Southampton and Leicester City would roll over for Manchester City and Nottingham Forest respectively in the top-five race. That was the expectation.

The heated competition for European spots delivered its fair share of surprises over the weekend, as both Newcastle United and Aston Villa emerged as major victors. Meanwhile, Southampton and Leicester City defied expectations with their performances against Manchester City and Nottingham Forest.

Meanwhile, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur saw their disappointing seasons dip further, with the pressure from the approaching Europa League final in Bilbao looming large.

Arsenal faces the risk of their season petering out following a 2-2 draw against Liverpool, while Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo boosted his value with another remarkable display during the Bees’ victory over Ipswich.

In the latest instalment of this weekly column, Mail Sport picks out five of the most interesting talking points from the Premier League’s latest round of matches.

TOP FIVE RACE IS NOT OVER YET FOR FOREST

There is no doubt that drawing at home to already relegated Leicester City was far from ideal in Nottingham Forest’s bid to land Champions League – but all is not lost.

Taiwo Awoniyi suffered an injury at the end of Nottingham Forest’s draw with Leicester but a mix-up meant he was not substituted right away

Facundo Buonanotte’s late equaliser was a bitter blow to Forest’s Champions League hopes

Frustrated Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis stormed the pitch at the end to have words with boss Nuno Espirito Santo about a mix-up that meant injured striker Taiwo Awoniyi was not substituted.

But when the dust settles Forest will realise that top five is not a lost cause with against West Ham and against Chelsea to go. Forest are four points behind Newcastle United (3rd), three points behind Manchester City (4th), and just one point behind Chelsea (5th) and Aston Villa (6th).

It is imperative that Forest win on the road at West Ham to take the race until the final day but despite the obvious frustrations of the Leicester draw, the top five race is still as alive as it was before the game at the City Ground even kicked off.

Newcastle still have to play Arsenal while Chelsea and Aston Villa face the unpredictable (albeit usually predictably bad) Manchester United. Bournemouth and Fulham are not the most straightforward of assignments for Manchester City, either. Anything can happen yet.

Recover, regroup and channel frustration into a win at West Ham. There is another twist still to come in the top five race…

MAINOO LOOKS LOST IN AMORIM SYSTEM

When it comes to problems at Manchester United right now you could dedicate an entire column and then some to try and get through just some of them. There are loads, essentially.

But one that became glaringly obvious in the dismal 2-0 home defeat to West Ham was the influence – or major lack of – of Kobbie Mainoo.

Mainoo is a fabulous footballer but he looks increasingly lost trying to fit into a system that does not cater to his strengths.

Kobbie Mainoo is a fabulous footballer but he looks increasingly lost trying to fit into a system that does not cater to his strengths

It has been a stop-start campaign for Mainoo due to injury which hasn’t helped

Amorim does not believe he can play in one of the two pivot positions in front of the back three, while the lack of familiarity playing as a No 10 is glaringly obvious as he gets lost in games like he did on Sunday.

Too often against West Ham he was swallowed up and large spells of the game played out without him being able to put any sort of stamp on the contest.

It has been a stop-start campaign for Mainoo due to injury which hasn’t helped. But a lack of trust from Amorim to play in a deeper role – he did get dropped back there on Sunday after West Ham went 2-0 up but it was too little, too late – means he has tried to shoehorn him in at No 10.

Pursuit of the likes of Matheus Cunha at Wolves, Bryan Mbeumo at Brentford and Antoine Semenyo at Bournemouth is far from ideal news, either, from Mainoo’s point of view.

If Manchester United cannot settle on Mainoo’s best position and put him in position to learn it inside out and get back to his best, his long-term prospects look increasingly more worrisome.

This summer is vital for Amorim and Manchester United to turn things around. It’s huge for Mainoo, too.

NEWCASTLE THRIVE AGAINST TOP 7

Eddie Howe’s side, on paper, looked to have the toughest route to securing a top five finish with Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton their final three games.

But what seemed to be lost on most is that Newcastle are best in class this season when it comes to games against the league’s top seven.

Newcastle have been excellent against the top seven this season, compounded by their 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday

Newcastle have already beaten Arsenal three times in all competitions this season – without conceding a single goal

After a 2-0 win over Chelsea, in which they were given a helping hand by Blues striker Nicolas Jackson after his idiotic red card, Newcastle improved their record to nine wins from 16 games against the top seven in all competitions in 2024-25. They have only lost four from that run, too.

