a row, which is relegation form by any reasonable standard.
That does not mean the drop is inevitable, but it does mean the conversation has changed completely. With West Ham United beat Fulham, Nottingham Forest nicking a point against Manchester City, and Wolves suddenly giving themselves faint hope through back-to-back victories, Tottenham’s remaining Premier League games no longer look like fixtures in a bad season; they look like rounds in a survival battle.
