Gameweek 23 of the Premier League ended with a new twist as Manchester United opened the title race in a big way, while Aston Villa and Manchester City recovered.
Gameweek 23 of the 2025/26 Premier League season had that mid-season snap to it: the kind of weekend that does not just shuffle the table but rearranges the mood. Arsenal’s aura at the Emirates finally cracked as Manchester United came from behind to win 3-2 in a five-goal swing, handing the Gunners their first home league defeat since last May and their first time conceding three in a match since December 2023.
It was the result that made everyone check the fixtures twice, because suddenly the title run-in did not feel like a straight line anymore. Manchester City, meanwhile, did what champions-in-waiting do when the noise gets loud: they calmed it with a controlled 2-0 win over Wolves that ended a four-match winless run in the league.
Liverpool had another of those maddening evenings where small mistakes became big moments, losing 3-2 at Bournemouth to a last-gasp winner, and once again leaving the conversation stuck between “bad luck” and “bad habits.”
Aston Villa kept their own story moving with yet another victory, staying glued to the pace-setters and continuing to look far too organised to be treated as a passing phase. Chelsea’s presence in the chasing pack only added to the pressure elsewhere, because the top-four race is no longer about form but about who handles the heat when the margins go thin.
By the end of the weekend, the sense was clear: this was not a week to file away. It was a matchday that set up decisions—tactical, psychological, even narrative—and the Premier League will look different depending on who learns fastest from what just happened.
Arsenal showing worrying signs in the Premier League title race?
Arsenal did not lose this one simply because they had an off-day; they lost it because the game turned into the kind of contest they usually prevent. They conceded three goals in a match for the first time since December 2023, which tells you the defensive control they normally pride themselves on did not just wobble, it gave way.
The Emirates has been a place where opponents tend to suffocate slowly; instead, Arsenal let United breathe, believe, and then bite. Their structure looked stretched when transitions arrived, and the small hesitations (who steps out, who holds the line, who takes the runner) became invitations rather than solutions.
When you give a side like Manchester United repeated moments of chaos to attack, you are effectively choosing a coin-toss finish, and that is never where Premier League title-chasers want to live.
The bigger issue is what this does to the title race psychologically. Arsenal had not just been winning at home; they had been projecting certainty there, and this was their first Premier League defeat at the Emirates since last May. A team can carry one bad result, but the worry is the doubt it plants: does the game plan still protect them when the match becomes frantic, or are they now slightly more reachable than everyone assumed?
From here, Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge is to respond with clarity, because the league does not punish you for losing once, it punishes you for losing your shape for a month.
Michael Carrick’s Manchester United shine
Manchester United, for their part, earned the right to be taken seriously again. Coming back to win at Arsenal in the Premier League is rare territory, as Manchester United had not done it since 2005. So, this was not just a win, it was a statement about resilience.
The Red Devils played the game with a stubborn edge: stay in it, keep asking the question, and wait for Arsenal to blink. Even the timing of the decisive moment felt symbolic, with Matheus Cunha’s late strike sealing it when the home crowd was already bracing for a safer ending.
Manchester United did not need to dominate the ball to dominate the storyline; they just needed to be the team that looked more comfortable when the script stopped behaving. And that is where the Michael Carrick angle becomes compelling.
Whether it is in his coaching detail, his calmer in-game management, or simply the way this team now looks less panicked in big moments, Carrick could genuinely be the answer for a top-four push.
This win won’t secure anything by itself, but it changes the temperature around the club. If Manchester United can pair this kind of away-day maturity with routine wins against the teams they are supposed to beat, top four in the Premier League stops being a hopeful target and becomes a realistic chase.
Manchester City back in the Premier League title hunt?
Manchester City’s win over Wolves was not flashy, but it was exactly the sort of performance that reopens a title conversation. A 2-0 result that ends a four-game winless run in the Premier League reads like a reset button, not just three points.
The key thing was not the scoreline but the feel: Manchester City looked more like a team with solutions than a team searching for them. Against an opponent they were expected to control, they actually did control it, and that matters because Pep Guardiola sides often build momentum through rhythm as much as results.
So can Pep Guardiola revive the season and chase down Arsenal in the Premier League title race? The honest answer is yes, because a four-point gap is not a wall, it is a request for pressure. Manchester City have lived in this territory for years: turn February into a hunting ground, make every rival match feel like it comes with consequences, and rely on repetition, depth and belief to do the psychological work.
The question is whether this edition of Manchester City can sustain that familiar surge, especially if their earlier inconsistency was rooted in more than a temporary dip. Still, this weekend created possibility. You do not win the Premier League title in January, but you can certainly re-enter it. If Manchester City follow this with another run of clinical, low-drama victories, the narrative flips quickly; from “can they catch Arsenal?” to “can Arsenal hold them off?”
Liverpool shoot themselves in the foot
Liverpool’s defeat at Bournemouth felt like the worst kind of stumble: the kind that makes you replay moments rather than blame systems. They lost 3-2, conceding a winner in stoppage time, and Arne Slot openly pointed to fatigue and the frustration of having no time left to respond.
Individual errors played their part, too, asVirgil van Dijk’s misjudgement contributed to Bournemouth’s opener, and Liverpool also found themselves briefly down to ten men after an injury situation left them in transition at the wrong time. None of it is catastrophic in isolation, but together it forms a pattern: Liverpool are giving opponents too many routes back into games.
That is why the top-four question won’t go away. It is not about whether Liverpool have quality, as they do. It is about whether they can control matches with the cold consistency that top-four finishes demand, especially when Chelsea and Manchester United are close enough to turn every dropped point into a table swing, and Aston Villa are starting to look increasingly comfortable in third. The margin for “nearly” is shrinking, and Liverpool can’t keep treating late-game management like a coin flip.
If they want to stay in the hunt, the fix is less romantic than tactical. Cut out the soft moments, protect leads with smarter game-state decisions, and stop letting one mistake become a two-goal spell. Otherwise, the season risks becoming a weekly exercise in explaining why the performance “deserved more.”
Aston Villa’s dark-horse status
Aston Villa are no longer a fun storyline but a sustained problem for everyone above and below them. Another win in Gameweek 23 kept them in touch with the front, and the fact the points gap is being talked about in single digits says everything about how real their season has become.
Unai Emery has built a team that looks prepared rather than inspired: structured without being rigid, aggressive without being reckless, and confident without becoming loose. The dark-horse question is really about sustainability.
Aston Villa’s form suggests they are not relying on one hot scorer or one tactical gimmick; they are winning in different ways, which is usually the strongest sign that a team can ride out dips. The next test is depth; Europe, injuries, and the mental load of being chased are where “surprise packages” tend to slip.
As for whether they are nailed on for third or at least top four: if they keep playing with this level of repeatable control, they will be hard to shift. The Premier League is full of talented teams, but not all of them look as sure of themselves as Aston Villa do right now, and that is exactly why they have earned the right to be treated as more than outsiders.