The Wrap: What happened in Matchweek 11

Here we look back on a thrilling weekend of action, including late equalisers for Man Utd and Sunderland

As they headed off for the last international break of 2025, Arsenal’s players were finally reminded what it feels like to concede and not win, with Manchester City seizing the opportunity to capitalise.

Pep Guardiola’s side now sit just four points off the league leaders after easing past reigning champions Liverpool, a day after Arsenal’s 10-game winning streak in all competitions concluded with a draw at Sunderland.

Chelsea moved third after swatting aside bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Aston Villa thrashed AFC Bournemouth and Manchester United drew with Tottenham Hotspur.

At the other end of the table, there were huge wins for West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, who beat Burnley and Leeds United respectively.

Here is all you need to know about Matchweek 11.

Two points dropped for Spurs? Two points dropped for Man Utd? Somehow, it felt like a bit of both as last season’s Uefa Europa League finalists combined for a bizarre game that packed almost all of its drama into the closing stages.

Bryan Mbeumo put United ahead in an opening half that saw a wholly uninspired Spurs manage an Expected Goals (xG) tally of just 0.07.

The hosts then looked to be on course for victory when Mathys Tel and Richarlison scored in the closing stages, only for Matthijs de Ligt to nod home in the sixth minute of stoppage time and ensure the spoils were shared.

A point meant Spurs avoided the type of final-whistle boos that greeted the last home defeat against Chelsea but Thomas Frank’s side have still not won any of their last five Premier League home games. “The way we turned it around, to stay in the game, I’m very, very happy,” said Frank. “So close to winning it and every other day we win it.”

Man Utd are unbeaten in five matches but Ruben Amorim suggested his side paid the price for being “too comfortable” when ahead.

“We should do better,” he said. “Be more aggressive, feeling the environment in the stadium and that the three points were there, the space was there. I think we felt too comfortable during the game. We need to do better because the game was there to take.”

The drought blighting Everton’s strikers shows no sign of ending but, fortunately for David Moyes, others in his team are content to step up.

The hosts were good value for this dominant victory, secured through goals from Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane. Everton also had three goals disallowed for offside, as Fulham offered precious little threat until the closing stages.

“We got what we deserved,” admitted Marco Silva. “We only played for 20 minutes. We lost the game in the physical side, we didn’t handle it at all. You can lose a game because the other team is better than you but not because you don’t come up to the physical standard. That is not negotiable.”

Everton have been defeated just once in their last eight home Premier League matches, while Fulham have lost five consecutive away league games, leaving them just a point above the relegation zone.

West Ham fans saw their struggling side fall behind at London Stadium for the second week running. But, just as they did a week earlier against Newcastle United, Nuno Espirito Santo’s team then scored three times to record another much-needed victory.

Back-to-back home wins moved the Hammers within goal difference of leaving the relegation zone.

“I’m very, very happy,” said Nuno. “I am happy for the boys and our fans. This was a massive game for us. We have proved we want to change things, we want to be strong characters.”

It was a missed opportunity for Burnley, who have now conceded at least twice in each of their last seven Premier League games on the road.

The Clarets went ahead through Zian Flemming, only to concede Callum Wilson’s equaliser on the cusp of a comfortable first half. Even then, Burnley looked under little threat, until Tomas Soucek and Kyle Walker-Peters scored for West Ham late on. Josh Cullen’s late goal counted for little.

Scott Parker described Burnley’s first half as “exceptional” but rued not taking advantage of their dominance. “I thought the game was there, I felt really comfortable,” he said.

It took 812 minutes but, finally, David Raya was reminded what it is like to concede. A joint club-record eight straight clean sheets came to an end in a thrilling game against Sunderland, who continue to enjoy a remarkable return to the Premier League. Prior to the start of the season, who would have predicted Regis Le Bris’ side would be the one to end a 10-match winning streak?

The hosts took the lead through Dan Ballard, before Arsenal hit back twice in the second half, scoring through Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard. That looked enough for victory as the visitors imposed their dominance but Brian Brobbey struck a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser before Ballard made a sensational block to secure a point off the league leaders.

Sunderland have scored five times after the 90th minute in the Premier League this season – more than any other side. “It shows that the team has a really strong character,” said Le Bris.

Arsenal used Mikel Merino as a makeshift striker in the absence of injured Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Noni Madueke.

“It’s not a nice feeling,” said Arteta. “It’s disappointment and frustration, because we wanted the three points. We had to navigate through a tough game. We knew that. We had to deal with situations that were obviously difficult to deal with.”

Malo Gusto’s first senior goal, 165 matches into his professional career, opened Wolves’ fragile floodgates to heap further misery on Premier League’s managerless bottom club.

The visitors limited Chelsea’s chances in the first half but Gusto struck soon after half-time, with Joao Pedro and Pedro Neto adding to the scoreline. Alejandro Garnacho provided two assists for the first time in his 99-game Premier League career.

Victory ensured Chelsea headed into the international break in third place but Wolves’ prospects of avoiding relegation already appear slim. They have just two points from 11 matches. Every Premier League team with two or fewer points at this stage have gone on to be relegated – Man City in 1995/96, Sunderland in 2016/17, Sheffield United in 2020/21 and 2023/24 and Norwich City in 2021/22.

