Premier League winners and losers: Foden, Frank, Sunderland, Paqueta, Arsenal and more… | OneFootball

Thomas Frank lands himself another spot in the losers alongside Lucas Paqueta, Bournemouth and Everton. How they all wish they could be Sunderland.

But let’s be honest: you’re only here to see which arbitrary section Arsenal have been put in so you can properly word the furious comments that will never be read.

Premier League winners

Enzo Maresca

Chelsea indiscipline probably ought to be addressed at some point but the genuine growth and maturity in their manager and players in such a short space of time has been impressive.

The Blues have had four players sent off since that abhorrent response to an early red card against Manchester United in September and collapse after a red card against Brighton the following week.

That is a problem in itself, and many of those were late on with games already largely settled.

But this was a substantial development. Chelsea lost their best player after 38 minutes against the best team in the league and perhaps world currently, yet were still the better side thereafter as a result of the coming-of-age of those who managed to stay on the pitch, and the decisions the manager made in response.

Sunderland

Even Regis Le Bris can’t be sure “what we can achieve this season”. But there is one certainty with Sunderland: “this team has a strong character and they want to fight”.

That much was evident against Bournemouth, which in itself was a neat microcosm of their season. Sunderland have salvaged more points from losing positions than any Premier League club in 2025/26, and here were three more rescued in historic fashion.

Never before in 621 Premier League games had they come from two goals down to win. Yet even when Bournemouth capitalised so ruthlessly on a couple of individual errors in the first 15 minutes it never really felt as though Sunderland were out of it.

As Le Bris said, they have mastered how to “change the dynamic”, to “reset” and to “find solutions”, either from the dugout or on the pitch through the guidance and experience of Granit Xhaka, Nordi Mukiele, Reinildo or any of the numerous other leaders emerging in this squad.

It is a neat trick – remarkable for a promoted club under a manager new to the Premier League, really – to be able to compartmentalise situations and setbacks and respond so emphatically. Sunderland following up all three of their defeats so far with a win in the next game (a feat only Arsenal can match and they’ve lost just once) is no happy accident.

Fulham

It sums up their early-season malaise that consecutive Premier League wins have lifted Fulham from 15th to 15th. But the complexion of their campaign has transformed: they are closer to a Champions League qualification place than the relegation zone in terms of points.

Marco Silva has landed on a happy balance: the defence is settled; the Iwobi-Berge midfield axis is working; the competition for places in the attacking positions buzzing behind and around the centre-forward is healthy; and Raul Jimenez is still playing that line-leading role impeccably.

When they start as rapidly as in north London and fortune favours that bravery, it is difficult to work out quite why they have struggled so fundamentally this season.

Silva credited “the Nigerian boys” for fostering “a great atmosphere” within the squad, and singled out one soaring Super Eagle.

Samu Chukwueze has been Fulham’s best and most decisive player in consecutive games. He leads the entire league for touches in the opposition penalty area per 90 of those who have played more than a handful of minutes, and Spurs could not handle him.

That £21.9m loan option might just be explored; the outcome of Silva’s ongoing contract negotiations could depend on it.

Jordan Henderson

Phil Foden

The only man to play 300 games, score 100 goals and assist 60 more under Pep Guardiola has, by Foden’s own admission, “become more mature” and “one of the leaders” at Manchester City.

Recent evidence of that promotion has been scant. Foden did impress in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund last month but his last proper scruff-of-the-neck performance might have been as far back as Brentford in January, or the final day of 2023/24.

Foden started something Manchester City inexplicably couldn’t finish and ultimately needed him to. Pep Guardiola has been calling seemingly all season for someone to help Erling Haaland with those bags and finally his prayers were answered.

The previous latest goal to put Manchester City in the lead in the Premier League this season was scored in the 61st minute against Burnley. Some stoppage-time heroics – and Foden being the one to conjure such majesty – was long overdue.

Newcastle

Rough calculations suggest Nick Woltemade scoring from an Anthony Elanga pass is the second-most expensive goal combination of two summer signings this season behind Benjamin Sesko setting Bryan Mbeumo up against Brighton in October.

Newcastle signing Woltemade and Elanga in part because both those players chose Manchester United instead adds another delicious layer of narrative.

Another interesting Woltemade line: his six domestic goals so far have all been assisted by different players. Newcastle diversifying their supply line is no bad thing.

