We’re back for another round of hasty conclusions after the latest round of Premier League fixtures. Read on for five opinions that we’ll stick to for about a week.
Every week on a Monday morning, we reflect on the weekend’s Premier League action with some hasty judgements that might just deserve a little more thought.
It’s mainly just a bit of fun, but there might also be some reason to genuinely believe these knee-jerk hot takes. There will certainly be people out there who do.
Read on to see what conclusions we’ve come to after the 16th gameweek of the 2025-26 Premier League season.
Arsenal’s Defensive Injury Crisis Is a Concern
Arsenal did what they needed to do on Saturday, overcoming a stubborn and desperate bottom-of-the-table Wolves to extend their lead at the Premier League’s summit overnight to five points.
However, it wasn’t quite the one-sided top-vs-bottom affair that many would have expected it to be. Wolves have only won two points all season and had lost eight games in a row before their trip to the Emirates, failing to score in six of those defeats.
And yet they put up an admirable fight, holding out at 0-0 until the 70th minute and only defeated by the league leaders through two preventable and – from their point of view, disappointing – own goals.
The bigger concern for Arsenal, however, is that their defence was breached by such goal-shy opposition. Manager Mikel Arteta wasn’t at all amused by the goal his side conceded.
“It was a relief [to win], but we have a very clear understanding that the margins should have been bigger,” Arteta said afterwards. “We generated more chances in the second half, but after that we had a period of two or three minutes deep [in our territory], totally passive, with horrible defensive habits that are nowhere near the levels required.”
Already without the injured Gabriel Magalhães and Cristhian Mosquera, they lost Ben White to what looked like a hamstring strain, and they appeared vulnerable with a makeshift backline. Wolves scored only their ninth goal in 16 games this season, and but for a unfortunate own goal, would have snatched an unlikely point.
Next time out, Arsenal will at least be able to welcome back Riccardo Calafiori, who missed this game through suspension, but as they approach such a busy period of the season, Arteta will want to see them much improved from a defensive point of view.
Wilson Can Fire Fulham into European Fight
It took Harry Wilson hitting an exceptional run of form to spark Fulham’s season into life, but now that’s happened, they are in with a chance of making this a successful campaign.
After starting 2025-26 with just three wins from their first 11 matches and flirting with the idea of a relegation dogfight, victory at Burnley on Saturday afternoon was their third in their last five games, a run of results that has catapulted them away from trouble and means they can eye up the top half of the table. They are now on 20 points, all of a sudden just six points off the top five. That is in part because the table is the tightest it’s ever been at this stage of a season, but Fulham could be about to take advantage.
Wilson has been one of the main reasons behind their rise. He got a goal and two assists in a 3-2 win at Turf Moor this weekend, which means he has three goals and three assists in his last four Premier League games, a run that followed a hat-trick and an assist on international duty against North Macedonia. He has now been involved in eight goals in his 15 Premier League games this season (five goals, three assists), which is more than he managed in his 25 appearances last term (six goals, one assist).
With him playing like this, Fulham have a real chance of continuing their charge up the table.
There Are Only Four Teams in the Relegation Battle
Well before the halfway point of the 2025-26 season, there are a handful of teams who appear in real danger of being cut adrift.
Wolves, who made it nine consecutive losses – one of the longest losing streaks in Premier League history – with defeat at Arsenal on Saturday night, are looking utterly hopeless (even if they did come within a few seconds of picking up a point against all odds away to the league leaders). Burnley, who are hot on their tails in the losing-streak stakes with their own run of seven straight defeats, have rather more hope because they have five times as many points on the board (10) as Wolves (two), but they also appear to be sinking without trace.
Above those two, West Ham are also very much in the mix even if they have improved under Nuno Espírito Santo. On Sunday, they twice managed to throw away a lead over Aston Villa to lose for the sixth time on home soil already this season.
Later that day, Leeds failed to win at Brentford and are just three points clear of the relegation zone. They remain involved in the battle, despite a recent mini-resurgence that has seen them take five points from their last three games.
Beyond that, there may be no other relegation contenders. Nottingham Forest brushed Tottenham aside impressively, winning 3-0 without much trouble at all to show just how clearly they belong in the top flight, while Fulham moved well clear of the drop zone with another win of their own.
There might not be many points separating the middle bunch of teams, which means we have a very open European battle, but the relegation fight is already looking like a closed shop.
Sunderland Are the Real Deal
Following a remarkably fast start to their return to the Premier League, Sunderland faded ever so slightly as we made it into winter. Before this weekend, they had just one win from their last six games, after beginning life back in the big time with five wins from their first nine.
That looked a lot like they were falling down the table to something like their rightful spot. The expected points (xPts) table has consistently had them much further down the league than they actually were, suggesting they hadn’t been quite as good as their position indicated.
But the thing about this Sunderland team is that even if they don’t create absolutely loads (meaning that the xPts model looks on them unfavourably), they are very, very difficult to break down, and that means they can beat anyone. With the motivation of a first Premier League Tyne-Wear derby since 2016 on Sunday, they barely even let a shot through.
Newcastle managed just 0.25 xG and had just six shots, hardly threatening at all as they lost on enemy soil, leaving them four points behind their fierce rivals.
Sunderland now have 26 points from 16 games this season, which is their most at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 2000-01 (also 26), when they went on to finish seventh. A top-half berth and a challenge for European football could well be on the cards this season, too.
Tottenham Are Going Backwards Under Frank
On paper, things don’t look all that terrible at Tottenham. After finishing 17th last season, they are 11th in the Premier League, four points off the top five, and are going well in the Champions League, too.
But the problem for the fans who watch them every week is that they have only very rarely played well or been fun to watch. And when they’ve been bad, they’ve been absolutely terrible. Sunday’s defeat at Nottingham Forest was right up there.
Tottenham were completely outplayed by a team who have spent most of this season changing manager and worrying about relegation. After a 3-0 defeat at the City Ground, Forest are now just four points behind Spurs, who have picked up only 22 points from their 16 Premier League games this season, last recording fewer at this stage of a league campaign in 2008-09 (18).
Chance creation has been a real problem under Thomas Frank and that was the case again on Sunday. They managed just 0.33 xG, which was by far the lowest any team have managed against Forest this season. The other thing is, it was only the fourth-lowest that Spurs have had in a Premier League game this term.
Frank has been prioritising fixing the leaky defence but clearly hasn’t even nearly managed that. Forest racked up 2.32 xG and were deserving winners. Spurs barely laid a glove on them.
Calls for the Spurs manager to be sacked are gathering momentum, but he insists he should be given time.
“It’s pretty evident if no-one gets the time, no-one can turn it around,” he told reporters after the game. “This is not a quick fix.”
However, the fans need to see some signs of progress, which have so far been completely lacking. Their points total suggests they’re going backwards.
Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Five Knee-Jerk Reactions to Premier League Matchday 16 Opta Analyst.
Hence then, the article about five knee jerk reactions to premier league matchday 16 was published today ( ) and is available on The Analyst ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Five Knee-Jerk Reactions to Premier League Matchday 16 )
Also on site :
- Kentucky congressman announces death of longtime staffer, campaign manager
- EastEnders airs reunion for 'Witches of Walford', shock arrest, and Cindy & Max hook-up for Christmas 2025
- Camarillo man arrested after stolen camera reactivated and installed on the exterior of a home