Premier League form table after Arsenal draw & Man Utd win

April may have passed its mid-point but there is still more than a fifth of the Premier League season left to play.

A six-week World Cup sandwiched into the middle of the campaign has warped the natural calendar of the league season, leaving the finishing line not quite as close as the empty Easter egg wrappers may suggest.

And so, the form of each side in England’s top flight still has plenty of time to decide the final standings of this truncated season.

Arsenal’s damaging 2-2 draw with West Ham United on Sunday could certainly impact the title race as the Gunners threaten to buckle. Manchester United may have endured a wobble of their own but moved up to third place in the actual standings with a 2-0 victory over relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on the same afternoon.

For the second weekend in a row, Arsenal ceded a two-goal lead, not only giving up the advantage but enduring a dramatic drop-off in performance within the space of 90 long minutes. Despite recording seven consecutive Premier League victories before this mini-blip, the Gunners have seen their gap at the division’s summit dwindle with their nearest challengers cranking into gear.

Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City are the only team in the division currently in the midst of a six-match winning streak as they ominously try to reclaim the title. Pep Guardiola’s imperious outfit blitzed Leicester City with three goals in 25 minutes on Saturday evening before winding down with a slew of substitutions in the second half.

The Foxes find themselves firmly ensconced at the other end of the form table (and actual standings). Dean Smith was parachuted in to help stop the rot but watched his new side meekly concede within five minutes of his tenure.

Bournemouth have conceded more goals in the opening quarter-hour of matches than any other Premier League side this season, shipping their tenth of the campaign against Tottenham on Saturday. However, Gary O’Neil’s well-drilled side responded emphatically, coming from behind to triumph 3-2 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium courtesy of a 95th-minute winner from Dango Ouattara. The Cherries may have conceded more goals than they’ve scored in this sequence but boast 12 points from their previous six games, a tally only four teams in the division can better.

Spurs, damningly, are not part of this lofty quartet. Cristian Stellini was left to lament the porous defending of his side. “We allowed them to score the first two goals too easily,” he moaned. “Too easy, too easy.” Tottenham’s first loss of the season to a promoted club was the latest nail in the coffin of the club’s Champions League aspirations.

Unai Emery’s appointment has allowed Aston Villa to harbour genuine dreams of Europe. A commanding 3-0 victory over fellow Champions League-chasers Newcastle United was Villa’s fifth top-flight victory on the spin – John Gregory was at the helm the last time the club managed a run as impressive back in 1998.

Newcastle were in fine form before Ollie Watkins terrorised a previously sturdy backline. Eddie Howe’s side bounced into Villa Park on the back of five straight league wins but suffered the club’s heaviest defeat of the season, shipping as many as three goals in the same game for the first time since August.

As Steve Cooper’s post becomes increasingly precarious, Nottingham Forest had their winless run extended to ten league matches with a defeat at home to Manchester United. Only Crystal Palace – in those dark days before Roy Hodgson installed an entirely uncharacteristic brand of attacking football – have endured a longer winless run (12) than Forest this season.

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