Manchester United

Has Amorim got Man Utd on the Arsenal path to Premier League dominance? Probably not; can’t even instinctively tell you the name of their set-piece coach for a start.

But they are definitely on the right track towards, well, something. Which is more than can be said for the last few years.

The Everton defeat was an abomination, but it seems increasingly like the exception to a new rule the club is trying to implement. Even against Palace they were poor for large periods of the game and could have been further behind at half time.

Yet that only reinforces how things are changing slowly under Amorim. Where once they would have been swept away by that sort of storm, this group is learning how to weather it and emerge for the better.

That was the first time they had ‘won’ a second half in the Premier League all season, and it earned them three valuable points with two more players stepping up from the periphery.

Brighton

Returning to the scene of his lowest day as Brighton manager must have been difficult but Hurzeler underlined how quickly he learns his lessons; oh to be 32 again.

Brighton had far less of the ball than in that 7-0 thrashing by Nottingham Forest in February, but more shots and, ultimately, purpose.

The painfully long overdue dropping of Carlos Baleba allowed a promising Gomez-Ayari midfield partnership to blossom from the start, before Hurzeler reinforced his position as the leading substitute maker in the Premier League through the introduction of Stefanos Tzimas to seal victory.

Brighton have scored eight goals from the bench in the Premier League this season, at least three more than any other club. That attacking depth is probably the best in the division.

Unai Emery

Of bloody course some of his half-time team talk consisted of citing specific games from February 2025 and December 2023 as a warning to his players about complacency. And of bloody course it worked.

Not sure how Villa are fourth with seven wins in their last eight Premier League games, but having checked a few times over they certainly appear to be.

Daniel Farke

Should the best 45 minutes of Leeds’ season override what was probably their worst immediately beforehand, as well as the three hilariously insipid defeats which preceded it?

There is a case to argue that the second-half transformation the visitors underwent at the Etihad actually emphasised why Farke should be sacked rather than strengthening any few remaining arguments for him to stay. Why did it take so long to try something like this?

For so long Leeds have needed a variation on a tired, failing blueprint, with the desire for a different approach painfully obvious. The minute Farke reverts to his beloved 4-3-3, the axe should swing.

But this was finally proof that he can adjust and adapt, even if it was entirely forced by the prospect of a chastening enough defeat that unemployment was the only feasible outcome at half time.

When the barrel is staring down at you so forebodingly, it’s almost easier to chuck Dominic Calvert-Lewin on, stick two up top, call for more physicality and go for it with nothing to lose. The real test will be how he sets up from the start against Chelsea in midweek.

But even if Farke, as still expected, is deemed not to be the man who can liberate Leeds, he will always have that second half and what was presumably a barnstorming but beautifully softly-spoken team talk.

Joe Gomez

His middle name is Dave. What more do you want? Fine…

Arsenal

They realistically belong in the undefined, murky, grey area between winners and losers, such is the nature of a draw against an opponent reduced to ten men for about an hour.

But also Arsenal were without both first-choice centre-halves, their chief creator and their main centre-forward for most of the match, which came at the end of a week in which they had already beaten Spurs and Bayern Munich quite handily.

It is becoming the go-to cliche of this iteration of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, but they probably lose that game in seasons gone by.

Premier League losers

Thomas Frank

Another deeply problematic response to another inadequate performance and result, with another historically mid-table manager being crushed by the scrutiny and weight of expectation higher up the ladder.

That was an opportunity Frank earned but one he has equally wasted thus far. The temptation with coaches overachieving further down the food chain is to wonder what they might be capable of with better players, greater facilities and more resources; the mistake is in forgetting to contemplate whether their style and philosophy can be successfully transposed at a grander level.

The overwhelming evidence is that what worked so wonderfully for Brentford simply cannot at Spurs. Fulham have joined Bournemouth in recording their only Premier League away win this season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It remains the only venue Wolves have scored in or taken a point from as visitors in 2025/26.

Frank can moralise over what makes a “true Tottenham fan” if he wishes, but it might be an idea to show he is capable of becoming a true Tottenham manager at some point.

Lucas Paqueta

Far be it from anyone to speculate and pontificate about how others should act in such a high-pressured situation. But also needling away at the referee in such a sustained manner as to receive two bookings and ultimately a red card for double dissent, having endured almost two years of an investigation over alleged deliberate cautions which Paqueta himself has claimed derailed his career and impacted his mental health, feels inadvisable. Like, specifically so. As outlined by his legal team.

