On the morning of January 19th, Beijing time, the 22nd round of the Premier League saw multiple matches. The two title contenders, Liverpool and Arsenal, took to the field successively. In the end, Liverpool defeated Brentford 2-0, while Arsenal "crashed" and dropped points, drawing 2-2 with Villa. The gap between the two sides widened to 6 points, consolidating Liverpool's lead after this round. Meanwhile, Manchester City's ranking was surpassed by Bournemouth and Villa, falling to eighth place.
Before this round, Arsenal had narrowed the gap with Liverpool to 4 points with one less game played, reigniting the suspense in the Premier League title race. However, in this round of matches, Liverpool finally did not falter again. After a full-court siege of Brentford, they finally scored twice through substitute Nunez in stoppage time, ultimately securing a 2-0 victory away from home. After winning their first league victory of the new year, Liverpool accumulated 50 points and continued to lead strongly.
Arsenal, playing at home, wasted a great opportunity. They were once leading Villa 2-0 at home, but their defense subsequently made several mistakes, allowing Villa to score two consecutive goals to level the score. Although Arsenal maintained an unbeaten streak of 12 rounds, they were overtaken by Liverpool by 6 points after playing one more game, completely losing the initiative in the title race.
Villa, on the other hand, earned one point by drawing 2-2 with Arsenal, reaching 36 points and temporarily surpassing Manchester City to reach seventh place, pushing the defending champions down to eighth place.
In addition, Bournemouth crushed Newcastle 4-1 in this round. After being unbeaten for 11 games, Bournemouth accumulated 37 points, also surpassing Manchester City and drawing level with Chelsea, reaching sixth place in the Premier League. At 0:30 on the 20th, Manchester City will visit Ipswich in this round.