Wolves took 61 minutes to register a shot at Stamford Bridge and finished the match without hitting the target once.

Middlesbrough head coach Rob Edwards is expected to fill the vacant Wolves position, according to media reports. James Collins, the club’s caretaker boss, said: “It’s obviously a tough job. What I would say to him is the boys are working hard. There’s not little cliques. That’s a good place to start. Our season isn’t going to be defined by Chelsea away.”

Villa’s recovery mission after a poor start to the campaign continues to gather pace. Through four different scorers, Unai Emery’s side registered their widest-margin Premier League victory of the season.

Emiliano Buendia, Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley and Donyell Malen all found the net, while Emiliano Martinez saved Antoine Semenyo’s penalty, to ensure Villa have followed five winless league games with victory in five of the following six. Buendia has scored three times in his last five Premier League appearances.

“I am happy, after the poor start, how we are progressively getting better,” said Emery. “We sent the message inside to increase our demands and consistency every day. Every day working, every day. Focusing intensely in each match. We had a fantastic month.”

Bournemouth have now lost consecutive Premier League matches by 2+ goals after falling to a 3-1 defeat at Man City last time out.

Since the start of last season, they have kept just three clean sheets in 25 Premier League away games – the joint-fewest by any team to appear in both campaigns.

“I’m worried that in the last two games I felt like we haven’t been ‘us’,” said Andoni Iraola.

Newcastle’s travel sickness continues to blight Eddie Howe’s side, leaving them just two points above the relegation zone.

While they have shown a brilliant ability to rise to the biggest Premier League and Uefa Champions League occasions at St James’ Park, Howe’s team are persistently meek away from home. They are now without a win in nine Premier League away games, dating back to April. Of most concern, there was no sign of that barren run ending on Saturday.

“We know it’s not good enough and I take full responsibility for that – the work to putting that right starts now,” said Howe. “It’s not satisfactory. We haven’t done our jobs and feel we have let everybody down. When you make mistakes it’s not intentional from anyone. All you can do is hold your hands up and say let’s fix it. That’s what we’re going to try and do.”

Newcastle did actually take an unlikely lead through Harvey Barnes, before Brentford’s dominance paid off with three second-half goals.

Kevin Schade equalised from Michael Kayode’s long throw, taking Brentford’s tally of Premier League goals from throw-in situations to nine since the start of last season – more than double that of any other side.

Igor Thiago then struck twice after Dan Burn had been sent off. The Brazilian has nine goals this season, of which his eight in the Premier League rank behind only Erling Haaland in the top scorers’ list.

A goalless stalemate that extended Crystal Palace’s unbeaten Premier League home run to 12 matches perhaps provided a glimpse into their future.

With Marc Guehi absent injured, Palace handed a first league start to Jaydee Canvot, who became the youngest defender to start a Premier League match for the club, aged 19 years and 103 days. The Frenchman impressed, ranking top for the hosts for passing accuracy (90.9%) and clearances completed (eight).

He was also involved in the game’s biggest talking point when the referee reversed a decision to award Brighton & Hove Albion a penalty for Canvot’s challenge on Georginio Rutter, who was subsequently booked for simulation.

“I think he had a very good game but the whole team really defended well,” Glasner said of the teenager.

While the two sides largely cancelled each other out, Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler said: “We had the chances and we were the better team, so therefore you can say it’s a missed opportunity.”

The quality was perhaps understandably lacking in a fraught game between two candidates for relegation but Forest fans will not care one bit after their side secured a first Premier League victory under Sean Dyche.

Lukas Nmecha put Leeds ahead early on, but the visitors barely threatened again until the closing stages, by which time it was too little, too late.

Forest attempted eight shots in the opening 20 minutes, with Ibrahim Sangare grabbing a quick equaliser before Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson secured victory, ending a nine-game winless league run stretching back to the opening day of the season.

Incredibly, Leeds have now lost four of their last five league matches against teams on a run of nine or more winless Premier League games, a bizarre sequence that dates back to 2002.

“There’s good signs here and there’s real signs of people committing to the cause and I always think that’s important,” said Dyche.

In the 1 000th match of his managerial career, Pep Guardiola was given the perfect present of a thumping victory over the defending Premier League champions to move within four points of top spot.

The electrifying Jeremy Doku was the main architect, curling in a beautiful third goal from 20 yards to round off a wonderful solo performance.

“I think he will never be a top scorer, to be honest but he’s demanding himself to be better, he listens and has special attributes of dribbling,” said Guardiola of the Belgian.

“He was aggressive with and without the ball. We tried to help him and he played an outstanding game.”

First-half goals from Haaland – who had already missed a penalty – and Nico Gonzalez set up the win.

Liverpool could point to a Virgil van Dijk goal that was ruled out but they were second best throughout and have now lost five of their 11 Premier League matches – only Chelsea in 2015/16 have lost more as reigning champions at this stage. Arne Slot’s side now sit down in eighth.

“We need to improve but I didn’t need this game to know this,” said the Liverpool boss. “I saw a team trying to come back into the game but it wasn’t enough today and that is clear.”