Well, that was a rather uneventful gameweek to end the first half of the season. Seven of the ten matches ended up in draws and thirteen of the twenty teams failed to score more than one goal (seven teams failed to score at all). Nonetheless, there were talking points all over the table as the curtain closed on 2025. Here are all the talking points from gameweek 19.

Chelsea had a torrid month in December, and that culminated in the club parting ways with head coach Enzo Maresca midway through the season. Failing to beat Bournemouth twice was perhaps the surest sign that things have gone wrong severely at Chelsea in the last month. Andoni Iraola's boys have not won a game of football in two months and should have been an easy festive season six-pointer for Chelsea on paper. However, Enzo Maresca's side struggled to impose themselves on the game on Tuesday; in fact, it wasn't just the draw that was such a disappointment, it was also the manner of the draw. For stretches of that game, Bournemouth and Chelsea looked evenly matched; you couldn't tell that one team had title aspirations four weeks ago while the other is flirting with a relegation scrap. Whoever takes over at Chelsea next has their work cut out for them.

On the other side of London, Arsenal exorcised their final demon in the form of a 4-1 thrashing of Unai Emery's Aston Villa. This season, Arsenal have beaten all the teams that have tripped them up in their title challenges over the last two seasons, except for one: Aston Villa. Unai Emery's boys nicked a late win when both sides met earlier in the month, with Emi Buendia's goal coming as just about the last kick of the game. It seemed like the psychological effect of having stumbled against Villa so often was still in place, and Villa — with a possible title charge of their own in view — seemed set to take maximum points from Arsenal and leave their title race in tatters again. But it was not to be. Arteta's boys stepped up and convincingly smashed their boogey team as true champions do, a win made even more remarkable by the fact that Arsenal were missing midfield power house — and arguably player of the season so far — Declan Rice, thanks to a knee problem. Arsenal will be heading into 2026 on the highest of notes and licking their lips against any opponent you put in front of them.

Nottingham Forest under Sean Dyche now have 1 win and 4 defeats in their last five games. Two of those defeats came against Everton in the festive season, and the Merseyside club ran out comfortable 2-0 winners on Tuesday. The loss was made worse by the fact that Everton had four key players out for the clash due to either AFCON or injuries (Gueye, Ndiaye, Grealish, Drewsbury-Hall). With West Ham picking up a point away at Brighton to reduce what seemed like an insurmountable 5-point gap, Nottingham Forest fans will be well aware that they are now well and truly in a relegation battle heading into 2026. The performances need to improve, and fast.

Leeds wrapped up the first half of the season with a bang. 1 win, and 4 draws in their last five games have seen them move up to 16th on the table, 3 points clear of Nottingham Forest in 17th, and 7 points clear of West Ham in 18th. They've put real distance between themselves and the relegation battle. The draw against Liverpool on Thursday was just the icing on the cake of a brilliant festive season at Elland Road. It was also, perhaps, the first time Leeds supporters walked into a game of that magnitude this season thinking they could very well win it. Liverpool have been in good form of late, but such is the atmosphere at Elland Road that the Reds are well within their sights. Although they ended up playing out a 0-0 draw, it was a fairly even game that could have gone either way. Confidence will be high going into 2026 among Daniel Farke's team.

Manchester United is a strange club. They win games you don't expect them to and struggle against teams you expect them to wipe the floor with. Wolves have been the worst team in the division by far this season; they are yet to win a single game, and they had only 2 points coming into this game against Manchester United. Ruben Amorim and his team, the generous collective that they are, gave Wolves their 3rd point of the season in a torrid 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. It was a fitting way to bring the curtains down on the first half of a season that has been defined by an intransigent coach who has refused to change his mind about using a system even if his players are ill-suited for the system and the results are horrible. At the end of the day, Ruben Amorim will be fine; some other club will require his services when he leaves Manchester United, and he may very well go on to reinvent himself successfully elsewhere. The only loser in the battle of Amorim vs Manchester United in the long run is Manchester United.

8th on the table after 19 games, well within distance of Chelsea in 5th and maybe even Liverpool in 4th. No one at Hill Dickinson had expectations this lofty when Moyes was preparing for the season. A few days ago, when Ndiaye and Gueye departed for AFCON, and Grealish and Drewsbury-Hall were sidelined with injuries for a while, the faith of many on the blue side of Merseyside wavered. However, Moyes, in true pragmatic fashion, has carried on as if nothing changed. Everton beat Nottingham Forest in a game that saw them field four changes in the middle of the park. Dwight McNeil, Tyler Dibling, Merlin Rohl, and Tim Iroegbunam started in place of those missing through AFCON or injuries. The personnel were changed drastically from three weeks ago in the reverse fixture, but the result didn't change much. Three weeks ago, they beat Nottingham Forest 3-0; this time, after all the changes, they only managed to beat them 2-0. I know Moyes won't mind that one bit, I can almost picture him grinning in the dressing room and saying, "onwards."

