Transfers
January 2018: All the transfers so far
As the clock ticks down on Transfer Deadline Day keep up to date with all the player moves into and out of the 20 Premier League clubs
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The Premier League is back in action in midweek as the transfer window also draws to a close in the coming days.
Swansea climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time in three months as Petr Cech's dreadful clanger helped condemn Arsenal to a 3-1 defeat at the Liberty Stadium.
Mark Noble's penalty cancelled out a rare Christian Benteke goal as injury-hit West Ham battled to a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace at the London Stadium, while Liverpool eased to a 3-0 win at Huddersfield.
There should be plenty more drama on the pitch on Wednesday despite it also being deadline day, with Tottenham hosting Manchester United, Chelsea taking on Bournemouth, and Manchester City welcoming West Brom among the seven fixtures.
Here's the lay of the land for gameweek 25...
EPL Table | Premier League 2017-18 season standings
Pos Team P W D L GD Pts 1 Man City 24 21 2 1 52 65 2 Man United 24 16 5 3 33 53 3 Chelsea 24 15 5 4 29 50 4 Liverpool 25 14 8 3 28 50 5 Tottenham 24 13 6 5 25 45 6 Arsenal 25 12 6 7 12 42 7 Leicester 24 9 7 8 4 34 8 Burnley 24 9 7 8 -2 34 9 Everton 24 7 7 10 -13 28 10 West Ham 25 6 9 10 -12 27 11 Watford 24 7 5 12 -11 26 12 Crystal Palace 25 6 8 11 -15 26 13 Bournemouth 24 6 7 11 -11 25 14 Huddersfield 24 6 6 12 -22 24 15 Newcastle 24 6 5 13 -12 23 16 Brighton 24 5 8 11 -16 23 17 Swansea 25 6 5 14 -18 23 18 Stoke 24 6 5 13 -25 23 19 Southampton 24 4 10 10 -11 22 20 West Brom 24 3 11 10 -12 20
Gameweek 24 results
Saturday, January 20 Kickoff Coverage TV Brighton 0 Chelsea 4 12:30pm Report Sky Sports Arsenal 4 Crystal Palace 1 3pm Report Burnley 0 Man United 1 3pm Report Everton 1 West Brom 1 3pm Leicester 2 Watford 0 3pm Stoke 2 Huddersfield 0 3pm West Ham 1 Bournemouth 1 3pm Report Man City 3 Newcastle 1 5:30pm Report BT Sport Sunday, January 21 Kickoff Coverage TV Southampton 1 Tottenham 1 4pm Report Sky Sports Monday, January 22 Kickoff Coverage TV Swansea 1 Liverpool 0 8pm Report Sky Sports
Gameweek 25 fixtures
Tuesday, January 30 Kickoff Coverage TV Swansea 3 Arsenal 1 7:45pm LIVE West Ham 1 Crystal Palace 1 7:45pm LIVE Huddersfield 0 Liverpool 3 8pm LIVE BT Sport Wednesday, January 31 Chelsea vs Bournemouth 7:45pm LIVE Everton vs Leicester 7:45pm Newcastle vs Burnley 7:45pm Southampton vs Brighton 7:45pm Man City vs West Brom 8pm LIVE Stoke vs Watford 8pm Tottenham vs Man United 8pm LIVE Sky Sports
Top scorers
Football: Petre Cech has gifted Swansea the lead with a horror mistake in goal.
PETR Cech’s howler rocked Arsenal as they crashed to a shock 3-1 defeat at Swansea, while Liverpool cruised to victory over Huddersfield on Tuesday.
Arsenal goalkeeper Cech’s miscued attempt to clear allowed Jordan Ayew to slot home Swansea’s second goal at the Liberty Stadium.
It was the killer blow for Arsenal, who had already seen Sam Clucas equalise just one minute after Nacho Monreal put the visitors ahead from Mesut Ozil’s pass in the 33rd minute.
Clucas claimed his second four minutes from time to finish off Arsenal, who have now won just once in their last five league games.
REPORT: Almighty Cech calamity in Mikhi debut, Giroud says goodbye
Swans stun Wenger's men 1:28 EPL: Swansea has beaten Arsenal in the EPL.
Mesut Ozil's perfect ball 1:24 Football: Mesut Özil set-up teammate Nacho Monreal with a centimetre perfect ball to give Arsenal the lead in the 33rd minute, only for Swansea to hit back just a minute later.
The result leaves Gunners manager Arsene Wenger still searching for his first away win of 2018, despite a second-half debut for substitute Henrikh Mkhitaryan following his move from Manchester United.
The Gunners are in sixth place, trailing eight points behind fourth-placed Liverpool in the race to qualify for the Champions League via a top-four finish.
Olivier Giroud applauds Arsenal fans 0:24 Premier League: Olivier Giroud applauds Arsenal fans following his sides defeat to Swansea.
The arrival of Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, set to sign on Wednesday’s transfer deadline day, can’t come soon enough for Wenger.
The result also completes remarkable back-to-back victories for Swansea over Liverpool and now Arsenal.
Arsenal gunning for new striker 1:21 Football: Arsenal are on the verge of securing the talents of Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, so here is a taste of what Gunners fans can expect from the Gabonese striker.
