“Top Four Talk” is a column by Marco Haynes about the 2024-25 English Premier League in which he breaks down the week’s four most consequential talking points.
Nottingham Forest increases its top-four chances
The Premier League champions and the teams facing relegation are more than likely confirmed for this season, but the Champions League qualification spots behind Liverpool are still up for grabs. Nottingham Forest increased its chances at playing in Europe’s premier competition next season with a colossal 1-0 victory over Manchester City at The City Ground.
After ending last year’s campaign in 17th place, just shy of the relegation zone, not many expected Forest to be anywhere near the top half of the league. Fast forward to 2025 and winger Callum Hudson-Odoi’s second-half goal against the eight-time league champions has moved his team into third in the league with an opportunity at European football.
Much of the credit for this phenomenal turnaround has to go to manager Nuno Espírito Santo. Since arriving in December 2023, Santo has brought immense cohesion to all areas of the team. The head man has helped bolster the defense, with Forest putting up 12 clean sheets, tied for the most in the division this season with Liverpool. In all of the club’s Premier League campaigns, Forest has only kept more clean sheets (13) in the 1994-95 season.
Meanwhile, Hudson-Odoi has slowly found his feet at Forest, scoring five goals and assisting twice this season since transferring from Bayer Leverkusen in 2023 after his early years as a prominent young talent at Chelsea. The last four of his six Premier League goals for Forest have put his team ahead in each match, while two of them were ultimately winning goals in huge fixtures: against Man City this weekend and against Liverpool at Anfield in September.
Forest will travel to relegation-contenders Ipswich on Saturday as the team look to push forward in its hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Mo Salah continues his incredible season for Liverpool
It’s only a matter of time before Mohamed Salah officially cements himself with the Premier League greats after breaking more Premier League records. The Egyptian winger scored a brace in Liverpool’s 3-1 victory against Southampton at Anfield and extended his club’s lead atop the division by 16 points — Liverpool effectively has two hands on the trophy.
Salah scored twice from the penalty spot and his 243 goals are third-most in the Red’s history. Only Roger Hunt (285) and Ian Rush (346) have scored more for Liverpool. Also, the Egyptian has scored all nine penalties he’s taken in this campaign.
Following that, Salah has scored the joint-most goals by a foreign player in Premier League history with 184, joining retired Man City forward Sergio Agüero.
Furthermore, Liverpool’s leading playmaker has had his best season with 44 goal contributions (27 goals, 17 assists), already better than his previous high in the Premier League of 42 goal contributions (32 goals, 10 assists) in the 2017-18 season. Salah is now only three goals away from tying the all-time season record currently held by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer, with each getting 47 goal contributions in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons, respectively.
Salah can continue his record-breaking season by adding his first piece of silverware to it when Liverpool take on Newcastle in the English League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.
Cole Palmer continues scoreless streak for Chelsea
The nickname “Cold Palmer” seems to be slowly melting away as the season continues for the young star. During Chelsea’s narrow 1-0 victory against relegation-contenders Leicester City, star boy Cole Palmer missed a penalty kick that would have ended a career-long goal drought. The English winger was ultimately substituted before the game finished amid a frustrating performance.
Last season’s Premier League Young Player of the Season has found it difficult to repeat the fantastic form that won him the individual award. The English winger hasn’t scored for two months in the league, with his last goal coming in January against AFC Bournemouth in a 2-2 draw.
To make matters worse, Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen succeeded where other keepers couldn’t in saving a Palmer penalty. It was the first spot-kick in Palmer’s career that found the safe hands of a keeper, with the 22-year-old scoring his first 12 penalties in the top-flight, breaking Yaya Touré's record.
It may look like Palmer has had an overall good season, accumulating 14 goals and six assists, but most of his impressive tally came in the first half of the campaign. In addition, the winger hasn’t produced an assist since early December in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
Palmer will continue his search for a goal in a heavyweight clash against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Arsenal’s title hopes continue to dwindle
Arsenal slipped again this weekend, dropping two more points while the team’s already slim title chances fade away with every game. Declan Rice was able to salvage just a point for his team in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The Gunners will have to win basically every remaining game to have any chance of catching up to Liverpool, who now sit atop the Premier League summit with a 16-point lead.
Going into the match, the Gunners hadn’t lost to their traditional adversaries United in six games and were heavy favorites to continue that streak and earn all three points. But in the end, Arsenal could only fight back for a draw against 14th-placed Man United.
The only positive from the game came from the club’s new hero, Declan Rice, who has been directly involved in three goals in his last five appearances against the Red Devils, scoring twice and assisting once. Since joining Arsenal, his joint-most goal contributions (3) against any opponent in the division have been against Man United, Crystal Palace and his former team, West Ham United.
As a result, manager Mikel Arteta has a lot of work to do if he is to finally break Arsenal’s 20-year wait for a Premier League title. His team has slumbered in its last three games in the division with a 1-0 home defeat to West Ham United and two draws against Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, which have cost his team opportunities to shrink the point gap with Liverpool.
Arsenal return to action against Chelsea in a London Derby match at the Emirates, with both teams needing three points.
“Top Four Talk” runs every Wednesday.