EPL game reviews – 2025-12-07

Premier League Saturday Wrap: Clinical Spurs and Relentless City Get It Done

It was a productive day for a couple of big names in the Premier League, with Tottenham taking care of Brentford away from home and Manchester City putting in a professional shift against Sunderland. Both games finished without any real late drama on the scoreboard, but there was still plenty to unpack from a punting and performance point of view — from goals and assists to shots, corners and which players actually drove the result.

Tottenham’s trip to Brentford ended in a comfortable two-goal victory, built on a fast start and controlled game management. Over at Sunderland, Manchester City were rarely troubled and cruised to a 3–0 win, spreading the goals around and seeing key creative players like Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki heavily involved in the attacking output.

Below, there’s a breakdown of each match, using the stats straight out of the score records: final scores, goals, shots, shots on target, assists and corners. If you’re tracking form lines, looking for player prop trends, or just want to understand how these results unfolded, this recap keeps it tight and fact-based.

Brentford vs Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs Strike Early and See It Out

The first listed game has Tottenham Hotspur designated as the away side and Brentford as the home side. The full-time standard score shows the home side on 0 and the away side on 2, confirming a 2–0 win to Tottenham Hotspur.

The scoring pattern was straightforward: Spurs did the damage in the first half and then closed the game down. The records show:

1st half standard – home: 0, away: 2
2nd half standard – home: 0, away: 0

So any first-half result, half-time/full-time or early goal-related markets would have swung heavily in Tottenham’s favour before the break, with no change to the scoreboard in the second period.

Goals and key attacking contributions

For Spurs, two players show up in the goal column:

Xavi Simons – 1 goal
Richarlison – 1 goal

That lines up cleanly with the 2–0 final score. No Brentford player is recorded with a goal, so all the scoring came from the away side.

Looking at the player score or assist metric (which counts if a player either scores or sets one up), the standouts for Spurs are:

Xavi Simons – score or assist: 2
Richarlison – score or assist: 1

Combining that with the assists data tells a clear story:

Xavi Simons – 1 goal, 1 assist (score or assist: 2)
Richarlison – 1 goal, 0 assists (score or assist: 1)

Simons effectively had a hand in both goals and was the main creative force. From a betting perspective, that sort of output keeps him firmly on the radar for anytime goal or goal/assist combo markets going forward.

Shots and shots on target

The shot numbers back up just how involved the key Spurs attackers were:

Xavi Simons – 4 shots, 2 on target
Mohammed Kudus – 1 shot, 1 on target
Djed Spence – 1 shot, 1 on target
Randal Kolo Muani – 1 shot, 1 on target
Richarlison – 1 shot, 1 on target
Pape Matar Sarr – 1 shot, 1 on target

Several Spurs players posted a perfect conversion from shot to shot on target (1/1), but Simons stood out with volume plus accuracy. Four attempts with two on target and a goal is the sort of profile that appeals if you’re looking at shot or shot-on-target lines.

Brentford, on the other hand, struggled badly to create truly dangerous chances. Their shot figures show:

Igor Thiago – 2 shots, 1 on target
Rico Henry – 1 shot, 0 on target
Granit Xhaka, Noah Sadiki, and Enzo Le Fée are not in this particular match; those names appear only in the Sunderland vs City fixture, so they are irrelevant here.

For this Brentford game specifically, the main attacking presence was Igor Thiago with 2 total shots and 1 on target. No other Brentford player reached more than 1 total shot, and nobody managed a goal or assist. That tells you Tottenham’s defensive shape was on point and Brentford didn’t make the most of what they did create.

Corners and game flow

Corners are sometimes a good proxy for territorial dominance, and the numbers here show a pretty even contest overall:

Full-time corners – home (Brentford): 6, away (Spurs): 7

The half-by-half breakdown is interesting:

1st half corners – home: 3, away: 6
2nd half corners – home: 3, away: 1

Spurs clearly piled on the early pressure, leading 6–3 on corners before half-time to go with their 2–0 scoreboard advantage. After the break, Brentford actually edged territory in terms of corners (3–1), but couldn’t turn that into a breakthrough on the scoresheet.

Anyone on first-half corners markets in favour of Spurs would have been pretty comfortable; full-time corner bets were much tighter with only a single corner splitting the sides at 7–6.

