16 February 2025
The 25th round of the English Premier League has been full of action: Arsenal defeating Leicester, Nottingham fell to Fulham, Aston Villa stumbled in a draw against Ipswich, all the while Egyptian striker Omar Marmoush imposes himself as the star of Manchester City, scoring a hat-trick against Newcastle on Saturday, giving them a resounding 4-0 victory.
Marmoush scored the fourth fastest hat-trick in Manchester City's history, giving his team a moral boost ahead of the second leg of the play-off to qualify for the round of 16 against Real Madrid next Wednesday, after losing 2-3 at home this week.
City climbed to fourth place in the standings, taking advantage of Chelsea's 3-0 loss to Brighton on Friday, and now have 44 points, one point ahead of Bournemouth and the London club, who are tied in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Marmoush opened the scoring when he received a long forward pass from Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson, to skillfully lob the ball over the keeper and into the net in the 19th minute. The goal was the Egyptian's first for Manchester City since his move from Eintracht Frankfurt in the winter transfer market last month.
Marmoush quickly added the second, when he received a wonderful through ball from German Ilkay Gundogan, dribbling past a defender before shooting into the net in the 24th minute. Marmoush achieved the hat-trick by taking advantage of a cross pass from Brazilian winger Savinho after a wonderful individual effort by the latter, and he shot it powerfully into the net in the 33rd minute. Marmoush's goals came within 13 minutes and 54 seconds, ranking him fourth in terms of the fastest hat-trick in Manchester City's history, according to the statistics agency "Opta", noting that Argentine Sergio Aguero holds the record by scoring a hat-trick in 11 minutes and 40 seconds. Substitute James McAtee added the fourth goal from close range in the 84th minute.
In the second match, Spanish substitute Mikel Merino temporarily put his team Arsenal within four points of leaders Liverpool, by scoring both goals in the 2-0 win at Leicester City. Arsenal seemed to be on their way to settling for a draw at a team fighting to avoid relegation to the second division, before relief came in the 81st minute through Merino, who scored the opening goal, which secured his team's third consecutive win, and the 15th this season with a second goal in the 87th minute. With this victory, which is part of a series of 15 consecutive matches without defeat for the London team in the league, specifically since the 0-1 loss to Newcastle on November 2, in the tenth round, the "Gunners" are now four points behind Liverpool, who meet Wolverhampton on Sunday at home.
Merino, who came on in the 69th minute for Raheem Sterling, told T&T Sports that his compatriot, coach Mikel Arteta, "told me this morning that I'm going to play as a striker (he usually plays in midfield)... It's the first time in my career that I've played there."
Arsenal fielded Belgian Leandro Trossard at centre forward, alongside Sterling and 17-year-old Nathan Nwaneri up front, after losing German Kai Havertz for the rest of the season to injury in Dubai last week. He joins Brazilian Gabriel Jesus, who is also out for the rest of the season, while Bukayo Saka has been sidelined since December, with the expectation that he will return next month. Another Brazilian, Gabriel Martinelli, was injured in last week's 2-0 loss to Newcastle in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final, which Arteta's men were eliminated from after losing the first leg by the same scoreline at home.
Despite Arsenal's dominance of the match, they were unable to reach the goal, and the first half ended in a goalless draw after a missed opportunity for the home team from a header by Nigerian Wilfred Ndidi that went wide of the post after a cross from Danish Victor Christensen. The situation did not change in the second half, as Arsenal continued their dominance, but this time they were more dangerous on goal and came close to opening the scoring with a long-range shot from Nwaneri, who was unlucky after the ball hit the crossbar and continued its way out of the field in the 61st minute.
Leicester almost surprised their visitors with a goal without Miles Lewis-Skelly’s brilliant intervention in the right time to cut out a cross from Ghanaian Jordan Ayew in front of the goal towards Jamaican Bobby de Cordoba Reid in the 73rd minute.
The relief came at the hands of Merino, who put the ball into the net with a header after a cross from Nwaneri himself in the 81st minute, then finally sealed the three points with a shot from close range after a cross from Trossard in the 87th minute. When asked if he would play as a striker regularly, Merino replied: “Honestly, I don’t think so. It’s the first time I’ve scored a brace as a striker after coming off the bench. "I forgot to give my wife something for Valentine's Day, this is my gift to her, I think she would appreciate it more than a rose or a piece of chocolate."
Fulham beat Nottingham Forest 2-1 with goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Calvin Bassey, while New Zealander Chris Wood scored for Forest. Nottingham's tally froze at 47 points in third place, while Fulham raised their tally to 39 points in eighth place.
Aston Villa fell into a 1-1 draw with their guest Ipswich Town, who were reduced to a man.
Ipswich took the lead through their top scorer Liam Delap in the 56th minute, before Ollie Watkins equalized for Villa in the 69th minute. Bournemouth returned with a 3-1 win at their neighbors Southampton, while Brentford did the same by beating their neighbors and hosts London, West Ham, 1-0.
