The Wrap: What happened in Matchweek 16

Victories for Arsenal, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Chelsea ensured a familiar feel for the Premier League’s upper echelons after the weekend’s action, but the Gunners were indebted to two huge strokes of good fortune to maintain their grip at the summit.

Mikel Arteta’s side required an own-goal double to see off bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Man City and Chelsea had no such troubles in securing their wins.

Elsewhere, Mohamed Salah returned to help Liverpool beat Brighton & Hove Albion, Tottenham Hotspur’s troubles continued with defeat at Nottingham Forest, and Sunderland claimed an impassioned victory over local rivals Newcastle United.

Here is everything you need to know about Matchweek 16.

After four games without a victory in all competitions, Chelsea returned to winning ways, with their talisman Cole Palmer scoring his first goal in almost three months.

Injuries have robbed Enzo Maresca of his star player, but Palmer – making his first appearance at Stamford Bridge since the opening weekend of the season – latched on to Malo Gusto’s through-ball after 21 minutes to catch the eye of watching England manager Thomas Tuchel.

“We said many times with Cole we are a better team,” said Maresca. “Unfortunately, he was out for many games for us, but now he’s back and for sure he will help us.”

Gusto added a goal to his assist just before half-time, with Chelsea shutting Everton out for their eighth clean sheet of the Premier League campaign.

For an Everton side hoping to challenge for a European spot, there will now be some concern over the loss of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who was forced off after just 16 minutes with a suspected hamstring injury. The former Chelsea man is Everton’s joint-top scorer this season, with four goals.

A week that began with uncertainty ended with yet another record for  Salah, whose assist in the victory over Brighton means he now holds the all-time record for Premier League goal involvements for a single club.

Salah’s corner for Hugo Ekitike’s second goal was the Egyptian’s 277th goal involvement for Liverpool in the competition (188 goals, 89 assists), surpassing Wayne Rooney’s 276 for Manchester United.

Salah started on the bench following his absence from Liverpool’s midweek UEFA Champions League win at Internazionale Milano – before which he publicly cast doubt over his Anfield future – but came on to replace the injured Joe Gomez after 26 minutes and ended the match with more chances created (five) than anyone else on the pitch. He will now depart for Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) duty.

Asked whether Salah will remain at the club in January, Arne Slot said: “Yes. He is a Liverpool player and when he is here I like to use him when we need him. Today he didn’t start, as he did for a few games before, but in the one-and-a-half seasons before that he started almost every game. He had the performance like you would want him to give.”

Liverpool are now unbeaten in four Premier League matches, although Slot admitted his side rode their luck at times here.

Brighton’s Expected Goals (xG) tally of 1.96 was higher than Liverpool’s (1.82), but the visitors hit the target only once from 14 attempts. “The game was there to win, but in the end we couldn’t take it,” said head coach Fabian Hurzeler.

A perennial substitute last season, Harry Wilson continued his remarkable rise to Fulham powerhouse with two assists and a goal to inflict a seventh straight Premier League defeat on struggling Burnley.

Having increasingly been given a starting role by Marco Silva this campaign, Wilson has now been involved in eight goals across his 15 Premier League matches in 2025/26 (five goals, three assists), already dwarfing his output across the whole of last season.

Watch: Wilson's goal v Burnley

With Samuel Chukwueze, Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi all heading off for AFCON duty, it is just the type of form Silva needs.

“In my opinion he’s in the best moment of his career,” said Silva of Wilson. “I believe this season is going to be his best in terms of numbers.”

Wilson set up Emile Smith Rowe and Bassey before scoring a goal himself. Burnley had 16 shots to Fulham’s four, but goals from Lesley Ugochukwu and Oliver Sonne counted for nothing for Scott Parker’s side, who were booed off at full-time.

“It was only four months ago that I was standing on the balcony in the town centre and all of us were celebrating and the fans were right with us,” said Parker. “Within four months that quickly changes. I understand [the fans’] frustration.”

Top against a distant bottom was expected to be a Premier League mismatch of epic proportions, but Arsenal counted themselves lucky that Wolves did the scoring for them on Saturday, with only two own goals preventing the leaders from dropping further points after last week’s defeat at Villa.

Up against a committed Wolves defence, Mikel Arteta’s side looked for a long time like finding no way through, failing to register a shot on target in the first half of a Premier League match for the first time this season.

They were fortunate to lead on 70 minutes when Bukayo Saka’s corner was turned into his own net by Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone. Tolu Arokodare then appeared to have snatched the most unlikely of points for the visitors with a 90th-minute header, but Yerson Mosquera accidentally nodded in the second own goal of the afternoon deep in stoppage time.

Watch: Arsenal's dramatic late win

“We had a period of two or three minutes [being] deep, totally passive, with horrible defensive habits,” said Arteta, of Wolves’ late comeback. “That is nowhere near the level that is required. We are relieved because we managed to score a goal at the end and go on winning but we need to improve in that sense, for sure. We made it even harder with what we did in the manner that we conceded the goal. That’s unacceptable.”