Summary: Spurs efficient, Brentford blunt

Overall, the stats tell a simple story:

Spurs scored twice in the first half and shut up shop in the second.
Xavi Simons dominated the attacking metrics with 1 goal, 1 assist, 4 shots and 2 on target.
Richarlison chipped in with a goal from his only documented shot on target.
Brentford had some moments, with Igor Thiago at least getting 1 shot on target from 2 attempts, but they lacked end product.
Corners were tight overall, but Spurs’ early surge reflected the way they flew out of the blocks.

From a betting form perspective, Tottenham’s ability to start fast and share shots among several players is worth noting, while Brentford’s lack of output from their supporting cast around Igor Thiago is something to watch if you’re looking at goal or shot props in upcoming weeks.

Brentford vs Tottenham: Same Match, Mirrored Market View

The second listing in the data is another version of the same Brentford vs Tottenham clash, with Tottenham named simply as “Tottenham” rather than “Tottenham Hotspur”. The score records are effectively mirrored: full-time standard again shows:

Home (Brentford): 0
Away (Tottenham): 2

The half-time breakdown matches the earlier record:

1st half standard – home: 0, away: 2
2nd half standard – home: 0, away: 0

Corners also align with the previous data:

Full-time corners – Brentford: 6, Tottenham: 7
1st half – Brentford: 3, Tottenham: 6
2nd half – Brentford: 3, Tottenham: 1

In other words, this is the same match feed duplicated under slightly different team naming – something you’ll often see in raw data feeds or across different bookmakers’ markets. The key takeaway is that no matter which naming convention or feed you’re following, the underlying numbers are consistent.

Consistency in player stats

The player-level numbers here are identical to the first listing:

Xavi Simons – 1 goal, 1 assist, 4 shots, 2 on target, score or assist: 2
Richarlison – 1 goal, 1 shot, 1 on target, score or assist: 1
Igor Thiago (Brentford) – 2 shots, 1 on target, 0 goals

Everyone else on both sides is at 0 goals and 0 assists in the data provided. A number of Spurs players registered a single shot or shot on target, but none matched the volume and end-product of Simons.

Why the duplicate matters for punters

For anyone using multiple bookies or data sources, seeing “Tottenham” and “Tottenham Hotspur” listed separately can cause confusion. The important bit is that when you drill down into the stats — goals, shots, shots on target, assists, corners — all feeds agree:

The game finished 2–0 to Spurs.
Simons and Richarlison got the goals, with Simons adding an assist.
Brentford failed to score, despite a reasonable corner count and a couple of looks at goal for Igor Thiago.

Whether you’re tracking markets on goal scorers, shots, or corners, the duplication simply reinforces confidence in the numbers rather than contradicting them. For future fixtures, having that consistency helps when you’re comparing odds across different operators with slightly different naming conventions.

Sunderland vs Manchester City: City Cruise to a 3–0 Win

The other match on the slate saw Sunderland at home to Manchester City. The full-time standard score has the home side on 0 and the away side on 3, giving City a clear 3–0 victory.

The scoring was spread across both halves:

1st half standard – home: 0, away: 2
2nd half standard – home: 0, away: 1

That indicates City came out sharp, established a lead before the break, and then added another goal in the second half while keeping Sunderland scoreless throughout.

Goals: defenders and Foden on the scoresheet

City’s goals were nicely shared around the side, with the score records showing three different goal scorers:

Rúben Dias – 1 goal
Joško Gvardiol – 1 goal
Phil Foden – 1 goal

Interestingly, two of the goals came from central defenders (Dias and Gvardiol), which often hints at set-piece success or defenders pushing up in open play. Foden’s goal continues his trend of contributing regularly in the final third.

No Sunderland player is credited with a goal, confirming their blank on the scoreboard.

Assists and creative output

The assist numbers add extra context to who was pulling the strings:

Phil Foden – 1 assist
Rayan Cherki – 2 assists

Combine that with the goals, and you get:

Phil Foden – 1 goal, 1 assist, score or assist: 2
Rúben Dias – 1 goal, 0 assists, score or assist: 1
Joško Gvardiol – 1 goal, 0 assists, score or assist: 1
Rayan Cherki – 0 goals, 2 assists, score or assist: 2

The score or assist metric confirms that Foden and Cherki were City’s standout attacking contributors, both posting 2 direct goal contributions apiece. Cherki’s double-assist haul is particularly noteworthy from a playmaking angle.