What we have seen of late is teams tripping themselves up in games against lower-ranked opposition. Both Manchester City and Nottingham Forest tied themselves in knots against relegated opponents this past weekend, for example.

So with Arsenal up next, Newcastle will feel emboldened that they can go to the Emirates Stadium and get a result to move second in the table.

Arsenal have just four wins from 13 games against top seven opponents this season and were fortunate to get a draw at Liverpool on Sunday.

‘I think we’ve become used to the big games,’ Howe said after the Chelsea win. ‘I don’t think that was the case when we first arrived, but we’ve slowly built our league position.

‘Having two cup finals and the Champions League experience has definitely helped us in that respect. I think now there’s a much better reaction to the bigger occasions, and no bigger than today really.

‘The pressure on us was huge, with the expectation and the crowd, and you’ve got to try to use all those things to your advantage.’

The bigger the occasion the bigger Newcastle become it seems. Arsenal, you’ve been warned.

TOP 7 RESULTS (ALL COMPETITIONS)

Newcastle United – P16 | W9 | D3 | L4 = 56.3 win %

Manchester City – P13 | W6 | D2 | L5 = 42.2%

Liverpool – P13 | W5 | D5 | L3 = 38.5%

Aston Villa – P12 | W4 | D2 | L6 = 33.3%

Arsenal – P13 | W4 | D6 | L3 = 30.8%

Chelsea – P12 | W3 | D2 | L7 = 25%

Nottingham Forest – P13 | W3 | D4 | L6 = 23.1%

EZE READY TO TAKE NEXT STEP

Eberechi Eze is entering the prime of his career and now feels the right time for him to take that next step to go on and play Champions League football

He has 12 goals and 11 assists this season after his brace in the 2-0 win at Tottenham

Watching Michael Olise lift the Bundesliga title on Sunday and then seeing Eberechi Eze toy with Tottenham as Crystal Palace ripped them apart was to think it feels time for Eze to take that next step of his own.

That is not a knock on Palace. If all goes to plan, Eze will be lifting the FA Cup at the weekend with a win over Manchester City at Wembley.

At 26, Eze is entering the prime of his career and now feels the right time for him to take that next step to go on and play Champions League football.

Newcastle United are reported to be monitoring him, while Manchester United have made an enquiry about his availability as they bid to get into Europe’s premier competition by winning the Europa League. Tottenham, the other Europa League finalist, is also a known admirer of Eze.

Arsenal and Aston Villa, two other clubs set for a top five berth and Champions League football, would both be immediately improved with the addition of Eze, too.

He has 12 goals and 11 assists this season after his brace in the 2-0 win at Tottenham and while Eze has not publicly stated any desire to leave Palace, the club he joined from Reading back in 2020, seeing Olise at the very top of the game was to wonder whether now it’s time for Eze to get his shot.

As he left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, Eze agreed to sign some autographs for fans when he was asked if he would like to join Ange Postecoglou’s side. It was met with a cheeky grin, causing a ripple of laughter.

Come the summer, the future of Eze will be no laughing matter. Decision time is on the horizon…

CITY COMPLAINTS WERE PLAIN WRONG

Ruben Dias hit out at Southampton’s tactics following their 0-0 draw with Manchester City

It spoke volumes that Southampton fans were full of pride at the end for such a valiant display, even if it wasn’t a 90 minutes for the football purists like Dias

One of the most irritating moments of the weekend was Ruben Dias’ whining about how Southampton played in their 0-0 draw with Manchester City.

This idea that it would have been more honourable for Southampton to go gung-ho, get hammered in the process, and remain on course to be the worst Premier League side ever, is complete nonsense.

‘It’s obviously frustrating to play against a team like this,’ Dias moaned. ‘They don’t even try anything, they just sit and don’t even want to play or win the game, they just want to be there.’

It wasn’t Southampton’s fault that City managed to only get five of their 26 shots on target. Or that their 72 per cent possession all amounted to nothing at the final whistle.

City didn’t fashion a single ‘Big Chance’, according to stats boffins, while their open play Expected Goals (xG) was just 1.03.

So, spare me the sour grapes that you fluffed your lines to take a giant step towards securing Champions League football for next season, Ruben.

Southampton have had a historically miserable season that they will want to forget in a hurry. They desperately wanted to avoid getting fewer points than Derby County’s 11 and their best course of action against Manchester City was to dig in and make it as difficult as possible.

It spoke volumes that Southampton fans were full of pride at the end for such a valiant display, even if it wasn’t a 90 minutes for the football purists like Dias.