Defeat was a cruel blow for Wolves, who have now lost nine successive Premier League games and remain on two points.

The wait for a Crystal Palace victory over Man City at Selhurst Park already stretched more than a decade before this match. Oliver Glasner’s side certainly had opportunities to end that barren run on Sunday, but paid the price for an failure to take them.

Yeremy Pino and Adam Wharton both hit the woodwork as Palace managed 16 shots to City’s seven. Crucially, only four of Palace’s were on target compared to six from the visitors – and three of those beat 'keeper Dean Henderson.

“It feels a little bit wrong [the result] but we have to accept it,” said Glasner. “This is how big games are decided. It was small margins.”

City have now won their last four Premier League matches, scoring at least three times in each of them. Erling Haaland claimed two to take his league tally for the season to 17, with Phil Foden scoring the other. Foden has now scored six times in four consecutive league matches.

Just when it looked like things might be picking up, Spurs crashed down to earth with a bang thanks to this comprehensive defeat.

Looking to build on successive victories over Brentford and Slavia Prague, Thomas Frank’s side recorded just one shot on target at the City Ground and paid the price for some poor defensive errors at the other end. They have now won just one of their last seven Premier League matches and their points tally of 22 is their lowest at this stage of the season since 2008/09.

“This is not a quick fix,” said Frank. “Today was a very bad performance. No two ways about that, but also know that to change this, this will take some time. No one will want to hear about that, it’s just reality.”

Callum Hudson-Odoi netted twice before Ibrahim Sangare added a brilliant long-range strike to his earlier two assists to secure an emphatic triumph.

Watch: Sangare's superb strike v Spurs

Forest have lost just three times since Sean Dyche took over in October, and this win moved them five points clear of the relegation zone.

Sunderland had been down to League One and back in almost a decade since the last Tyne-Wear derby graced the Premier League. But any supposed gulf in class between them and Newcastle was entirely absent on Sunday.

Regis Le Bris’ team have been a revelation on their return to the top flight this campaign, and Sunderland's 26 points represents their biggest haul at this stage of a Premier League season since 2000/01, when they went on to finish seventh.

It was a game of scarce goalmouth action. Indeed, it contained the fewest shots (11) and lowest combined xG total (0.53) of any Premier League match this season.

The only goal came in freak fashion when Nick Woltemade attempted to head Nordi Mukiele’s cross behind, but accidentally nodded the ball off the crossbar and into his own net, sparking wild scenes at the Stadium of Light.

Watch: Sunderland players and fans celebrate at the final whistle

Newcastle have now not kept a clean sheet in any of their last nine Premier League matches.

“It was not our finest game,” said Eddie Howe. “It’s so disappointing, we know our performance was not what it needed to be. The effort was there but the quality wasn’t. We were disappointed with our creative output. We haven’t delivered. It’s difficult to take.”

They conceded the quickest goal of the Premier League season, twice found themselves behind, were a distant second best (as has so often been the case this season) in the xG stakes, but still Villa found a way to win.

With nine victories on the bounce in all competitions, Unai Emery’s side remain third in the table, reaping the benefits of their never-say-die attitude.

Morgan Rogers was the architect of this comeback, continuing his fine season with two second-half goals including a wonderful long-range strike that sealed the victory. That goal – a league-high 10th from outside the box this season for the visitors – epitomised Villa’s approach, with 25 Premier League goals from an xG of just 17.06. At London Stadium, their xG was just 0.62, compared to West Ham United’s 1.04.

Watch: Rogers' two goals v West Ham

The hosts had led after just 30 seconds through Mateus Fernandes. Jarrod Bowen then restored their lead after a Konstantinos Mavropanos own goal had levelled the scoreline. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side remain winless in five league games.

“I am so happy with how [the Villa players] responded,” said head coach Emery. “Twice we were behind but how they kept the commitment is how we are as a team – being ambitious, being responsible, the commitment tactically.”

Jordan Henderson will be 36 by the time of the FIFA World Cup next summer, but will firmly expect to be in England’s squad. Is there a chance Dominic Calvert-Lewin might join him in a first return to international honours since 2021?

The two men put their names on the scoresheet here to ensure the spoils were shared in a game of few chances.

Henderson – playing in a slightly more advanced role than usual – became Brentford’s oldest Premier League scorer when he put the hosts ahead after 70 minutes with his first goal in the competition for four years. He celebrated with his former Liverpool team-mate Diogo Jota’s celebration. “I don’t score many goals – I thought I would dedicate it to him,” he said.

Watch: Henderson's first goal for Brentford

But Brentford have dropped 13 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season – more than any other side. Two of those disappeared due to Calvert-Lewin’s excellent header, which saw him score in four consecutive Premier League appearances. Only Mark Viduka has a longer scoring streak for Leeds United in the top flight (five consecutive goals in 2003).

“He is a fantastic striker,” said Daniel Farke of Calvert-Lewin. “It was never in doubt. His CV speaks for itself. Unbelievable human being, unbelievable hard worker. One of the best English strikers that we have in the Premier League. We are blessed to have him.”