🔬 The Debrief on Wednesday's Premier League action | OneFootball

The Premier League fixtures on Wednesday provided us with some dramatic action.

Here’s how it all went down.

What happened?

The big story of the day occurred on Merseyside, where Everton took a massive step towards safety with a 2-0 win over Liverpool, derailing their rivals’ title charge in the process.

Elsewhere, Manchester United came from behind twice to beat bottom of the league Sheffield United 4-2, and leapfrogged Newcastle United into sixth, with the Magpies soundly beaten 2-0 by a rejuvenated Crystal Palace courtesy of two goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta.

And it was Bournemouth who got the better of Wolves in their midtable clash, with a 1-0 win enough to see the Cherries head above Brighton and into 10th place ahead of tomorrow.

Player of the Day

Bruno Fernandes and Mateta are both worthy of mention in this section, but tonight belonged to Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

He set the tone early when he won a penalty only for VAR to spot an offside in the build up, and was a handful all evening.

Up against arguably one of the best defenders in world football in Virgil van Dijk, the Everton striker bullied him and Ibrahima Konaté, seeing one get booked and the other substituted.

He rounded off his excellent hold-up play with an excellent goal to hand his side a precious win, simultaneously ending Liverpool’s title charge and securing Everton’s survival.

Better yet, his performance ensured that the Toffees beat Liverpool at Goodison Park for the first time since 2010.

Among the goals that day? A certain young Mikel Arteta….

Stat of the Day

Sheffield United, one of the worst teams in Premier League history.

Though they won’t beat the Derby County record for fewest points in a season (11 in the 2008-09 campaign), they will be the unhappy owners of some other truly tragic records.

Tonight marked another one, with the four goals shipped against Manchester United taking them to 92 conceded for the season. It is the most ever in a 38 campaign, and with four games left they are only 8 away from matching the worst all time Premier League record (Which was the 100 conceded by Swindon in a 42 game season all the way back in 1994).

With Newcastle United and Tottenham still to play, as well as relegation battlers Nottingham Forest and Everton, they seem almost certain to do it.

What this means

A second defeat in three games for Liverpool has left their Premier League title hopes in ruins. Three points behind Arsenal, they are also only a point clear of Manchester City, who have two games in hand.

Meanwhile, Newcastle’s push for Europe took a hit, and Manchester United boosted theirs with a win over Sheffield United, who are all but down and can be officially relegated this weekend.

Crystal Palace continued their push into midtable under Oliver Glasner, while a win for Bournemouth sees them with an outside shout of European football next season.

What they said

Jurgen Klopp apologised to the Liverpool fans for the performance, calling it “not good enough”.

“It was not good enough… I really feel for the people and I am really sorry. I apologise for that.”

“Arsenal and Manchester City must have a very bad moment,” he added when asked if Liverpool can still win the title.

On the other hand, Sean Dyche was left “very pleased with the reaction. This was a different game with the organisation and the belief in the organisation. They’re a good side, we know that. “We spoke about the desire and the energy of the team and the physical side of the game.  The lads did it on Sunday and they’ll have to do it again. That’s the challenge.”

Erik ten Hag was happy with his side, though pointed out the mistakes must be cut out.

“Many positives today,” the United boss said.

“The resilience to fight back after losing two times. But also there were negatives. We gave it away, it can’t happen, unacceptable, we have to learn from this.”

While Oliver Glasner was also a happy man come full time.

“I’m very proud. All the credit to the players today for this performance and also to our supporters because it was three games after the West Ham game and Newcastle were fresh. I was really surprised with what kind of intensity we played with from the first second and after 30 minutes I thought we might have to make 10 substitutions in the 60th minute!”

What comes next

Manchester City face Brighton in the last of the midweek fixtures on Thursday evening, before another full card of Premier League action at the weekend.

Headed by the north London derby and West Ham United hosting Liverpool, it promises to be another weekend with massive implications at both ends of the table as we head into crunch time.