Sunday’s Briefing: No slips from the Premier League’s pacesetters

The top three in the Premier League kept their foot to the pedal with crucial wins.

Arsenal beat Brighton to remain two points clear of Manchester City – who won at Nottingham Forest – and three ahead of Aston Villa, 2-1 comeback winners at Chelsea thanks to an Ollie Watkins brace.

Elsewhere, Liverpool and Wolves fans paid tribute to their former striker Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car accident last summer.

Top two march on

Arsenal responded to Manchester City’s victory in the early kick-off at Nottingham Forest by returning to the Premier League summit.

The Gunners reclaimed top spot with a nervy 2-1 win against Brighton at the Emirates after Martin Odegaard had fired home his first goal of the season.

Brighton’s Georginio Rutter headed Declan Rice’s corner into his own net after 52 minutes only for the Seagulls to drag themselves back into the contest when Diego Gomez lashed home shortly after the hour mark.

City had taken top spot for a few hours after Rayan Cherki’s late winner secured a 2-1 victory at the City Ground.

Ollie Watkins double fires Villa

✅ 1897 ✅ 1914✅ 2025 🆕 pic.twitter.com/hj0MxO0ttN

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 27, 2025

Aston Villa’s remarkable winning run continued as substitute Ollie Watkins bagged a second-half double in a 2-1 victory at Chelsea.

Enzo Maresca’s side dominated the first half and led through Joao Pedro’s finish from a Reece James corner.

Villa were out of sorts until Watkins came off the bench to secure an 11th win in a row in all competitions and remain three points behind leaders Arsenal, who they travel to on Tuesday.

“Amazing win, obviously for me personally to come on and score two goals is a great feeling,” Watkins told TNT Sports. “But to keep up this run and to beat Chelsea, a tough place, amazing is the word to sum it up really.”

Anfield pays tribute to Diogo Jota

Two of Diogo Jota’s children – Dinis and Duarte – as well as family members, are mascots ahead of the match between their father’s English clubs ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fVjEegl5Og

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 27, 2025

Liverpool and Wolves fans honoured their former striker Diogo Jota in their Premier League game at Anfield.

Ryan Gravenberch broke out Jota’s crocodile celebration after opening the scoring in Liverpool’s 2-1 victory.

Earlier, two of Jota’s children – Dinis and Duarte – plus a couple of other young family members were part of the pre-match presentation line-ups with one son walking out with Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and the other with Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa, watched by their mother Rute from the touchline.

It was an emotional occasion for both teams with the visiting fans singing their tribute to Jota, who with his brother Andre Silva died in a car crash in July, in the 18th minute and Anfield rising as one in his memory when the clock ticked over to 20 minutes – the number of his now-retired Liverpool shirt.

Celtic capitalise on Hearts slip

Celtic cut the gap on William Hill Premiership leaders Hearts to three points with a 4-2 win at bottom club Livingston.

Hearts had suffered a 3-2 derby defeat to Hibernian at Easter Road earlier on Saturday – and Celtic took advantage as Wilfried Nancy’s team claimed a second consecutive win.

Celtic were twice behind in the opening eight minutes, but a Benjamin Nygren double, a Yang Hyun-jun strike, and an Arne Engels penalty put them in command.

The Scottish champions have a game in hand on their Edinburgh rivals.

What’s on today?

Tottenham head across London to Crystal Palace seeking to take the heat off under-fire manager Thomas Frank.

Spurs have won just once in eight Premier League defeats during a run that has brought five defeats and a slide down the table to 14th spot.

Sunderland host Leeds at the Stadium of Light knowing that victory will take them back into the top-five.