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Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Brighton hold City to a draw
Champions Manchester City could only muster a 2-2 Premier League draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, dropping points in a blow to their hopes of playing European football next season.
Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush struck for Pep Guardiola's men, but Brighton equalised with a second-half own goal by City defender Abdukodir Khusanov after Pervis Estupinan had scored the visitors' first.
The draw which felt like a defeat kept City provisionally fifth in the Premier League table on 48 points after 29 games. Brighton are a point behind in seventh.
"I feel personally very disappointed," City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said. "After getting twice in front and actually playing quite well. It's a bit frustrating to not get the three points."
City survived an early scare when Kaoru Mitoma celebrated what he thought was a goal for the visitors, but VAR determined the ball had touched the midfielder's arm and the effort as disallowed.
Haaland struck from the penalty spot in the 11th minute for his 21st league goal of the season, sending goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen the wrong way after Marmoush was brought down by Adam Webster.
The 24-year-old Norwegian made history in the process, becoming the quickest player to reach 100 goal involvements in the Premier League in 94 matches. Alan Shearer had achieved the feat in 100 games.
Estupinan levelled 10 minutes later with his first league goal since December 2023 when he caught goalkeeper Stefan Ortega flat-footed with a brilliant free kick from 22 yards out that flew in off the post.
City reclaimed the lead through Marmoush's 39th-minute goal, with Ilkay Gundogan laying the ball off for the Egyptian who unleashed a blistering shot into the net.
Khusanov's attempt to clear Webster's header from a corner soon after the interval drew the visitors level once again. The goal was the 40th conceded by City in the league this season, their most in a single campaign under Guardiola.
"It was a good game, a tight game," Guardiola told the BBC. "I know how difficult it is to make the process which we're in now. The players gave everything, we take the point and keep on going. Of course, I have confidence and I always have."
The dying minutes featured near-misses for both teams. City's Nico Gonzalez sent a header off the post, and Brighton's Carlos Baleba squandered a simple chance, launching the ball over the crossbar as manager Fabian Hurzeler held his head in disbelief and Baleba dropped to his knees.
"When you come to Man City, it's a tough place to come," Brighton midfielder Jack Hinshelwood said. "They've not been their best this season, but it is still a hard place to come. The run we're on, we've gone into every game believing we can beat anybody."
The draw ended Brighton's four-game league winning run.
Forest boost top-four hopes with 4-2 win over Ipswich
Nottingham Forest continued their push for an unlikely top-four finish with a comfortable 4-2 win at relegation-threatened Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday.
Forest remained in third place on 54 points, five ahead of fourth-placed Chelsea, who have a game in hand and face second-placed Arsenal on Sunday. Ipswich are in 18th place and nine points adrift of the safety zone.
Defender Nikola Milenkovic opened the scoring in the 35th minute with a fierce rising volley from close range.
Two minutes later, Anthony Elanga netted a brilliant curling effort before immediately doubling his tally as he latched onto a long ball forward from Milenkovic and squeezed his shot under Ipswich goalkeeper Alex Palmer.
All three of Forest's first-half goals came in a rampant seven-minute spell, which sent Nuno Espirito Santo's Forest into the interval with a comfortable 3-0 lead.
"We got that moment right. We got Ipswich unbalanced and took advantage of it," Forest coach Espirito Santo told the BBC.
"Ipswich were always going to react. It was important for us to get the fourth goal after they scored to really put the game to bed. They have character and are intense. It was tough.
"He (Elanga) was huge for us today. Not only the goals he got but also his defensive tasks. He was always in the game."
Ipswich pulled one back in the 82nd minute as Jens Cajuste created space with a delightful pirouette on the edge of the box before firing home to briefly give home fans hope, but that hope was quickly crushed.
Substitute Jota Silva capped off a swift counter-attack to add Forest's fourth before George Hirst claimed a consolation goal for Ipswich in added time.
Ipswich's defeat meant they remained the only side across England's top four tiers yet to register a victory in 2025.
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna believes his team could still avoid the drop, pointing to their home game against 17th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers next month.
"It is possible with six points to play for when we come back from the international break," he added.
"We are running out of games. We need to take points soon, we know that but we are certainly not going to give up hope or stop fighting until the last game is done."
Everton continue unbeaten run
Jake O'Brien headed a last-gasp equaliser as Everton stretched their unbeaten Premier League run to nine games with a 1-1 draw against West Ham United in the 'David Moyes Derby' at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek put the Hammers ahead in the 67th, curling the ball into the bottom-right corner after a pass from Jarrod Bowen.
Ireland defender O'Brien rescued the home side's run from close range in the 90th after Everton had a first-half penalty decision overruled by VAR when a replay showed Beto had kicked the turf rather than being fouled.
"We just flooded the box with bodies. We were chasing the game a bit," O'Brien told the BBC.
"The first half we had a lot of chances. We were flat for 20 minutes and that's when they caught us but then we got together and chased the game."
Carlos Alcaraz could have snatched a winner for Everton at the finish but fired just wide of the post.
Saturday was the first time the clubs had met since manager Moyes returned to Everton, the team he had led from 2002-13, in January after leaving his second spell at West Ham at the end of last season.
Moyes, who had written in his programme notes about his time in London, went over to applaud the visiting fans after the final whistle.
"They started the second half better than us and I think when they got the goal they might just have settled in a little bit," said Moyes. "We had to sort of pick it up again, made a few changes.
