Premier League 2025-26 Week 22 Updates: United Punish City; Spurs Hit Rock Bottom; Arsenal Fail To Capitalise
United pummeled City in the derby, in a week where Chelsea dragged one over the line and Spurs hit rock bottom.
Last Updated: 07.33 PM, Jan 19, 2026
Carrick restores faith as United blow City away in derby
WHAT A DIFFERENCE a week can make. While Darren Fletcher endured a hellish single game as stand-in manager, his successor, in the slightly longish but still interim manager role, Michael Carrick, witnessed a rousing and frankly season-turning destruction of a surprisingly dull Man City. United dominated both halves of the game, and though City expectedly bossed the possession, there was precious little cutting edge to top it off with something akin to a reward. The listlessness extended to their otherworldly striker, as Erling Haaland continued his dry vein of form. But as City, metaphorically, handed Arsenal the cake, the focus must be on Michael Carrick and his United boys. This is still one game, and United can’t be trusted with demands for consistency, but there was welcome cheer at Old Trafford, fire in the players’ belly, and the exiled Kobbie Mainu in the starting line-up. The resounding subtext here is that United could and should have won by a more emphatic margin. That in itself would be music to the United fans’ ears and a terrible omen for whatever is left of City’s title push. If anything at all.
Wirtz finding his feet, but Liverpool still hopeless in defence
The good news for Arne Slot is that Florian Wirtz is finally starting to stamp, if not authority, then at least his presence on Liverpool’s games. His link-up play has improved, and his partnership up front with Hugo Ekitike is showing signs of blooming into a full-blown romance that Slot would prefer to count in goals and assists. The bad news is that the Reds are still woeful at the back. At home to Burnley, they remained susceptible to counter-attacks and could have, on another day, easily even lost the game if not for the heroics by their goalkeeper Alisson. To add to the ignominy of drawing at home against a relegation-threatened side, their most consistent player, Dominik Szoboszlai, has gone through a wringer of a week: an embarrassing error in the League Cup, followed by a missed penalty at home. Slot would hope his most dependable player, over the last season-and-a-half, can quickly shrug a bizarre week of lows off his shoulders.
Robert Sanchez saves the day as Chelsea scrape past Brentford
Liam Rosenoir took to the dugout in his first Premier League game in charge of Chelsea. Because the Blues were at home, the onus and the pressure would have been on him to offer the first template of a brand new regency. There were positives. Pedro Neto enjoyed a good game — yet another in a long list of has-massive-potential displays where he tormented defenders, made key passes but failed to be decisive in critical moments. Moises Caicedo dominated the midfield, offering bursts of creative energy that are often underwritten in lieu of the destructive side of his game. The biggest positive, though, would have been Robert Sanchez’s performance. The erratic goalkeeper made a couple of stellar saves at crucial points in the game. After making an error in his last outing, Sanchez redeemed himself with a commanding performance between the posts. The only issue for Rosenoir is that the goalkeeper is simply too inconsistent to offer any sort of calm to the rest of the defensive back line. For now, it’s a gamble the new and young manager will have to keep making until the end of the season.
Arsenal fail to take full advantage of City’s slip-up, again
Can Arsenal carry the burden of title favourites? There is little doubt the Gunners are best-placed in decades to lift the league title, but every time they are asked to firmly lay their hands on the trophy — metaphorically — or wrench it free of the chasing pack, they seem to falter. Away to a dogged Nottingham Forest, Arsenal created plenty of chances, but failed to put them away. Mikel Arteta used almost the entirety of his attacking reserves, but the Gunners couldn’t break a solid Forest. It’s no catastrophe, given how out of sorts the ones chasing them are, but this would feel like another opportunity missed to place a thick cushion between them and the rest. That said, the results around them ensured that this was still a valuable point away from home.
Thomas Frank on the edge as Spurs hit rock bottom
Few things count for bigger state crimes than losing to West Ham this season. But things are progressively worse when you lose to them at home, in the dying minutes. Spurs played decently for a game that should have been a write-off for them, but, as is now trademark for them, succumbed at the last. West Ham will make a feast of their battle to survive relegation, but they are possibly the slowest and most uninspiring team in the league. Now, there’s an argument to be made that the Spurs are probably worse. They are acutely dull to watch, remain elusive as a structure and are now in possession of a dressing room that neither cares for the manager nor for the hierarchy above him. Speculative barbs of a possible relegation battle aside, Thomas Frank surely doesn’t have more than a couple of games left to save his job. If he can, that is.
Postscript:
Has the title race ever really been on
Romantics perpetuate rivalries and races because they thicken the prestige of a competition. But if you glean below the narratives, the tricks of pompous storytelling, then you’d have to argue that at no point in this season has the title race ever really been on. The City have flattered to deceive and look no closer to their former selves. The holders in Liverpool have been broken from the start. And in Aston Villa — their January transfer business a clue — there is the charming yet glum reminder that this remains a league driven by financial muscle. Below the league’s top three, things get really interesting. But not because of a beefier juicy middle, but because no one seems capable of sewing form to fact. No wonder the fiction is so tantalising.