Premier League Matchday 17 Recap (2025/26)

By

      

Full Results (Matchday 17)

  • Newcastle 2–2 Chelsea

  • Bournemouth 1–1 Burnley

  • Brighton 0–0 Sunderland 

  • Manchester City 3–0 West Ham

  • Wolves 0–2 Brentford

  • Tottenham 1–2 Liverpool

  • Everton 0–1 Arsenal

  • Leeds 4–1 Crystal Palace

  • Aston Villa 2–1 Manchester United

  • Fulham 1–0 Nottingham Forest

Game of the Matchday 

Tottenham 1–2 Liverpool

Two of the traditional 'Big 6' met this matchday, where Liverpool squeezed past Tottenham with a 2-1 win in a chaotic game. It was high-energy from the first whistle. Though it got tricky for Spurs as Xavi Simons was shown a red card before halftime. Coming on for the injured Conor Bradley after the break, Alexander Isak broke the deadlock with a great finish before he himself unfortunately had to go off with a nasty injury. Hugo Ekitike doubled the lead soon after, making it five goals in just three games for him. Richarlison managed to pull one back late to make things tense, but Liverpool's defense held on. It got pretty wild at the end, too as the Lilywhites finished with only nine men after Cristian Romero also got his marching orders. Fireworks are guaranteed whenever these two sides meet, and it was again the case this time!

Biggest Surprise

Newcastle 2–2 Chelsea

Newcastle looked totally in control in the first half, swarming all over Chelsea to race into a 2-0 lead. Nick Woltemade was a man on a mission, trying to make amends with the Toon Army for his own goal against Sunderland of all teams, by scoring a brace in 20 minutes. But somehow, they let the Blues back into the game and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. For a team that looked so dominant to drop points like that at home is a massive surprise and a huge missed opportunity to climb the table. St. James' Park is a tough place to visit for any team, and yes, Chelsea is a footballing giant, but they are far from consistent. Since beating Barcelona, they had only 2 wins from 6 games, against Everton and Cardiff, so for Chelsea to go down by 2 goals after 20 minutes and still be able to comeback to share the points is surprising.

Best Team Performance

Leeds 4–1 Crystal Palace

Leeds United fans were in high spirits at Elland Road as their team giftrd them a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace before Christmas. They look like a totally different side! They will look at the game against Manchester City, specifically after halftime as the time their results started changing after Daniel Farke changed the team structure to 3-5-2 from the previous 4-3-3. And the main beneficiary of this system has been Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the man of the hour. He continued his red-hot form, bagging two goals before halftime to put Leeds firmly in the driver's seat. Ethan Ampadu controlled the midfield and even managed to get his first Premier League goal. The Eagles did put away a late penalty through Justin Devenny, but Anton Stach cleared any panic in the stands with a class free-kick. Leeds played with a relentless intensity that Palace just couldn't live with, their lack of depth has started to hurt them. As for Leeds, easily one of their best performances of the season.

Player of the Matchday

Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

There were plenty of great performances, but the weekend really belonged to Erling Haaland. By scoring 2 goals and assisting another in City’s 3-0 win over his beloved West Ham, he proved once again why he's the most terrifying force in the league. He got the first one just five minutes in and added another later on to wrap things up. In the process, he actually passed Cristiano Ronaldo's total Premier League goal tally in way fewer games! Haaland's performance ensured City stayed right in the title hunt for Pep Guardiola's 1,000th game as a manager. With Omar Marmoush unavailable due to his participation in AFCON, it is important for City that their talisman remains fit and doesn't get any injury scares.

Honorable mentions - Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds) & Keane Lewis-Potter (Brentford)

Moment of the Matchday

Anton Stach's free-kick against Crystal Palace


Watch Stach's free-kick here

With Justin Devenny scoring a penalty and hitting the post in under two minutes of one another, there were a few nervous Leeds fans in the Elland Road stands. However, Anton Stach cleared any doubts with a classy free-kick. With the clock hitting the 101st minute, Stach stood over the dead-ball. Instead of just playing it safe, he unleashed a perfect strike that curled right into the bottom left side of the goal. It was a brilliant bit of skill and the perfect way to finish off a great day and send the home fans happy for the holidays. What a way to wrap up a match.

