As the 25/26 season draws to a close, every gameweek is increasingly important at every point on the table. At the top, Arsenal and Manchester City seem set to slug it out for the title. And at the bottom, a cluster of clubs is crowded around 18th (Tottenham, Leeds, etc), but it seems like the main characters of the battle for safety will be Nottingham Forest and West Ham. Another battle is being fought by four clubs (United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Brentford) for the final Champions League spot. And then a smattering of clubs in the middle of the table are vying for the other European spots (Europa and Conference League).

With that general picture in mind, here are the winners and losers from the last round of action.

Tottenham are now well and truly in a relegation scrap for the second season running. A 2-1 defeat to Newcastle left them in 16th with 29 points, just five points and two places ahead of West Ham in 18th. These are strange times for the London club. Last year, they won the Europa League while battling relegation in the Premier League. This year, they're battling relegation again, but they're doing very well in the Champions League, finishing 4th in the group stage. This is clearly a capable group of players, but somehow the form in Europe hasn't translated into England. And the injuries haven't helped at all.

There is no greater case for the difficulty of the Premier League at the moment than Leeds United suddenly turning into a nightmare to play against. They bought no new players, didn't need a new coach, Daniel Farke just made a few tactical tweaks, and they went from relegation fodder to potential mid-table contenders. Chelsea learnt the hard way as they blew a two-goal lead and allowed Leeds to come from behind and nick a draw in a 2-2 thriller. Leeds may not have done the double over Chelsea, but it will certainly feel like it among the Blues. Leeds beat them 3-2 in December after all, this was supposed to be payback for Chelsea, but Leeds and Noah Okafor had other plans.

Riddle me this: When does a draw against a very tricky team away from home feel like a loss?

Answer: When Arsenal is in a title race with Manchester City.

At most other points in the season, a draw away from home against a difficult side by Brentford would not have been a completely unwelcome result. However, with Manchester City breathing down their necks, every game is a must-win for Arsenal from now until the end of the season (or when the title is mathematically won). And that is why the atmosphere in the Arsenal fanbase after full-time at the G-tech was remarkably dull. Manchester City had blitzed their way to a 3-0 victory against Fulham earlier and cut Arsenal's lead down to 3 points. Arsenal needed a win to bring the gap back to 6 points and keep City at arm's length, but they failed. After periods where it looked like the title race was done and dusted despite Arsenal's slip-ups, the race is wide open again.

When you are 19th on the table with 18 points after 26 games and relegation all but confirmed, there's not much to celebrate after every game. However, The Clarets do have something to celebrate this week, a stunning comeback against Crystal Palace saw them go from 2-0 down after 33 minutes to winning the game 3-2. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the comeback took all of seven minutes. After 40 minutes, it was 2-1, and 7 minutes later, it was 2-3, and the Burnley crowd at Selhurst Park erupted. It's been a difficult season for Burnley on their return to the Premier League, and their relegation is all but guaranteed but that result will lift the spirits of everyone at the club and make it easier for them to face the rest of their fixtures.

I'm sure many people on the Brighton side will be feeling hard done by after the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa by way of a very late Jack Hinshelwood own goal. Brighton were the better team for most of the game, restricting their opponents to a grand total of 0 shots on target the entire game. They were also the team in greater need of a result. No one expects Brighton to get relegated, but that defeat left them only one point ahead of Leeds United, who currently lead the pack of teams striving for safety. With 31 points in 15th place, there is a possible future in which Brighton find themselves in 17th after two rounds of fixtures, slugging it out with West Ham directly for survival. For a club that was in Europe two years ago, it's an unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory they find themselves in right now.

Pep Guardiola finally laid down the gauntlet definitively this gameweek. From the first whistle at the Etihad, Manchester City came flying out, intent on suffocating Fulham into submission. And they did, by halftime they were 3-0 up, and it stayed like that till the end of the game. It wasn't exactly a flawless performance, Pep will be worried about the second-half drop-off in intensity that has become a pattern for his team, and grateful that Fulham couldn't capitalise on that in this game. However, the most important thing is that they needed to win this game in style to put pressure on Arsenal, and they did. With twelve games to go, and the lead now cut to 4 points after Arsenal stumbled against Brentford, Pep will be scheming, plotting, and quite possibly dreaming of one last English Premier League title before he bows out of the Manchester City role.