Shots and shots on target: City share the load

City’s shot profile shows a team happy to let multiple players have a crack:

Phil Foden – 3 shots, 1 on target (1 goal)
Rayan Cherki – 2 shots, 1 on target
Jérémy Doku – 2 shots, 1 on target
Rúben Dias – 1 shot, 1 on target (1 goal)
Joško Gvardiol – 1 shot, 1 on target (1 goal)
Erling Haaland – 1 shot, 1 on target
Tijjani Reijnders – 1 shot, 0 goals, 1 on target

Other City players such as Bernardo Silva and Nico O’Reilly also registered shots (1 each), but without hitting the target as frequently as the names above. The main headline is that City’s key attacking trio of Foden, Cherki and Doku all posted multiple shots, while centre-backs Dias and Gvardiol maximised their opportunities with a goal each from a single shot on target.

On the Sunderland side, there was at least some intent, even if there was no end product:

Wilson Isidor – 1 shot, 1 on target
Noah Sadiki – 1 shot
Enzo Le Fée – 1 shot
Romaine Mundle – 1 shot

Of those, only Wilson Isidor managed to test the keeper, recording Sunderland’s lone shot on target. The rest of the side is blank across both shots and shots-on-target metrics, highlighting just how well City controlled the defensive side of the game.

Corners and territory

Full-time corners show City in front, but not by a massive margin:

Full-time corners – home (Sunderland): 5, away (Man City): 6

The half splits look like this:

1st half corners – home: 1, away: 2
2nd half corners – home: 4, away: 4

So while the scoreline says 3–0, Sunderland weren’t completely pinned back, especially in the second half where corners were level at 4–4. Still, the lack of goals and the very limited number of shots on target suggest that a lot of those set pieces didn’t lead to genuinely clear-cut opportunities.

Score or assist: who drove City’s win?

That combined attacking metric backs up what you’d expect from watching a typical City performance:

Phil Foden – score or assist: 2
Rayan Cherki – score or assist: 2
Rúben Dias – score or assist: 1
Joško Gvardiol – score or assist: 1

Erling Haaland, interestingly, appears with 1 shot and 1 shot on target but no goal or assist, underlining that City don’t need to rely solely on him for goals in matches like this. From a punting view, that spreads the risk around and can sometimes open up value away from the obvious Norwegian favourite in goal-scorer markets.

Summary: City in control from start to finish

All up, Sunderland simply couldn’t live with City’s quality:

City won 3–0, scoring twice before half-time and adding a third after the break.
Goals came from Rúben Dias, Joško Gvardiol and Phil Foden.
Rayan Cherki and Foden were the creative stars, combining for three assists and four total goal contributions.
Sunderland managed just one shot on target (via Wilson Isidor) despite a reasonable corner count in the second half.
Corners were competitive, but City’s finishing and defensive solidity made sure the result was never really in doubt.

For future betting angles, keep an eye on Foden and Cherki in particular — both are regularly involved in goals and seem to combine shot volume with creative output, which is gold for multi and player-prop markets.

Conclusion: What Today’s Results Tell Us – And How to Use Them

Across these fixtures, a couple of clear themes stand out. Tottenham and Manchester City both handled their business with minimum fuss, keeping clean sheets and spreading attacking contributions among multiple players:

Spurs beat Brentford 2–0 away, with Xavi Simons the clear standout: 1 goal, 1 assist, 4 shots, 2 on target.
Richarlison chipped in with a goal from his only recorded shot on target, showing his knack for efficiency.
Brentford couldn’t find a way through, with Igor Thiago their only real bright spot in attack with 2 shots and 1 on target.
Manchester City rolled Sunderland 3–0, thanks to goals from Rúben Dias, Joško Gvardiol, and Phil Foden.
Foden and Rayan Cherki were heavily involved in City’s attacking play, each posting two direct goal contributions via goals and assists.
Corner counts in both games show that while the underdogs did see some territory, they couldn’t turn that into genuine scoring chances.

From a betting and odds-comparison perspective, these stats are exactly what you want to be tracking. Players like Simons, Foden and Cherki are consistently popping up in the key metrics: goals, assists, shots and shots on target. Teams like Spurs and City are also showing recognisable patterns — fast starts, strong first halves, and the ability to close games out without needing to chase.

If you’re keen to turn this sort of data into an edge, don’t just rely on one bookmaker’s prices. Use our odds comparison tool to line up markets for goals, shots, corners and more across multiple bookies. You’ll see where the best value sits for in-form players and teams, and you can back your reads with the strongest possible price.

Before you dive into the next round of fixtures, take a minute to plug these trends into our comparison engine, check which bookie is offering the top odds, and give yourself every chance to stay one step ahead.