The first gameweek of the second half of the season came bearing surprising results, upsets, and drama as high-profile managers got fired in quick succession. We also saw wonder goals, including a goal of the season contender by Harrison Reed for Fulham and some beautiful finishes from a certain Brazilian looking to break a record. Here are all the winners and losers of gameweek 20.

The biggest problem Manchester City currently face is not that they are six points behind Arsenal; it's that they don't appear to be up for a title race. Sunday's fixture against Chelsea presented the perfect opportunity to bounce back from the disappointing draw against Sunderland. Chelsea had just sacked Enzo Maresca and was missing several key players, including Moises Caicedo, Robert Sanchez, and Wesley Fofana. They were there for the taking, but Manchester City couldn't capitalise. In the past, City used to be ruthless when chasing a title; they walked into every game intent on finding a way to win no matter what, this version of City doesn't seem to possess that ability.

In the 22/23 season, Gabriel Martinelli came close to breaking the record for most goals by a Brazilian in the Premier League. He ended up tying the record of 15 goals set by Roberto Firmino, but couldn't surpass that. In 24/25, Matheus Cunha came close but ended up finishing the season with 15 goals as well. For a while, it has seemed like that record would stand for a long time, no matter which talented Brazilian tries to break it. That is, until Igor Thiago showed up. The Brazilian is currently on 14 goals in the league after scoring a hat-trick as Brentford beat Everton 4-2 over the weekend, and people are finally beginning to take notice. When Brentford lost Bryan Mbuemo and Yoanne Wissa in one go during the summer, it seemed like they would struggle to replace the goal output of those players, but Thiago (and Kevin Schade) have stepped up and made sure The Bees haven't struggled for goals this season. With 18 games left to play and just 2 goals needed to break Firmino's record, it's all but certain that Igor Thiago will smash the record at some point this season.

West Ham had the perfect opportunity. Their relegation rivals, Nottingham Forest, had lost earlier in the day, and they went into their game against the worst team in the division with the chance to cut down the gap between them and Forest to 1 point with a win over Wolves. If they'd done that, they'd have put themselves in a great position to leap out of the relegation zone and over Nottingham Forest when they play them later this week. However, if wishes were horses. Wolves were up 3-0 after 41 minutes, and West Ham didn't have a reply to them for the rest of the game. It was a horrible match to lose. It was a horrible way to lose the match. The Hammers might be going down.

It's back-to-back wins for Newcastle after beating Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday, thanks to late goals from Bruno G and Malick Thiaw. Newcastle have really struggled for consistency in the league this season, and it was absolutely necessary to build on the win over Burnley by beating Crystal Palace. That victory puts Newcastle 9th on the table, just 5 points behind Liverpool in 4th place, and the chance of finishing in the Champions League places is still alive. This change in fortune comes at a great time for Eddie Howe, injuries haven't been kind to his team this season, but most of the players out with major injuries are back. Newcastle can now compete on top four charge with a deep squad to draw from as they compete on other fronts as well.

I think the entire footballing world is not having the appropriate reaction to Thomas Frank's first season at Tottenham. This is supposed to be a serious club with top four ambitions and Champions League football in view every year. After their rather lacklustre 0-0 draw with Sunderland, they are in 13th place on the table, 7 points adrift of the Champions League places and not even in any of the other European spots. In other words, if they keep going at this pace, there's a very real chance that Tottenham won't be in Europe at all next season. It's a bad start for a club that was supposed to go to the next level under the current management.

At full-time on Saturday, the faces of the coaching staff at Wolves told the whole story. Their first win of the season came against relegation rivals West Ham, a 3-0 thrashing, and yet the coaches looked somewhat forlorn. There is a sense in which it is too little too late; they're 12 points from safety, and it doesn't look like a closable gap. Nevertheless, we celebrate wins around here, and it cannot have been easy to go nineteen games without a single win. So, congratulations to everyone at Molineux, we hope they have a better second half of the season and put a few more wins on the board on their way out.

