🔬 The Debrief as Arsenal lose ground; Spurs rally and Chelsea struggle | OneFootball

The Premier League delivered three more intriguing fixtures on Sunday.

Here's what we made of it all.

What happened? 📝

Tottenham rallied to salvage a point in their 2-2 draw with high-flying Bournemouth while Chelsea scraped a 1-0 win over Leicester City despite Cole Palmer missing his first-ever Premier League penalty.

Sunday's final game saw Arsenal lose further ground in the title title race as Declan Rice cancelled out Bruno Fernandes' strike to earn a 1-1 draw at Manchester United.

📸 Marc Atkins - 2025 Getty Images

Player of the day

Arsenal may have fallen further off the pace but while Rice may have salvaged a point, they could have been out of the contest had it not been for David Raya.

The Spain international has had to endure more than a fair share of critics since making the move across London yet this was one of his finer performances.

United's players will be scratching their heads as to how Raya was able to deny them on successive occasions including clawing Fernandes' late effort off his line.

📸 Michael Regan - 2025 Getty Images

Stat of the day

Who would have had Spurs down as one of the Premier League's comeback kings?

What this means

The headline news is that Arsenal are now 15 points adrift of Liverpool at the summit despite having a game in hand on the current champions-elect.

Enzo Maresca's win over former employers Leicester puts Chelsea in the box seat for a final Champions League qualification place as they leapfrog Manchester City following their defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Bournemouth's draw in the capital denies them a chance to snap at the heels of Pep Guardiola's side while Spurs and United are very slowly clawing their way back towards the top half of the table with both teams tied on 34 points.

📸 Carl Recine - 2025 Getty Images

What they said

Arsenal's goal hero Declan Rice pinpoints where they struggled at Old Trafford: “We scored seven in midweek and that wasn’t any luck, We were full throttle. Today we tried with the same intention, same threat but Man United, credit to them, sat in a low block and defended well. Sometimes it takes a full 90 minutes to break down that low block. We only managed to get one, we did have a couple of half chances, but it wasn’t enough creativity to get us over the line.”

Ange Postecoglou was full of praise for Spurs' resilience: "We looked nervous, we looked anxious but the positive is the lads showed a really strong mindset. To be fair, that’s what’s been missing this year. There’s a lot of games that have just petered out, and if we’d turned round a few of those one-goal defeats we’d be in a lot better position in the table."

Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola made frustrations over his side's missed chance to build their case for a European spot crystal clear: "We have to be more efficient. It's not just about the performance. We have to win the games when we are the better team and we were the better team. We have to be more clinical and smarter If we want to fight with the big boys then we need to compete better."

Across London, Enzo Maresca issued Chelsea fans with a call to arms: "If you think that football is just a PlayStation and you win easy, no way. Every game is difficult. We need our fans. On my Instagram, I said two days ago our Champions League target will also be with our fans. Support us. Especially when we play at home, we need them behind the players."

📸 Justin Setterfield - 2025 Getty Images

What comes next?

Monday sees West Ham and Newcastle face off in the weekend's final game before eight more top-flight fixtures next weekend owing to the Magpies and Liverpool contesting the EFL Cup final.

📸 Stu Forster - 2024 Getty Images

📸 Carl Recine - 2025 Getty Images