The key talking points from four games as Gunners beat Chelsea and Carrick equals a Premier League record
Football writer Sam Cunningham analyses the main moments from Sunday’s Premier League action after big results at both ends of the table.
Arsenal equalled the Premier League set-piece record with another two against Chelsea for a vital win to move five points clear of Manchester City in the title race.
In a game decided by set pieces – Chelsea scored their goal from one – the Gunners reigned supreme with one in each half.
The first was delivered deep from the right by Bukayo Saka and headed back across by Gabriel Magalhaes for William Saliba to nod in. The second came from Declan Rice on the opposite side, whipped straight into the six-yard box for Jurrien Timber to head beyond Robert Sanchez, the Chelsea goalkeeper.
In a sign of Arsenal’s set piece prolificacy, they matched two Premier League records in one afternoon.
Saliba’s header was the ninth time they have opened the scoring from a corner this season – joint-most in a single season with the Southampton side of 1994/1995.
While Timber’s was the 16th set piece they have scored this season, equalling the record total shared by Oldham in the 1992/1993 season, West Bromwich Albion of 2016/2017 and Arsenal’s own side of 2023/2024.
Chelsea, conversely, have a set piece problem under Liam Rosenior. They have now conceded nine in Rosenior’s 13 matches since he took over at the start of January. Five of those were scored by Arsenal.
Rosenior said he would address Chelsea’s set piece difficulties after Zian Flemming was unmarked to score from a corner in stoppage time to cost them two points against Burnley.
Perhaps even more pressing, however, is Chelsea’s disciplinary issues.
Pedro Neto was sent off in the second half for a second booking – Chelsea’s eighth red card of the campaign. They are fast closing in on the most in a season: the nine received by Sunderland in 2009/2010 and Queens Park Rangers in 2011/2012.
In an unexpected twist to the weekend, all four Sunday games finished 2-1 – the only time in top-flight history every scoreline has been the same in a day with four or more matches.
Benjamin Sesko ensured Manchester United ran out 2-1 winners with the clinching goal against Crystal Palace.
It is surely no coincidence that the Slovenian has hit a stunning run of goal-scoring form as United climbed to third in the Premier League table for the first time since May 2023.
In 2026, no player has scored more non-penalty goals than Sesko, who has notched seven in eight games, including three in successive league matches.
That phenomenal run includes three match-winning strikes – against Everton, Fulham and now Palace – and a late equaliser against West Ham United in Man Utd’s last five games.
Watch: Every Sesko goal this year
Sesko had started on the bench for the previous five matches but will be pushing for the starting spot he was handed by Michael Carrick against Palace.
Everything, so far, is coming together for Manchester Utd’s head coach, who remains unbeaten since he took over in early January. In a run that extends before he arrived, Man Utd have not lost in 11 league games now and only Inter Milan – with 15 – have a longer unbeaten league run in Europe’s big five leagues.
Factoring in Carrick’s first spell in interim charge at Man Utd, he has now won 23 points in nine Premier League games – matching a new-manager record set by Ange Postecoglou when he joined Tottenham Hotspur.
Watch: Bruno Fernandes’ masterclass against Crystal Palace
Bruno Fernandes has been a crucial cog in this run and proved that once more with a hand in both Man Utd goals to help them come from behind after Palace took an early lead.
His deep cross for Sesko’s header was his 13th assist of the season – his most in one campaign, closing in on David Beckham’s Man Utd record 15, in 1999/2000, and one shy of Nani’s from the 2010/2011 campaign.
Speaking of influential players, Harry Wilson is in the form of his life and his performances have put him in some heady company.
His goal and assist in a victory against Spurs meant only Erling Haaland and Fernandes have more goal involvements – 14 and 13 respectively – than Wilson’s 11 since the start of December.
The winger has a knack of scoring against Spurs. It was his fourth goal against the north Londoners – the most he has scored against any side, despite playing only 268 minutes against them.
Watch: Iwobi’s SUBLIME first-time finish against Spurs
And he is creating almost as many as he’s scoring, this time providing the assist for Alex Iwobi’s magnificent first-time finish.
“When the moments come he delivers important things for us,” said Fulham manager Marco Silva. Worryingly for the Cottagers, though, Wilson hobbled off with a knock in the 72nd minute.
“He twisted the ankle a bit,” Silva said. “Let’s see how it’s going to be in the next few days.”
The result will have set off alarm bells for Igor Tudor.
Fulham had not won home and away against Spurs in the league in a single season for 22 years until victory lifted them towards the European qualification places and left Tudor’s side glancing nervously at the relegation places.
It was their 10th Premier League game without a win – last securing three points away to Palace on December 28, who they face at home on Thursday. In the Premier League, Liverpool follow next before a now monumental home game against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest.
“There are problems here, big problems,” Tudor told Sky Sports. “We need to stay calm, believe in what we are doing in training, and get out, staying all together.”
All the focus has, quite rightly, been on James Milner’s longevity and record-breaking Premier League appearances but Brighton and Hove Albion team-mate Danny Welbeck is quietly having his best season – at the age of 35.
The striker, who appears to be getting better with age, scored his 10th Premier League goal of the season in the win against Forest.
Welbeck scored on his debut for Man Utd as a 17-year-old in November 2008 but last season was only the first time he reached double figures for Premier League goals. He is well on course to better that.
Welbeck’s match-winner secured Brighton back-to-back league victories for the first time in four months. After failing to find a win in their previous six matches, the six points have reignited chances of European qualification.
Forest, however, remain precariously balanced two points above the relegation places, squandering a chance to move away from 18th-placed West Ham, who lost to Liverpool the day before.
“I believe we need to focus on the present and focus on the day we play, focus on the game we are playing,” Forest manager Vitor Pereira told BBC Match of the Day. “Not to look at the future.”