The first gameweek of the second half of the season came bearing surprising results, upsets, and drama as high-profile managers got fired in quick succession. We also saw wonder goals, including a goal of the season contender by Harrison Reed for Fulham and some beautiful finishes from a certain Brazilian looking to break a record. Here are all the winners and losers of gameweek 20.

The biggest problem Manchester City currently face is not that they are six points behind Arsenal; it's that they don't appear to be up for a title race. Sunday's fixture against Chelsea presented the perfect opportunity to bounce back from the disappointing draw against Sunderland. Chelsea had just sacked Enzo Maresca and was missing several key players, including Moises Caicedo, Robert Sanchez, and Wesley Fofana. They were there for the taking, but Manchester City couldn't capitalise. In the past, City used to be ruthless when chasing a title; they walked into every game intent on finding a way to win no matter what, this version of City doesn't seem to possess that ability.

In the 22/23 season, Gabriel Martinelli came close to breaking the record for most goals by a Brazilian in the Premier League. He ended up tying the record of 15 goals set by Roberto Firmino, but couldn't surpass that. In 24/25, Matheus Cunha came close but ended up finishing the season with 15 goals as well. For a while, it has seemed like that record would stand for a long time, no matter which talented Brazilian tries to break it. That is, until Igor Thiago showed up. The Brazilian is currently on 14 goals in the league after scoring a hat-trick as Brentford beat Everton 4-2 over the weekend, and people are finally beginning to take notice. When Brentford lost Bryan Mbuemo and Yoanne Wissa in one go during the summer, it seemed like they would struggle to replace the goal output of those players, but Thiago (and Kevin Schade) have stepped up and made sure The Bees haven't struggled for goals this season. With 18 games left to play and just 2 goals needed to break Firmino's record, it's all but certain that Igor Thiago will smash the record at some point this season.

West Ham had the perfect opportunity. Their relegation rivals, Nottingham Forest, had lost earlier in the day, and they went into their game against the worst team in the division with the chance to cut down the gap between them and Forest to 1 point with a win over Wolves. If they'd done that, they'd have put themselves in a great position to leap out of the relegation zone and over Nottingham Forest when they play them later this week. However, if wishes were horses. Wolves were up 3-0 after 41 minutes, and West Ham didn't have a reply to them for the rest of the game. It was a horrible match to lose. It was a horrible way to lose the match. The Hammers might be going down.

It's back-to-back wins for Newcastle after beating Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday, thanks to late goals from Bruno G and Malick Thiaw. Newcastle have really struggled for consistency in the league this season, and it was absolutely necessary to build on the win over Burnley by beating Crystal Palace. That victory puts Newcastle 9th on the table, just 5 points behind Liverpool in 4th place, and the chance of finishing in the Champions League places is still alive. This change in fortune comes at a great time for Eddie Howe, injuries haven't been kind to his team this season, but most of the players out with major injuries are back. Newcastle can now compete on top four charge with a deep squad to draw from as they compete on other fronts as well.

I think the entire footballing world is not having the appropriate reaction to Thomas Frank's first season at Tottenham. This is supposed to be a serious club with top four ambitions and Champions League football in view every year. After their rather lacklustre 0-0 draw with Sunderland, they are in 13th place on the table, 7 points adrift of the Champions League places and not even in any of the other European spots. In other words, if they keep going at this pace, there's a very real chance that Tottenham won't be in Europe at all next season. It's a bad start for a club that was supposed to go to the next level under the current management.

At full-time on Saturday, the faces of the coaching staff at Wolves told the whole story. Their first win of the season came against relegation rivals West Ham, a 3-0 thrashing, and yet the coaches looked somewhat forlorn. There is a sense in which it is too little too late; they're 12 points from safety, and it doesn't look like a closable gap. Nevertheless, we celebrate wins around here, and it cannot have been easy to go nineteen games without a single win. So, congratulations to everyone at Molineux, we hope they have a better second half of the season and put a few more wins on the board on their way out.