So the weekend came down – as far as the Premier League title race is concerned – to a tale of two goalkeepers.
Both highly accomplished, both among the best in the top flight this season.
Their uncharacteristic mistakes within an hour or so of each other on Saturday night, however, could well be decisive in the final standings.
Anyone who watched the respective matches involving table-toppers Arsenal and second-placed Manchester City, without knowing the points scenario, may well have wondered who was top dog.
That’s because Arsenal spent the best part of 90 minutes huffing and puffing against a resolute Everton, without ever delivering some of the power play they are capable of.
Fast forward a wee while, and Manchester City were controlling spells of their clash at West Ham, and always in the ascendancy.
Ultimately, though, this is a results business and Arsenal found a way with a late show, sparked by a blooper by Everton and England number one Jordan Pickford, while City only conceded one effort on target but the mistake by Gianluigi Donnarumma allowed the Hammers to claim a point.
It means the gap at the summit has been extended to nine points (City have a game in hand) and leaves the Gunners in a strong position indeed.
For the record, home substitute Viktor Gyokeres tapped home in the 89th minute after Pickford completely misjudged a cross from another sub, 16-year-old Max Dowman.
Then, deep into stoppage time with Pickford stranded upfield as the Toffees chased what would have been a deserved leveller, Dowman beat two defenders before racing away to roll the ball into the empty net and sparking wild scenes inside Emirates Stadium.
Aged 16 years and 73 days, he broke the record for the Premier League’s youngest scorer set by Everton’s James Vaughan (16y 270d) in 2005.
It was a harsh but self-inflicted way for Everton’s fine run on their travels to end. They had previously been unbeaten away from home since mid-December and travelled to North London on the back of four wins in their past five away matches.
In east London, City led after 31 minutes through a piece of excellence from their captain Bernardo Silva.
Yet within four minutes, the usually flawless Italian, Donnarumma, flapped at a cross and defender Konstantinos Mavropanos (once of Arsenal), headed home a Jarrod Bowen corner.
It was West Ham’s only effort on target but City, who were well on top without ever creating too many clear opportunities, could not get a winner.
That point moved West Ham briefly out of the bottom three, although they are back in there on goal difference after Nottingham Forest also claimed a point – albeit they would have had all three at home to Fulham but for a disallowed goal from substitute Dan Ndoye.
Ola Aina also hit the bar for Forest who, after showing real character to twice fight back and draw at Manchester City last time out, will see this result as two points dropped.
The result of the weekend belongs to Spurs who grabbed a fine draw at Liverpool, thanks to a deserved 90th minute equaliser from former Everton man Richarlison.
Few expected the North Londoners to claim anything at Anfield given their form and the fact a massive 13 players were absent from the squad, meaning under pressure interim manager Igor Tudor was not even able to field a full quota of substitutes.
Their miserable run seemed set to continue when Hungarian midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai delivered his latest personal Premier League 2026 highlights reel with a free-kick.
However, Tudor’s players delivered a message of defiance after the Croat’s pre-match call and the Brazilian, booed by the home fans throughout for his links with their city rivals across Stanley Park, silenced them in the best possible style as he pounced on a pass from substitute Randal Kolo Muani.
Described by The Athletic last week as an interim coach who is already on the ropes after less than a month, Tudor appeared to be a dead man walking.
I even said pre-match that very few people, including their own fans, expected them to get even a point, and they should use that to prove their critics wrong.
They did just that to leave them ahead of West Ham and Forest ahead of a big ‘six-pointer’ with the latter next weekend.
Keep an eye on the evolving Sbotop Premier League 2026 betting odds in the battle to beat the drop.
Certainly, Leeds are the other side who are battling for survival and they will have mixed emotions after a goalless draw at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Frustrated because they saw their in-form striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin drag a penalty wide two minutes before the break.
Content because, almost immediately, they were reduced to 10 men as Gabriel Gudmundsson was shown a second yellow card, yet they managed to hold out for a point despite their numerical disadvantage for the whole second half.
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