It was also a bit strange to see Alisson, Cody Gakpo and Curtis Jones make roughly as much effort calming Paqueta down and keeping him away from Darren England as the Brazilian’s West Ham teammates.

Put it this way: if I was Paqueta, I simply would not pick up two suspensions in three games. Even if I did play for West Ham.

Bournemouth

Andoni Iraola did acknowledge “a part where we have to look at ourselves”, pinpointing Bournemouth’s poor record at conceding from set pieces in particular.

But not sure claiming the referee “absolutely lost control” when it was he and his side who so specifically did as such really works as a post-match narrative. Being beaten after leading 2-0 and investing time in anything other than introspection only ever comes across, as Iraola said, like the actions of a “bad loser”.

Bournemouth have conceded more goals than all but the bottom four. That’s not poor Tim Robinson’s fault.

Everton

The true consequences of Idrissa Gueye’s actions might have been delayed, but only for so long.

David Moyes and Ruben Amorim actively praising the literal fight shown by the midfielder at Old Trafford always seemed at least slightly disingenuous. Everton holding out for that win reflected well only on the players who managed not to slap a teammate, and abysmally on the hosts who failed to take advantage.

Everton were considerably worse with 11 men against Newcastle than ten on Monday. Gueye’s absence sapped their energy and solidity and without that flashpoint to bring them together, it was as disjointed a performance as the Hill Dickinson has seen.

With the Senegalese out for two more games and then away on international duty at AFCON soon after, this was a humbling insight into how that period could look for Everton.

Tim Iroegbunam had been quietly impressive but floundered when thrust into that role, making a single tackle before being substituted at half time.

Yet beyond him there is no obvious understudy to Gueye or solution to the problems he leaves behind. It turns out that being so dependent on a 36-year-old might not be the best idea. Or that ‘James Garner’ is not the answer to every question mankind has ever posed.

Burnley

No club in the entire Premier League has a worse defensive record in any quarter-hour segment of games from 0-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75 and 76-90 than Burnley in the final 15 minutes.

Scott Parker’s side have conceded ten goals in those closing stages, with draws against Manchester United, Liverpool, West Ham and Brentford turned into defeats late on.

Be it substandard game management, poor resilience, inadequate concentration levels or lacklustre fitness – and all four seemed to be a factor against Brentford – that is a trend of dropping points that Burnley really cannot afford to let fester.

Morato

Alvaro Morata’s Pro Evo counterpart continues to imbue about as much confidence as the real thing would in central defence.

Morato’s crime of not being Murillo is forgivable. But the numbers are stark: in his nine most recent Premier League starts dating back to last season, Forest’s record is W0 D2 L7 F5 A18. And some of that run includes when they were good.

The last league game Forest won with Morato starting was the 7-0 at home to Brighton in February; this was not quite the same. After marking thin air for the first goal – with others far more culpable – his brace of weak header back to the keeper and curious choice of backheeling the ball into the path of Stefanos Tzimas will have had the City Ground sports science department quadrupling their order of cotton wool to wrap Murillo in.

As Sean Dyche almost definitely said in the dressing room afterwards: Domo Arigato, Mr Morato.

Crystal Palace

Oliver Glasner is very much in broken territory at this point about Crystal Palace’s subdued level of investment in the summer after winning the FA Cup and qualifying for Europe for the first time.

But you also do understand where he’s coming from when you consider Palace’s record in Premier League games played after Conference League matches in midweek: P6 W1 D2 L3 F6 A6.

All eight of the points they have dropped from winning positions this season have come in games after playing in Europe midweek. That solitary win came in August.

As the schedule has congested since then, the lack of proper squad depth has been exposed. Glasner has made the fewest substitutions of any manager who has been in place all season; he is still six behind Vitor Pereira.

Rob Edwards

Seven defeats in eight Premier League games, and now one win in 19. The last player to score a top-flight goal under Edwards was Alfie Doughty, who spent most of the weekend on the Millwall bench.

It cannot possibly have been an appointment made on the proviso that Edwards might actually achieve safety, and there have been improvements in the two Wolves matches he has overseen.

But that is sustained miserable form which slightly undermines his idea that Wolves merely need to “carry on performing like that and points will come”. Not to go full What’s He Know About The Premier League but, well, yeah.

It is not December 2022, and thus Emi Martinez is not “probably the best goalkeeper in the world”.