"We nearly nicked it in the last minute... maybe a draw in the end was the right result.
"You want to take three points from the game but when you can't take three you've got to make sure you get one. Today was a good point as well. It's good we're beginning to get back to better levels."
The draw left both sides level on 34 points and with little left to play for other than bragging rights, seemingly safe from relegation but far from any prospect of Europe.
Everton are 14th, West Ham 16th with both 17 points clear of the bottom three and nine games remaining.
"We have to be disappointed," said Soucek, a Moyes signing for West Ham. "They didn't lose for nine games so it's tough to play here. They have great fans and it's their last few games in the stadium."
Everton have four more home league games before moving to their new waterfront stadium.
Wolves boost survival hopes
Wolverhampton Wanderers beat bottom side Southampton 2-1 at St Mary's on Saturday as the visitors took a giant step towards Premier League survival thanks to a clinical double from Jorgen Strand Larsen.
A nervy victory after Southampton pulled a goal back in the 75th minute moved Wolves, 17th, nine points clear of 18th-placed Ipswich Town who lost 4-2 to Nottingham Forest.
Meanwhile, Southampton look destined for the drop with the south-coast club still on nine points after 29 games after a ninth straight defeat at home as they walked off to loud boos from the home support.
"We want to play good football. We had moments in the game where we played good football and we had (chances) to score the third goal," Wolves boss Vitor Pereira told the BBC.
"If we had, the last 10 minutes would have been different. In 30 seconds, they scored their first goal. For a team that wants the three points, it was time to suffer together, be compact, defend and get the three points."
Ivan Juric's Southampton started brightly and could have taken the lead in the sixth minute when Yukinari Sugawara crossed the ball into a dangerous area but Kamaldeen Sulemana failed to tap the ball in as Wolves cleared.
The hosts continued to carve open Wolves' defence with some crisp passing but they lacked the finishing touch and it was the away side that opened the scoring against the run of play with their first shot on target.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde floated in a cross towards the penalty spot where Strand Larsen beat his marker and flicked a header past Saints keeper Aaron Ramsdale to find the bottom corner.
Southampton had more opportunities in the first half but failed to find the target and Wolves punished them with their second goal two minutes after the restart.
Once again it was Bellegarde who found Strand Larsen outside the box and this time the Norwegian forward found space and pulled the trigger to find the bottom-left corner.
The crowd at St Mary's were not impressed and immediately began booing their team.
With a two-goal cushion, Wolves took their foot off the gas - but not before Bellegarde wasted an opportunity after a sizzling solo run from deep in his own half.
Southampton showed some fight but they were denied time and again by an alert Wolves backline while goalkeeper Jose Sa also made two crucial saves within a minute.
Wolves threw away a chance to make it 3-0 on a counter-attack in the 74th minute and Southampton immediately went up the other end where Tyler Dibling's shot came off the post and Paul Onuachu followed up to fire in the rebound.
But Pereira's Wolves held on to their slender lead to take all three points as the fans in the away end chanted the Portuguese manager's name.
"It's difficult scoring my first goal in front of the (home) fans and we're losing. It's not good enough and we need to do better as a team and individually," Onuachu said.
"We had a good start in the first 20 minutes but it's difficult to explain this loss... we had the feeling we were going to beat Wolves. You could see we were the better team, even though we lost."
Brentford come from behind to win fifth successive away game
Brentford captain Christian Norgaard scored a second-half winner to move his side closer to the top half of the Premier League table as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Bournemouth on Saturday.
Two set-pieces proved the undoing of Bournemouth, who had taken an 18th-minute lead from Vitaly Janelt’s own goal but saw the visitors fight back through Yoane Wissa and Norgaard to ensure a fifth successive away victory for Brentford.
Wissa headed home from a corner in the 30th minute to equalise before Norgaard snapped up a long throw-in in the 71st that was allowed to bounce invitingly in the home penalty box.
Brentford moved up one place to 11th in the 20-team table while the defeat was a blow to Bournemouth’s hopes of qualifying for European competition for the first time.
Bournemouth have now won only one of their last six Premier League fixtures and remain ninth after a third successive home league defeat.
"Results-wise, we are in the worst moment in the last four games and we are not being clinical enough inside the box," said Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola.
The opening goal came after a ball switched to the left flank saw Antoine Semenyo feed flying full back Milos Kerkez and his square cross struck Brentford’s midfielder Janelt for an unfortunate own goal.
The hosts conceded an equaliser in the 30th minute when an in-swinging corner from Bryan Mbeumo was headed in by Wissa, who leapt above the home defence with goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga mistiming his attempt to punch the ball to safety.
Mbeumo might have had a second but shot narrowly wide after a quick counter attack, while Kevin Schade’s pace set up another chance for the visitors but his pass inside to Wissa did not find his teammate.
Bournemouth were denied by the crossbar two minutes into the second half when Justin Kluivert’s pinpoint cross saw Semenyo rise unimpeded to power his header against the woodwork.
The hosts were caught out again, this time by Schade’s long throw that was allowed to bounce all the way through to Norgaard who rammed it home from six yards out to seal the victory.
"All of our set-piece goals are straight from the training pitch, it's something we work on during the week but we still have to execute it," Norgaard said.
It was the first time since they have been in the Premier League that Brentford have won five away league games in a row.
"It's nice that we've created good form away from home but now we need to start winning games at home, which we did so brilliantly at the start of the season," Norgaard added.
