Hornchurch FC Tops The League

Special Sport Report: 24th – 26th January 2026

Hornchurch Win Again and Man Utd “Still Back”!

Hello, it’s Jasper, Junior Sports Reporter for The Havering Daily, and welcome to another article where I look at this week’s football.

---

Saturday 24th January 2026

National League South

Weston-super-Mare 1 – 2 Hornchurch FC

Attendance: 1,127

Goalscorers

Weston-super-Mare:

• W. Dawes (88’)

Hornchurch:

• A. Balanta (31’)
• H. Hearn (58’)

A massive day for the Urchins, with Balanta continuing his excellent form. Hornchurch returned to the top of the National League South by two points, having played 26 games compared to second-placed Worthing’s 28.

Weston-super-Mare dropped to fifth, but it remains extremely tight at the top end of the table.

A huge match awaits on Saturday as Hornchurch welcome third-placed Torquay to The Bridge.

---

Premier League Round-Up

West Ham United 3 – 1 Sunderland

Goalscorers

West Ham:

• C. Summerville (14’)
• J. Bowen (28’, pen)
• Mateus Fernandes (43’)

Sunderland:

• B. Brobbey (66’)

West Ham continued their fight to escape the relegation zone, with an impressive win taking them to 20 points, compared to Nottingham Forest’s 22 at the time. Sunderland failed to move above rivals Newcastle.

A stunning strike from Mateus Fernandes was the standout goal of the match.

---

Burnley 2 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur

Goalscorers

Burnley:

• A. Tuanzebe (45’)
• L. Foster (76’)

Tottenham Hotspur:

• M. van de Ven (38’)
• C. Romero (90’)

Last week I said “beating Burnley isn’t for everyone”, and it proved true again. I know many Spurs fans read these reports, so I’ll keep the criticism light.

Calls of “Frank out” continue to grow, and from watching Spurs it’s hard to disagree — although their European form should not be ignored.

---

Fulham 2 – 1 Brighton & Hove Albion

Goalscorers

Fulham:

• S. Chukwueze (72’)
• H. Wilson (90+2’)

Brighton:

• Y. Ayari (28’)

A brilliant win for Fulham, although there was disappointment as Amadou Traoré neither started nor made the bench. He has since completed a move to West Ham United.

Harry Wilson continued his strong form by scoring a dramatic injury-time winner.

---

Manchester City 2 – 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Goalscorers

Manchester City:

• O. Marmoush (6’)
• A. Semenyo (45+2’)

Marmoush was handed a start and repaid the faith with a goal, while Semenyo continues to push for Player of the Season recognition if City go on to win the league.

Wolves were unable to maintain their recent improvement, although losing to Manchester City is hardly disastrous.

---

AFC Bournemouth 3 – 2 Liverpool

Goalscorers

Bournemouth:

• Evanilson (26’)
• Alex Jimenez (33’)
• A. Adil (90+5’)

Liverpool:

• V. van Dijk (45’)
• D. Szoboszlai (80’)

What a game. Bournemouth capitalised on a mistake from Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk — which he later blamed on the wind — allowing Evanilson to open the scoring.

It marked Evanilson’s third consecutive home match with a goal.

---

Sunday 25th January 2026

Brentford 0 – 2 Nottingham Forest

Goalscorers

Nottingham Forest:

• Igor Jesus (12’)
• T. Awoniyi (79’)

Forest needed a response after West Ham closed the gap on Saturday, and they delivered.

Former Campion School pupil Ola Aina played a key role down the wing, while Igor Jesus scored his eighth away goal of the season in all competitions. Brentford’s Outtara missed a huge chance at the other end.

---

Crystal Palace 1 – 3 Chelsea

Goalscorers

Crystal Palace:

• C. Richards (88’)
• A. Wharton (Red Card, 72’)

Chelsea:

• Estevão (34’)
• João Pedro (50’)
• E. Fernández (64’, pen)

João Pedro scored again for Chelsea, while Estevão’s name was ringing around the ground once more. Another penalty from Enzo Fernández sealed a convincing win for the Blues.

---

Newcastle United 0 – 2 Aston Villa

Goalscorers

Aston Villa:

• E. Buendía (19’)
• O. Watkins (88’)

A disappointing result from a Newcastle perspective, but Aston Villa are one of the league’s strongest sides. The win moved them level on points with second-placed Manchester City, behind only on goal difference.

The Toon will at least take comfort in remaining above Sunderland.

---

Arsenal 2 – 3 Manchester United

Goalscorers

Arsenal:

• Lisandro Martínez (OG, 29’)
• Mikel Merino (84’)

Manchester United:

• B. Mbeumo (37’)
• P. Dorgu (50’)
• Matheus Cunha (87’)

What a game. Michael Carrick had only been in charge of United for one match — a derby win over City — before this huge test at the Emirates.

A scrappy deflection gave Arsenal the lead, but United responded in style. Mbeumo equalised before half-time, and Dorgu fired in a stunning strike to put United ahead.

Merino equalised late on, but Cunha settled the match with an absolute screamer, followed by a rather unusual celebration.

United climbed to fourth in the table, while Arsenal’s lead at the top was cut to four points.

---

Monday 28th January 2026

Everton 1 – 1 Leeds United

Goalscorers

Everton:

• T. Barry (76’)

Leeds United:

• J. Justin (28’)

James Justin stunned Goodison Park with a first-half opener before Everton responded through “Super Barry”.

Barry has now scored five goals from his last ten shots on target, a remarkable turnaround after a slow start to the season.

---

Have Your Say

Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche believes that as long throws become more influential in football, towels should either be banned or repeated use punished with a yellow card.

Do you agree?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

---

Join me next week for all the build-up and reaction to Hornchurch’s top-of-the-table clash, alongside Premier League fixtures including Chelsea v West Ham, Liverpool v Newcastle, and Spurs v Manchester City.

That’s all for this week’s football round-up — see you soon for more results, highlights, and stories from the world of football.

---

Stay up to date with all of our latest updates and content by following us on our social media accounts!

---

We have created community pages where we will share our up-to-date stories happening in the area. Add the area closest to where you live.