They are out of the relegation zone and have transformed their season with three wins in five league games under new boss Carlos Carvalhal.
At the John Smith’s Stadium, Liverpool got back on track in emphatic fashion thanks to goals from Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah in a 3-0 win.
The Reds had endured frustrating defeats against Swansea in the league and West Brom in the FA Cup.
But Jurgen Klopp’s men dominated possession and from the moment Emre Can rocketed home a long-range opener in the 26th minute the result was never in doubt.
Roberto Firmino extended Liverpool’s lead on the stroke of half-time when he somehow squeezed the ball home from the goal-line after being played in by a clever Sadio Mane back-heel.
Reds right the ship vs Giants 1:29 EPL: Liveerpool has beaten Huddersfield in the EPL.
Klopp had left Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk on the bench, but the absence of the club-record signing was hardly noticed as the Reds continued in cruise control, with Salah completing the scoring from the penalty spot in the 78th minute after Can was tripped up in the box.
A Mark Noble penalty helped West Ham shrug off the disappointment of their embarrassing FA Cup fourth round defeat at Wigan with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace.
Soft penalty helps Hammers 1:23 EPL: West Ham have has a draw with Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Roy Hodgson’s much-improved Eagles grabbed the lead in the 24th minute when Christian Benteke rose to steer an Andros Townsend cross home from close range.
But the Hammers were level just before the break after Javier Hernandez was brought down by James Tomkins in the box.
Hernandez came closest to a winner when his 51st-minute effort was brilliantly saved by Wayne Hennessey.
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Liverpool's Roberto Firmino celebrates scoring his side's second goal of the game against Huddersfield Town during their English Premier League soccer match at the John Smith's Stadium in Huddersfield, England, Tuesday Jan. 30, 2018. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP) (Photo: The Associated Press)
The arrival of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cannot come quickly enough for Arsenal.
Its 3-1 loss on Tuesday to Swansea, which started the match as the Premier League's last-place team, punctured some of the optimism generated by the imminent signing of one of Europe's most lethal strikers.
Aubumeyang flew to London earlier in the day to put the finishing touches to a drawn-out transfer from Borussia Dortmund that Arsenal hopes will be completed on Wednesday, the final day of the January transfer window.
He would be joining a team that slipped eight points off the Champions League qualification positions as a result of the chastening loss in south Wales. Arsenal has just 13 games to claw back the deficit, or it will be out of Europe's elite competition for a second straight season.
Swansea midfielder Sam Clucas scored either side of a goal by Jordan Ayew following a dreadful error by Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech, who miskicked a clearance straight to the striker.
Olivier Giroud came on as a late substitute for what could be his last appearance for Arsenal, with Aubameyang likely arriving as a direct replacement for the France striker. Giroud waved to Arsenal's traveling fans before the leaving the pitch after the final whistle.
Asked about the departure of Giroud and the arrival of Aubameyang, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said all will be revealed on Wednesday morning.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan played the final half hour in his first appearance for Arsenal since joining from Manchester United in a swap deal with Alexis Sanchez.
Fourth-place Liverpool capitalized on Arsenal's slip-up by beating Huddersfield 3-0 away to move eight points clear of Wenger's team. Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah — from the penalty spot — were the scorers.
West Ham fought back to draw 1-1 with Crystal Palace in the other game, with Mark Noble's penalty canceling out a goal by Christian Benteke.
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CECH FRONTS UP
Cech took to Twitter straight after the match following his game-changing error at Liberty Stadium.
"Although mistakes are part of the game," he wrote, "I always expect 100 percent from myself and I'm not happy with the one I made today."
It was a particularly bad one, the goalkeeper getting his feet mixed up as he attempted to make a first-time clearance from a back-pass and only managing to offer up the easiest of chances to Ayew. The striker made no mistake from close range.
That made it 2-1 and Clucas scored the clinching third goal in the 86th, having got Swansea back into the game with the equalizer in the 34th. A minute earlier, Arsenal had taken the lead through Nacho Monreal, who converted a pass from Mesut Ozil.
"I felt defensively we were very poor and made big mistakes," Wenger said.
Swansea, which followed up a 1-0 win over Liverpool last week, climbed out of the relegation zone and into 17th place in the 20-team league.
"We have a chance (of staying up)," Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal said. "We are not in intensive care. We are not far away from the doctor saying we can go home."
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VAN DIJK LEFT OUT
Liverpool didn't need its record signing to ease past Huddersfield and bounce back from two straight losses.
Center back Virgil van Dijk, the $100 million arrival from Southampton this month, started on the bench for the 3-0 win, with Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp saying it was a "physical thing."
Emre Can opened the scoring with a fierce shot on the bounce from outside the area. Roberto Firmino doubled the lead on the stroke of halftime, squeezing in a finish from an acute angle, and Salah grabbed the third from the penalty spot for his 19th goal in the league.
Liverpool recovered from losses to Swansea in the league and West Bromwich Albion in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
"It was not a brilliant performance," Klopp said, "but it was very mature and exactly what we needed at the right moment."
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Steve Douglas is at www.twitter.com/sdouglas80
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