Looking Ahead – Matchday 18 Fixtures (IST Kick-offs)

Saturday, 27 December (IST)

    • Manchester United vs Newcastle - 1:30 am

    • Nottingham Forest vs Manchester City - 6:00 pm

    • Arsenal vs Brighton - 8:30 pm

    • Brentford vs Bournemouth  - 8:30 pm

    • Burnley vs Everton - 8:30 pm

    • Liverpool vs Wolves - 8:30 pm

    • West Ham vs Fulham - 8:30 pm

    • Chelsea vs Aston Villa - 11:00 pm

    Sunday, 28 December (IST)

        • Sunderland vs Leeds - 7:30 pm

        • Crystal Palace vs Tottenham  - 10:00 am

        by ShotBlogged


        Comments

        Post a Comment

        Popular posts from this blog

        Premier League Matchday 1 Recap (2025/26)

        By
        Image
        Full Results (Matchday 1) Liverpool 4–2 Bournemouth Aston Villa 0–0 Newcastle Brighton 1–1 Fulham Sunderland 3–0 West Ham Tottenham 3–0 Burnley Wolves 0–4 Manchester City Chelsea 0–0 Crystal Palace Nottingham Forest 3–1 Brentford Manchester United 0–1 Arsenal Leeds United 1–0 Everton Game of the Matchday Liverpool 4–2 Bournemouth The Premier League returned with a bang as the first match of the 2025/26 season was a rollercoaster goal-fest at Anfield. Hugo Ekitike opened the scoring with a debut goal, before setting up Cody Gakpo soon after half-time. Antoine Semenyo fought back with 2 goals under 15 minutes. However, that was not all as Liverpool produced another magical night at Anfield as late goals from Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah made sure they started their season with a win. A midnight thriller that had us Indian fans wide awake and emotionally invested right till the end. Biggest Surprise Sunderland 3–0 West Ham Newly promoted Sunderland made a st...
        Read more

        Where does football go as it moves on from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?

        By
        Image
        With the 2026 FIFA World Cup done and dusted, we may have already seen the last of Cristiano Ronaldo and his greatest rival, Lionel Messi in national colours. Ask almost anyone to name a few footballers, and chances are those two names will be mentioned first, if not the only ones at all. Such has been the scale of their rivalry that it has become almost impossible to mention one without immediately thinking of the other. Yin and yang. Tom and Jerry. Messi and Ronaldo. A rivalry that has stretched across two decades. And now, that rivalry, one which transcended football in many ways, is approaching its final chapter. After this World Cup, although neither has confirmed it, international retirement feels inevitable, with club retirement unlikely to be too far behind. They will still play football after the World Cup, but it will likely be far away from the wider audience's eyes. That begs the question — what next? What will football do after the duopoly is done? I think football w...
        Read more

        Premier League Matchday 30 Recap (2025/26)

        By
        Image
                     Full Results (Matchday 30) Burnley 0–0  Bournemouth  Sunderland 0–1  Brighton  Arsenal 2–0 Everton Chelsea 0–1  Newcastle  West Ham 1–1  Manchester City Crystal Palace 0–0 Leeds Manchester United 3–1 Aston Villa Nottingham Forest 0–0  Fulham  Liverpool 1–1 Tottenham  Brentford 2–2 Wolves Game of the Matchday   Brentford 2 –2 Wolves There was a clear standout this Matchday, and it took place at the Gtech Community Stadium. Brentford began the game in an expected dominating fashion with goals from Michael Kayode and Igor Thiago before 40 minutes were gone.  However just before the break, Adam Armstrong pulled one back for Wolves, inspiring the visitors. Brentford could not manage to have a shot on target in the 2nd half and got punished. Tolu Arokodare equalised the game as Wolves showed incredible resilience to fight back from two goals down against a Brentford sid...
        Read more