Premier League 2025-26 Week 21 Updates: Liverpool Contain Arsenal; City Let Opportunity Slip; Chelsea Undo Themselves Once More
Another red card decided Chelsea’s fate in a week where Arsenal failed to turn over a rejuvenated Liverpool, United underwhelmed and Spurs descended into full-blown anarchy.
Matchweek 21 updates are here!
Last Updated: 02.08 PM, Jan 12, 2026
United drop points despite Sesko’s welcome brace
FORMER UNITED PLAYER and emergency manager Darren Fletcher looked on in exasperation as his side utterly dominated the game away to relegation-bound Burnley and yet found a way to spurn three deserved points. Secretly, though, Fletcher might have been relieved that he doesn’t have to shoulder the pressures of a job that likely no one wants in football at the moment. Off the pitch, United are a baffling mess: moneyless, structure-less and most alarmingly, ambitionless. On the pitch, they have swayed between hopeful and hopeless, and even though things seemed to be coming together lately — at least ideologically — the performances on the pitch remain wanting. If not for the wobbly mid-section of the league table this season, United, given their dourness, would have had to contemplate another bottom-half finish at the end of the season. More on their now-fired manager, later.
City’s title challenge unravels in front of sparkly Brighton
City’s resurgence has quickly turned into a backdoor emergency as solid form has given way to startling weaknesses at the back. City have now drawn three games on the trot. More importantly, they have squandered the opportunity to capitalise on Arsenal’s blips. The fact that City played against Brighton a day before Arsenal were to host Liverpool, and yet couldn’t muster a siege on their opponents’ goal, is telling of the weaknesses that have begun to re-emerge, after what felt like a brief segue to the domination of yesteryear. Both first-choice centre-backs, Gvardiol and Ruben Dias, are now injured, and even though Guardiola has beefed up his attack by adding the excellent Antoine Semenyo, scoring goals isn’t as much of a problem at the moment as preventing them. On the balance of the entire game, Brighton had the clearest of chances and could have, on another day, pinched all three points. For once in his managerial career, Guardiola might have to think defence-first, to be able to even push Arsenal, let alone dethrone them.
Spurs looking down after player anarchy kicks in
Spurs are terrible to watch. Their attackers hardly inspire excitement. Their most thrilling play often comes from the lung-bursting runs of their Dutch centre-forward Micky Van De Ven, who won a penalty single-handedly against Bournemouth. And you can’t just tell the designs that Thomas Frank is working with behind the scenes, because none emerge on the pitch. Their victories seem as accidental as their losses feel grounded in cynical patterns. There is a startling lack of class and composure in the team, and the fact that club captain Christian Romero lashed out at the club hierarchy after another last-minute loss to a thrilling Bournemouth side, there seems little coherence either. Spurs are the league’s perennial underachievers, and Frank may soon pay the price for walking into a job where neither the specifics nor the speculation ever quite seem to meet.
Chelsea see another red in defeat to Fulham
A record eighth red card of the season — fifth in the Premier League — meant that Chelsea’s backs were against the wall against a perky Fulham side with one of the league’s in-form players in Harry Wilson, tormenting defenders left, right and centre. Up until Marc Cucurella’s sending-off in the 26th minute, Chelsea seemed fairly in control of the tie at Craven Cottage. Not for the first time this season, though, a poor decision in defence led to the Blues going a man down. Fulham sniffed their chance, and even though the Blues mounted a fightback in principle — Liam Delap scoring an encouraging equaliser — there was really only ever going to be one winner. Chelsea’s new manager, Liam Rosenoir, looked on from the stands, and though there were positives — as is the case these days with Chelsea — to take back from this loss, he must turn things around quickly to rescue a season that could easily fall apart over a month packed with key fixtures.
Watch the Best Goals, the Best Saves and the Best Assists of Matchweek 21 here on JioHotstar, now available with your OTTplay Premium subscription.
Liverpool hold lacklustre Arsenal to a spirited draw
Draws rarely predicate titles, but if two dropped points were ever going to tip the balance of a tight title race, this draw against beleaguered Liverpool could come back to haunt Arsenal. In fact, the gunners looked surprised by Liverpool’s energy and resilience, to the point that their usually composed defence looked both shaky and unreliable. The Reds had the majority of the chances and should have taken home all three points as Arsenal toiled but failed to break their opponent’s resistance. Both attacks disappointed in bursts, but Arsenal’s storied bench, particularly, failed to lift a game that was asking to be won. This wasn’t a dull 0-0, but a frantic exchange of attacking thrust and individual talent that never quite materialised as a whole for either side. Gabriel Martinelli’s altercation with the injured Conor Bradley will make the headlines, but Mikel Arteta will rue the opportunity to open up a gap on City, a day after they slipped at home. Six points is still sizeable, but the Gunners could have squeaked clear on a day when their yet-to-be-unsleashed attack simply didn’t turn up.
Postscript:
Yet another bend in the Manchester United river as Ruben Amorim is shown the door
Another manager has bitten the dust at Manchester United. No one can argue they didn’t see it coming, but Amorim strangely left at a time when he had begun to exhibit signs of flexibility. His unveiled, and possibly unplanned outburst at the club hierarchy last week notwithstanding, this is also a manager who has, for some time, looked like he wanted to be put out of his misery. Now that his wish has been granted — with a handsome payout — one of football’s most daunting jobs is looking for the next collar for a punitive leash. The squad is poor, the club is a shambles, and there is probably little to no money to spend for whoever chooses to pick up the slop. Absurdly, the name of former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær has come up. Nothing could be more tragicomic for one of the sport’s most celebrated institutions than the narrative of only former players and possibly fans wanting to now turn up to save it from further ignominy. That, though, is the reality that Manchester United have to battle.