As the 25/26 season draws to a close, every gameweek is increasingly important at every point on the table. At the top, Arsenal and Manchester City seem set to slug it out for the title. And at the bottom, a cluster of clubs is crowded around 18th (Tottenham, Leeds, etc), but it seems like the main characters of the battle for safety will be Nottingham Forest and West Ham. Another battle is being fought by four clubs (United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Brentford) for the final Champions League spot. And then a smattering of clubs in the middle of the table are vying for the other European spots (Europa and Conference League).

With that general picture in mind, here are the winners and losers from the last round of action.

Tottenham are now well and truly in a relegation scrap for the second season running. A 2-1 defeat to Newcastle left them in 16th with 29 points, just five points and two places ahead of West Ham in 18th. These are strange times for the London club. Last year, they won the Europa League while battling relegation in the Premier League. This year, they're battling relegation again, but they're doing very well in the Champions League, finishing 4th in the group stage. This is clearly a capable group of players, but somehow the form in Europe hasn't translated into England. And the injuries haven't helped at all.

There is no greater case for the difficulty of the Premier League at the moment than Leeds United suddenly turning into a nightmare to play against. They bought no new players, didn't need a new coach, Daniel Farke just made a few tactical tweaks, and they went from relegation fodder to potential mid-table contenders. Chelsea learnt the hard way as they blew a two-goal lead and allowed Leeds to come from behind and nick a draw in a 2-2 thriller. Leeds may not have done the double over Chelsea, but it will certainly feel like it among the Blues. Leeds beat them 3-2 in December after all, this was supposed to be payback for Chelsea, but Leeds and Noah Okafor had other plans.

Riddle me this: When does a draw against a very tricky team away from home feel like a loss?

Answer: When Arsenal is in a title race with Manchester City.

At most other points in the season, a draw away from home against a difficult side by Brentford would not have been a completely unwelcome result. However, with Manchester City breathing down their necks, every game is a must-win for Arsenal from now until the end of the season (or when the title is mathematically won). And that is why the atmosphere in the Arsenal fanbase after full-time at the G-tech was remarkably dull. Manchester City had blitzed their way to a 3-0 victory against Fulham earlier and cut Arsenal's lead down to 3 points. Arsenal needed a win to bring the gap back to 6 points and keep City at arm's length, but they failed. After periods where it looked like the title race was done and dusted despite Arsenal's slip-ups, the race is wide open again.

When you are 19th on the table with 18 points after 26 games and relegation all but confirmed, there's not much to celebrate after every game. However, The Clarets do have something to celebrate this week, a stunning comeback against Crystal Palace saw them go from 2-0 down after 33 minutes to winning the game 3-2. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the comeback took all of seven minutes. After 40 minutes, it was 2-1, and 7 minutes later, it was 2-3, and the Burnley crowd at Selhurst Park erupted. It's been a difficult season for Burnley on their return to the Premier League, and their relegation is all but guaranteed but that result will lift the spirits of everyone at the club and make it easier for them to face the rest of their fixtures.

I'm sure many people on the Brighton side will be feeling hard done by after the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa by way of a very late Jack Hinshelwood own goal. Brighton were the better team for most of the game, restricting their opponents to a grand total of 0 shots on target the entire game. They were also the team in greater need of a result. No one expects Brighton to get relegated, but that defeat left them only one point ahead of Leeds United, who currently lead the pack of teams striving for safety. With 31 points in 15th place, there is a possible future in which Brighton find themselves in 17th after two rounds of fixtures, slugging it out with West Ham directly for survival. For a club that was in Europe two years ago, it's an unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory they find themselves in right now.

Pep Guardiola finally laid down the gauntlet definitively this gameweek. From the first whistle at the Etihad, Manchester City came flying out, intent on suffocating Fulham into submission. And they did, by halftime they were 3-0 up, and it stayed like that till the end of the game. It wasn't exactly a flawless performance, Pep will be worried about the second-half drop-off in intensity that has become a pattern for his team, and grateful that Fulham couldn't capitalise on that in this game. However, the most important thing is that they needed to win this game in style to put pressure on Arsenal, and they did. With twelve games to go, and the lead now cut to 4 points after Arsenal stumbled against Brentford, Pep will be scheming, plotting, and quite possibly dreaming of one last English Premier League title before he bows out of the Manchester City role.