Arne Slot called Tuesday's embarrassing 2-1 loss at Wolves "the same old story". And he was right. There was nothing new or novel about their painfully predictable defeat at Molineux. Liverpool produced a dreadfully flat first half, got themselves back into the game after gifting the opposition a goal, only to then lose it by conceding an injury-time winner.
Manchester United moved up to third in the Premier League standings after securing their sixth win in seven games under Michael Carrick on Sunday, seeing off Crystal Palace 2-1 at Old Trafford. Although Benjamin Sesko and Bruno Fernandes deservedly dominated the headlines after respective goal-scoring turns, Casemiro's stellar work in the middle of the park was also essential to the victory, which has become a theme for the resurgent Red Devils since the turn of the year.
Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior could barely contain his frustration after his side conceded a 93rd-minute equaliser against Burnley at Stamford Bridge on February 21 - just three days after blowing a 2-0 lead at home to Leeds United. "We've set fire to four points from two home games," the Blues boss fumed in his post-match press conference.
Chelsea have plenty of issues to solve, but perhaps the most glaring right now is their lack of discipline. The lack of experienced heads within the youngest squad in the Premier League has been pointed to on a number of occasions during the BlueCo era, but nowhere is it more glaring than when it comes keeping a full compliment of players on the pitch at Stamford Bridge.
If Xavier Vilajoana is elected Barcelona president in mid-March, he will go all out for a major signing in the summer transfer window. "We've already made some contact, and I think he's a player who would be a great fit, pending his contractual situation: it's Harry Kane," Vilajoana said in an interview with ESPN this week.
As Alessandro Costacurta effectively admitted at the end of a dramatic final night of the Champions League play-offs, he and his fellow pundits in the Sky Sports studio had come to bury Serie A's representatives in Europe - not to praise them. And yet they were left with no option to do so after two remarkable revivals proved that Italian football isn't dead yet.
Arne Slot wisely turned to Rio Ngumoha to help Liverpool get themselves out of a serious spot of bother at Nottingham Forest on Sunday - but, by doing so, the teenager has rather ironically put his coach in an awkward position. Slot has spent the majority of the season trying to carefully manage Ngumoha's game time - as well as the massive expectations surrounding one of the most exciting prospects in English football.
It was the most hotly-anticipated north London derby since their Champions League showdown of 2022. Arsenal, off the back of two hugely disappointing draws at Brentford and Wolves, suddenly had reason to fear entering the den of rivals Tottenham. Spurs, in theory, were about to be buoyed by a 'new manager bounce' brought about by the appointment of Igor Tudor as head coach, who replaced the unpopular Thomas Frank.
During the November international break, Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate admitted that all of the speculation surrounding his future at Anfield was bothering him. "Some of the things that I read, I’m like, 'Oh la la! That puts me in a tight spot with Liverpool fans. And they don’t even know all the ins and outs,'" the France international told TF1.
Uncle Ben's eternally wise 'with great power comes great responsibility' warning to Peter Parker, aka Spiderman, is also applicable to Lamine Yamal, a real life superhuman still at the beginning of his career. At the tender age of 18, the Barcelona wonderkid has already achieved more than most players dream of, and is held up as the beacon of excellence underpinning the Blaugrana's bid for another era of domestic and European success.
There has been heated debate over who should play back-up to Harry Kane for England at the World Cup this summer, but in truth the answer is becoming increasingly obvious. There is only one striker who can hold a candle to the Three Lions captain this season, and it is one who is operating out of sight and out of mind in Saudi Arabia, where he has eclipsed Cristiano Ronaldo.
Did Gianluca Prestianni racially abuse Vinicius Junior at the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday night? We don't know. Not yet at least. And that's mainly because the Argentine very deliberately covered his mouth with his shirt as he exchanged words with Vinicius after being inexplicably enraged by the Brazilian celebrating his 50th-minute goal with a little dance in front of the corner flag.
One regular weekend of refereeing, that's all we ask for. Will never happen. At least not in the current climate - because if the fourth round of the FA Cup taught us anything, it's that the absence of VAR definitely doesn't mean an absence of controversy. The first half of the Aston Villa-Newcastle game alone made a compelling case for the continued use of technology for offside decisions and penalty claims.
No one can create a siege mentality like Jose Mourinho. Benfica were almost universally written off when they welcomed Real Madrid to Estadio da Luz in the final round of league phase fixtures for this season's Champions League, having lost five of their first eight games, including a shocking 3-2 home defeat to Azerbaijani minnows Qarabag.
The official confirmation of Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille departure arrived at 2:35 on Tuesday morning. In that sense - and that sense alone - the timing of the news was odd. But there was nothing else remotely surprising about De Zerbi's exit. It had been coming for some time, and Sunday's humiliating 5-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes was obviously the final nail in De Zerbi's coffin.
By his own admission, Cole Palmer still isn't fully fit as he grapples with a niggling groin issue that has plagued him all season long. The scary thing is, we're starting to see the Chelsea talisman at something close to his best despite his ongoing injury troubles, and the timing of his recent uptick in form could be perfect as he eyes a place in Thomas Tuchel's England squad for the 2026 World Cup.