Well, that was a rather uneventful gameweek to end the first half of the season. Seven of the ten matches ended up in draws and thirteen of the twenty teams failed to score more than one goal (seven teams failed to score at all). Nonetheless, there were talking points all over the table as the curtain closed on 2025. Here are all the talking points from gameweek 19.

Chelsea had a torrid month in December, and that culminated in the club parting ways with head coach Enzo Maresca midway through the season. Failing to beat Bournemouth twice was perhaps the surest sign that things have gone wrong severely at Chelsea in the last month. Andoni Iraola's boys have not won a game of football in two months and should have been an easy festive season six-pointer for Chelsea on paper. However, Enzo Maresca's side struggled to impose themselves on the game on Tuesday; in fact, it wasn't just the draw that was such a disappointment, it was also the manner of the draw. For stretches of that game, Bournemouth and Chelsea looked evenly matched; you couldn't tell that one team had title aspirations four weeks ago while the other is flirting with a relegation scrap. Whoever takes over at Chelsea next has their work cut out for them.

On the other side of London, Arsenal exorcised their final demon in the form of a 4-1 thrashing of Unai Emery's Aston Villa. This season, Arsenal have beaten all the teams that have tripped them up in their title challenges over the last two seasons, except for one: Aston Villa. Unai Emery's boys nicked a late win when both sides met earlier in the month, with Emi Buendia's goal coming as just about the last kick of the game. It seemed like the psychological effect of having stumbled against Villa so often was still in place, and Villa — with a possible title charge of their own in view — seemed set to take maximum points from Arsenal and leave their title race in tatters again. But it was not to be. Arteta's boys stepped up and convincingly smashed their boogey team as true champions do, a win made even more remarkable by the fact that Arsenal were missing midfield power house — and arguably player of the season so far — Declan Rice, thanks to a knee problem. Arsenal will be heading into 2026 on the highest of notes and licking their lips against any opponent you put in front of them.

Nottingham Forest under Sean Dyche now have 1 win and 4 defeats in their last five games. Two of those defeats came against Everton in the festive season, and the Merseyside club ran out comfortable 2-0 winners on Tuesday. The loss was made worse by the fact that Everton had four key players out for the clash due to either AFCON or injuries (Gueye, Ndiaye, Grealish, Drewsbury-Hall). With West Ham picking up a point away at Brighton to reduce what seemed like an insurmountable 5-point gap, Nottingham Forest fans will be well aware that they are now well and truly in a relegation battle heading into 2026. The performances need to improve, and fast.

Leeds wrapped up the first half of the season with a bang. 1 win, and 4 draws in their last five games have seen them move up to 16th on the table, 3 points clear of Nottingham Forest in 17th, and 7 points clear of West Ham in 18th. They've put real distance between themselves and the relegation battle. The draw against Liverpool on Thursday was just the icing on the cake of a brilliant festive season at Elland Road. It was also, perhaps, the first time Leeds supporters walked into a game of that magnitude this season thinking they could very well win it. Liverpool have been in good form of late, but such is the atmosphere at Elland Road that the Reds are well within their sights. Although they ended up playing out a 0-0 draw, it was a fairly even game that could have gone either way. Confidence will be high going into 2026 among Daniel Farke's team.

Manchester United is a strange club. They win games you don't expect them to and struggle against teams you expect them to wipe the floor with. Wolves have been the worst team in the division by far this season; they are yet to win a single game, and they had only 2 points coming into this game against Manchester United. Ruben Amorim and his team, the generous collective that they are, gave Wolves their 3rd point of the season in a torrid 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. It was a fitting way to bring the curtains down on the first half of a season that has been defined by an intransigent coach who has refused to change his mind about using a system even if his players are ill-suited for the system and the results are horrible. At the end of the day, Ruben Amorim will be fine; some other club will require his services when he leaves Manchester United, and he may very well go on to reinvent himself successfully elsewhere. The only loser in the battle of Amorim vs Manchester United in the long run is Manchester United.

8th on the table after 19 games, well within distance of Chelsea in 5th and maybe even Liverpool in 4th. No one at Hill Dickinson had expectations this lofty when Moyes was preparing for the season. A few days ago, when Ndiaye and Gueye departed for AFCON, and Grealish and Drewsbury-Hall were sidelined with injuries for a while, the faith of many on the blue side of Merseyside wavered. However, Moyes, in true pragmatic fashion, has carried on as if nothing changed. Everton beat Nottingham Forest in a game that saw them field four changes in the middle of the park. Dwight McNeil, Tyler Dibling, Merlin Rohl, and Tim Iroegbunam started in place of those missing through AFCON or injuries. The personnel were changed drastically from three weeks ago in the reverse fixture, but the result didn't change much. Three weeks ago, they beat Nottingham Forest 3-0; this time, after all the changes, they only managed to beat them 2-0. I know Moyes won't mind that one bit, I can almost picture him grinning in the dressing room and saying, "onwards."