Arsenal climbed back to the summit of the Premier League on Saturday thanks to a 1-0 win over a badly out of form Newcastle United at an edgy Emirates Stadium.
The latest Premier League 2026 betting odds drifted away from the Emirates for the first time in 2026, last week, after Manchester City beat Burnley to go top, and Mikel Arteta’s men had to dig deep to respond. My SBOTOP colleague James said that Arsenal had no room for error when they entertained the Magpies and they did their task but with no space to relax as an Eberechi Eze goal, scored with just nine minutes gone was all that separated the sides.
With Manchester City in FA Cup action this weekend, there was an opportunity for Arsenal, but with that comes pressure and it showed as the Magpies threatened to pile on more angst. Eze’s goal was a classic as he hammered the ball home from the edge of the area from a clever set-piece but from then on, the nerves were jangling, and Yoanne Wissa had a great chance to level when he was put through by Nick Woltemade but he blazed over the bar.
The Gunners were relieved, but Newcastle fell to a fourth consecutive league defeat and down to 14th place, putting manager Eddie Howe under increasing pressure.
Tottenham finally get a win!
In other Premier League 2026 news the relegation battle took a couple of hugely dramatic twists at a quarter to five on Saturday afternoon UK time, when a four points swing took Tottenham Hotspur out of the relegation zone and dumped their London rivals West Ham United right back in, before the Hammers responded with an injury time winner at home to Everton to turn the tables.
So, it’s as you were at the bottom, Spurs two points from safety but they have at least picked up their first victory of 2026, away to bottom club Wolves who were already relegated last week. Nottingham Forest had already piled the pressure onto West ham and Tottenham on Friday night as they hammered Sunderland 5-0 at the Stadium of light to move eight points clear of the drop zone, before the Hammers and Spurs both picked up their wins on Saturday.
Forest pulled off one of their best performances since returning to the top flight in 2022, racing into a four-goal lead against Sunderland before the break. An own goal from the hapless Trai Hume on 17 minutes set Forest on their way before the fit again Chris Wood doubled the lead. Goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus made it 4-0 at the break and the visitors shut up shop in the second half. They let the Black Cats attack and easily kept them at bay before Elliot Anderson made it 5-0 with Forest’s only shot in the second half.
On the back of a 4-1 destruction of Burnley last week this was another statement result for the East Midlanders and they took a huge step towards safety.
West Ham met Everton on a sunny day in London and it all looked to be going swimmingly for the Hammers as they led the Toffees late in the game thanks to a Tomas Soucek goal. But then news came in from Molineux that Spurs had scored a late winner through Joao Palhinha, and when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored for Everton the Tottenham fans went wild in the Midlands. But football can be a cruel and beautiful game, and West Ham fans were the last to celebrate when Callum Wilson scored an injury time winner.
And Spurs fans sighed again.
Cottagers revive their Euro hopes
Fulham’s clash with Aston Villa was a match of great significance to both clubs, but arguably more important to the Cottagers who are in a fight with five other teams for Europa places next term. The Villans are comfortably in the top five, with that being enough to win Champions League football, and on Saturday it was Fulham who got the points they needed with a first victory in three games, in a tense 1-0 win at that.
Ryan Sessegnon was the scorer for Fulham as Marco Silva’s men moved up to tenth place and level with a European spot, but they will need to find consistency to see the job through.
And the Cottagers’ win was good news for Liverpool too, who moved above Villa into fourth place thanks to a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace. The fit again Alexander Isak opened the scoring, and Andrew Robertson was on target before Florian Wirtz added a third in injury time. Daniel Munoz scored for the Eagles who stay in 13th.
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