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Home » Features » Premier League 2025-26 Week 17 Updates: Chelsea-Newcastle Draw As Arsenal & City Cruise; United Sent Packing

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Premier League 2025-26 Week 17 Updates: Chelsea-Newcastle Draw As Arsenal & City Cruise; United Sent Packing

Aston Villa clinched a statement win against struggling Man United as Liverpool won against woeful Spurs, and City and Arsenal consolidated their title credentials.

Manik+Sharma

Dec 22, 2025

Matchweek 17 updates are here!

Cherki pulls the strings as City destroy West Ham

WEST HAM AREN'T ANYONE'S BET to pull off a surprise win away to one of the league’s heavyweights these days, but the chasm between them and City’s slick one-touch was almost concerning to behold. City, well and truly, mixed things up, with Erlind Halaand scoring a near-customary brace — both goals purely instinctual. To that bouquet of commons, he also added a deft assist for the in-form Reijnders. But beyond the striker’s headline-grabbing prolificity, there’s also been the gradual but evident ascent of Rayan Cherki’s influence on the City team. Cherki ran the show against West Ham, and even though he didn’t get onto the scoresheet himself, he was at the centre of everything impressive that City did with the ball. The question of who’d fill the Bernardo Silva-shaped hole once the Portuguese leaves this brilliant team may be answered by the similarly silky and yet more explosive Cherki. It says something that the Frenchman has effectively relegated Savinho and Marmoush to the bench with his consistently impressive performances.

WATCH | Man City cruise past West Ham 3-0, here on JioHotstar, now available with your OTTplay Premium subscription.

Gyokeres pulls Arsenal over the line against dogged Everton

Everton under David Moyes is an impenetrable team any time of the week. They aren’t laden with stars, nor can they boast of aesthetically rich players who glide along the turf. But they are a handful against pretty much anyone in the league. Arsenal toiled and tried, but the blue half of Merseyside isn’t as brittle as the red half. Arsenal have made it a habit of manufacturing luck against solid opposition, and here again, a flailing hand by an Everton defender bailed them out. They hit the post, had their chances, but never quite looked like dispatching their opponents with ease. It’s all too effortful at the moment. For the second game running, the Gunners were helped by a stroke of luck — a theme of late — but Mikel Arteta won’t mind how he wins, as long as he wins with City breathing ever so loudly over their shoulder.

Watch Everton vs Arsenal highlights here on OTTplay.

Reece James powers Chelsea back against Newcastle

There is no shred of doubt that Reece James is the best right back in the league — or possibly the world. This season, however, he has been deployed by Enzo Maresca in Chelsea’s midfield because, with all their options on the wings, Chelsea are surprisingly short of top-quality midfielders. James’ versatility, strength and quality on the ball allow him to step into just about every pocket and make a difference. Away to a hostile Newcastle United and 2-0 down, the Chelsea captain led from the front by scoring a spectacular free kick, making last-ditch tackles to block definitive chances, and dragging his relatively amateur colleagues into a brawl with an intimidating Newcastle side. The criticism that Chelsea’s young boys can’t ‘man up’ against some of the league’s toughest teams will be levelled at them frequently, but this performance was evidence that they absolutely can. Maresca would hope he can keep James fit after a couple of injury-ravaged years.

Liverpool’s poor defence almost falters at the last against Spurs

This clash between two of the most unpredictable teams in the league was going to be anything but dull. And both Spurs and Liverpool, duly delivered with a game that exhibited little quality but was chock-full of controversy, angst, and possibly even anger at the abject trajectory either club’s fortunes have taken thus far this season. Xavi Simons went from hero to asinine villain in a week with a horrible challenge on Virgil Van Dijk. But not for the first time this season did Liverpool look awkward against 10 men willing to park the bus against a robust but also underconfident attack. The Reds simply couldn’t take advantage. Instead, they presented Spurs with plenty of opportunities to stay interested in a game even with a man less. The image of both Konate and Van Dijk trying to clear the ball but missing, before Richarlison pounced, spoke a thousand words. It’s impossible to say what either team will produce next week, which makes them two of the league’s most thrilling yet untrustable teams.

Rogers stamps his quality in putting Man Utd away

On their way to a record-breaking run of consecutive wins, Villa perhaps faced their trickiest test yet. Not because United are any good, or boast half the squad that Villa do, but because United also have nothing to lose. For Villa, though, this was the moment to put distance between themselves and the chasing pack that will continue to falter for the rest of the season. But the game itself played out as a tepid, unimpressive exhibition of little quality. Except for one man — Morgan Rogers. Barring Harry Kane, Rogers is possibly the best English footballer on the planet at the moment. He scored a sensational brace here, conjuring goals out of nothing, to clinch a game that was crying out for a spark or some sort of inspiration. Villa have now turned the top into a formidable top three. And though a title challenge might be beyond them, there is no reason why Unai Emery’s team can’t keep their position come the end of the season.

Watch the match highlights here.

Postscript:

AFCON imposed exile. Bad for most. Good for some.

With the continental African cup commencing in late December, a number of players from Premier League clubs will be heading to the tournament. Gone are the days when squads were so thin that a month’s absence could derail entire seasons — think Drogba and Essien with prime Chelsea — but for cases like Liverpool, Salah’s departure could actually provide the team with a month’s window of no-nonsense football. The same can’t be said, however, for Man Utd’s excellent left-sided pair of Mbuemo and Amad. Both players have been critical to United’s upturn in form over the last two months. Amorim will secretly hope that neither goes deep into the tournament.

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