Brighton handed Manchester City the chance to clinch the Premier League title next weekend as the latest round of fixtures yielded a potentially decisive twist.
The Seagulls’ breath-taking victory at Arsenal left City four points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand, meaning they can clinch the trophy for a fifth time with a home win over struggling Chelsea next Sunday.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at an eventful weekend which also saw Southampton slip out of the top flight.
Seagulls soaring
Brighton’s remarkable 3-0 win at the Emirates Stadium may have been celebrated in the blue half of Manchester, but certainly not the red, nor on Tyneside or Merseyside. The Seagulls not only dented the Gunners’ title hopes, but dragged themselves back on to the fringes of the hunt for Champions League qualification with the perfect response to Monday’s shock 5-1 drubbing by Everton, edging to within four points of the Reds and eight of United and the Magpies with a game in hand on all three.
Top Gun
If Manchester City do go on to clinch the title, they will have done so with a significant helping hand from skipper Ilkay Gundogan. The 32-year-old Germany international’s double secured a 2-1 win over Leeds last weekend – and it might have been better had he converted a penalty gifted to him by Erling Haaland – and he repeated the feat in sublime style in Sunday’s 3-0 victory at Everton to further underline his importance to Pep Guardiola.
A spot of bother
Should renowned firefighter Sam Allardyce fail in his mission to drag Leeds to safety, he and his players will inevitably lose sleep over an eventful afternoon at Elland Road when Newcastle came to call. Already leading through Luke Ayling’s early strike, the home side passed up a glorious opportunity to extend their advantage when Nick Pope saved Patrick Bamford’s penalty, and their afternoon might have ended in defeat after Magpies frontman Callum Wilson showed him how to do it from the spot not once, but twice before Rasmus Kristensen’s late equaliser snatched a 2-2 draw.
Eze does it
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Crystal Palace’s reliance on Wilfried Zaha in recent seasons has piled huge weight on the Ivory Coast international’s shoulders, but in Eberechi Eze, they appear to have found someone to share the burden. The 24-year-old scored both goals in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Bournemouth, the first with an assured finish after Jordan Ayew had flicked on Zaha’s cross, and the second a stunning solo effort, to take his tally to six in his last seven appearances.
That sinking feeling
If further proof were needed that changing manager twice during a Premier League season is not necessarily a good idea, it was provided on Saturday when Southampton slipped out of the top flight with barely a whimper after a 2-0 home defeat by Fulham. Between them, Ralph Hasenhuttl, Nathan Jones and Ruben Selles have managed to win only six of the 36 league games the Saints have played to date and collected just 24 points.
Barcelona boss Flick calls for LaLiga suspension after Spanish floods
Barcelona are in high spirits ahead of Sunday's derby against Espanyol, though Hansi Flick does not think LaLiga matches should be played this weekend.
Barca thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu last weekend to establish a six-point lead in LaLiga but their city rivals Espanyol are 20 points behind and languishing in 17th place, a point above the relegation zone.
Yet Flick feels it is wrong that LaLiga is playing on in the wake of the flash floods that have devastated regions of eastern Spain, with Valencia particularly impacted.
Madrid's game against Valencia was naturally postponed, but most other fixtures in Spain's top tier are going ahead.
"If it were me, I might [suspend LaLiga] because it is an incredible tragedy for Valencia and Spain as a whole," Flick said.
"We have spoken with Ferran [Torres] who is from the area, and it is not easy to decide whether the game should be played or not.
"It is a tragedy. It was something similar in Germany three years ago, it is horrible. We will do everything we can to help. The rest is for LaLiga to decide."
Barca do hold a brilliant record against Espanyol, having not lost in their last 26 encounters with their city rivals.
Flick, though, warned his side against any complacency.
"I know what a Barca-Espanyol derby means. It will be a tough match, for sure. After a fantastic week, it is important to be at 100% tomorrow, with intensity and maximum quality," Flick said.
"We always prepare well for the next game. After the celebrations, we focus on the next game. We work on what we want tomorrow. It's a very long game in the league and we focus on the next game."
Barca have taken 30 points from their first 11 league matches this season, their second-highest tally at this stage of a campaign in the competition, after 31 points in the 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2017-18 seasons.
Simeone: It makes no sense to play after Spanish floods
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone is unhappy that most LaLiga matches will go ahead this weekend after catastrophic floods swept the eastern region of Spain.
The deadliest flash floods in Spain's modern history have killed over 200 people and dozens were still unaccounted for, four days after torrential rains swept the region of Valencia.
The tragedy is already Europe's worst flood-related disaster since 1967 when at least 500 people died in Portugal.
Saturday's clash between Valencia and Real Madrid, as well as Villarreal against Rayo Vallecano, are among several games postponed over the weekend after the floods.
"It doesn't make any sense," Simeone told reporters ahead of his side's home game against Las Palmas on Sunday.
"What is happening is very hard; it is very moving to see the people who went out on the streets to help, who with a shovel and their tools are trying to collaborate and that speaks very well of the country, of the people, and we want to help wherever we can.
"There are people having a very hard time, it's very sad and they tell us to continue and here we are, continuing."
Last month, Las Palmas named former Espanyol boss Diego Martinez as their new coach, and while Simeone is not pleased that the game is going ahead, he is prepared for a tough encounter.
"We have a tough game against a team that has improved a lot since the arrival of the coach," Simeone said.
"They are more forceful and I imagine a dangerous game, with a lot of counter-attacking, fast people in attack and we will try to have a game with these situations under control and get it out with the help of our fans, which is always fundamental."
Arsenal deserved to lose against Newcastle, says Arteta
Mikel Arteta was left frustrated by Arsenal's performance in their 1-0 defeat away to Newcastle United on Saturday.
The defeat left them third in the Premier League, though they could be up to eight points behind Manchester City by the end of the day.
Arsenal had 63.9% possession and mustered more shots (10) and a higher expected goals total (1.11) than Newcastle, but could not find a leveller following Alexander Isak's early header.
And Arteta was disappointed with how his side did the basics following what he thought was a good start.
"We deserved to lose today. I thought we started really well and were really dominant. We didn't defend the box well enough," he told Premier League Productions.
"Credit to them. They scored a great goal with a good ball.
"Then the game changes and you start to play a different game. You have to adapt and we didn't do that well enough. I am very frustrated.
"We got dragged into a game they are looking for constantly and we couldn't play the game that we wanted."
Arsenal only managed one shot on target in the match, coming from a Mikel Merino effort that was cleared off the line in the first half. Declan Rice, meanwhile, put a close-range header wide in second-half stoppage time.
"We had two big chances: Mikel had a big one, Declan had a big one. We lacked answers," said Arteta.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, meanwhile, was delighted with the Magpies' performance as they sealed back-to-back victories following their win over Chelsea in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
"You have to be really strong mentality and know results will turn if you continue to do the right things," Howe told BBC Sport.
"It has been a difficult week with the fixtures, but the players have done really well.
"There was a better feeling in training after the Chelsea win, as if pressure lifted slightly.
"Today's performance was built on hard work, desire and a lot of really good defending in the second half. I thought we looked good."
Isak headed home from a pinpoint Anthony Gordon cross to tally up his third goal in three successive appearances in all competitions.
"I wouldn't say it is a trademark goal for Alex but really pleased to see it. Anthony can give you that on his natural right-hand side and it was a great ball," said Howe.
"It was always going to take a moment like that as it was a game of few chances."
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