So there we have it! The Sean Dyche era at Nottingham Forest is officially over - after just 114 days and a measly 18 Premier League games, with a 0-0 draw at home to rock-bottom Wolves proving the final straw. Dyche leaves the City Ground with the team sitting 17th in the table, just three points above the drop zone with 12 matches of the 2025-26 campaign remaining.
Arsenal are heavy favourites to go on and win this season's Premier League. They've put themselves in a commanding position with around a third of the campaign remaining and ought to see out the job from here on in. It's been a real team effort with everyone in Mikel Arteta's squad pulling their weight, but there will always be clamour to crown one player above all others. Why can't that be Martin Zubimendi?
Thomas Frank is gone! The morning after a terrible night before, Tottenham Hotspur announced that the Dane had been relieved of his duties as head coach - to nobody's great surprise. Tuesday evening's 2-1 loss at home to fellow underperformers Newcastle extended Tottenham's winless run in the Premier League to eight games - a rotten run of results that has seen them plummet to 16th in the standings.
On Sunday at Anfield, Liverpool lost to Manchester City for the second time this season. Arne Slot insisted after the 2-1 defeat that "the improvement" in his side since their demoralising 3-0 drubbing at the Etihad in November was "visible for everyone to see" and there were certainly some positive signs in the second half - but they still suffered a now almost-customary collapse in the closing stages.
Liverpool fans never fully appreciated Luis Diaz. Indeed, most of them seemed to welcome the Colombian's departure to Bayern Munich last summer, believing that his sale was necessary to accommodate £116 million ($158m) signing Florian Wirtz, with Cody Gakpo still on hand to fill the first-choice role on the left flank.
With half-time approaching and Liverpool losing 1-0 to Newcastle United, Anfield was already bracing itself for another disappointing defeat in this most trying of seasons. In the space of 138 seconds, though, Hugo Ekitike changed the entire mood on Merseyside. The Frenchman's first goal - a near-post finish from Florian Wirtz's clever cutback - may have been crucial, but it was his second strike that sent the fans into a frenzy.
Why does Cristiano Ronaldo always have so much bad luck?!... First, Erik ten Hag didn't recognise his unrivalled ability at Manchester United, then Fernando Santos ruined his 2022 World Cup bid with Portugal. And now, the powers that be in Saudi Arabia are conspiring to make sure his trophy drought in the Middle East extends to three-and-a-half seasons. Give the guy a break!...
At the tail end of October, Dimitar Berbatov appeared on Rio Ferdinand's podcast and pleaded for patience with Liverpool's struggling superstar summer signing Florian Wirtz. "He will be unbelievable, trust me," the Bulgarian told his former Manchester United team-mate. "I’m sure that everybody [at Liverpool] sees his quality, and they’ll give him that time that he needs to fit into the team. And I guarantee you, he’s going to be a success.
The nature of Chelsea's Carabao Cup semi-final exit at the hands of London rivals Arsenal on Tuesday has been polarising, to say the least. It was a contest that largely reflected the dour weather at the Emirates Stadium, as a turgid first half passed by almost entirely without incident and the second period followed a similar pattern before Kai Havertz - a former Chelsea player, of course - bagged a late winner on the break.
Arne Slot complained about the "noise" around Anfield ahead of Wednesday night's Champions League clash with Qarabag - and one could understand why. As well as being distracting, some of it has been disrespectful. Indeed, Slot had even been asked a question about Xabi Alonso, the favourite to replace him as Liverpool boss, in his pre-match press conference.
"There’s still questions about the mental strength of the team. I think there was a lack of aggression. Too many players failed to deliver," Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira said on Sky Sports after watching his former side suffer a 3-2 defeat at home to Manchester United last weekend. "It was a must-win game. They needed to send a message to the rest of the teams in the league."
So there we have it! After a mammoth 144 games that included plenty of goals and drama, the curtain has been drawn on the league phase of the 2025-26 Champions League. Arsenal finished top of the table with a perfect record, while Manchester City secured automatic qualification to the round of 16 by the skin of their teeth. But three historic European giants have been eliminated already, in the form of Napoli, Marseille and Ajax.
Bayern Munich's unbeaten record in this season's Bundesliga is gone! The Bavarians were upset at the Allianz Arena by Augsburg, although the German champions are still eight points clear of Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table, meaning it's unlikely to adversely affect their chances of retaining their title. However, things are getting very interesting in England, where we thought Arsenal were almost home and hosed only to suffer a wobble that has made things very interesting, given Manchester City and Aston Villa are both closing in on the Gunners.
There haven't been many periods of great optimism at Manchester United in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, but for a brief moment at the start of 2019, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made supporters believe again. He delivered eight successive wins after replacing Jose Mourinho as interim manager, including a stunning 3-1 victory at Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round, bringing back the scintillating counter-attacking style Ferguson championed throughout his glorious 26-year reign.
