Premier League Matchday 20 Highlights: Wolves Thrash West Ham To Claim First Win Of Season; Brighton Blank Burnley 2-0

The match kicks off at 6pm IST. The Aston Villa vs Nottingham Forest, English Premier League 2025-26 game will be telecast on the Star Sports TV channels in India. It will be live streamed on the JioHotstar app and website in the country.

Here is how the two teams line up for their opening game of the New Year:

Play is underway at Villa Park. The Villans kicking from left to right, and Forest the other way in the first half. The home team make an early foray into the Forest box, forcing a superb save from goalie John Victor.

Villa have overwhelmingly dominated the early proceedings, though Forest might not be too unhappy with the way they have defended so far. Keeping the hosts goalless so far is creditable, but one neat move is all it takes to change that.

The Tricky Trees are hitting their stride now, creating a number of chances and keeping Emiliano Martinez busy off corners as well. The Villans are beginning to get a bit frustrated now. Ten-odd minutes left in the first half.

Villa open the floodgates at the stroke of half-time! It is a bullet shot from Ollie Watkins, who turns swiftly before unleashing a powerful right-footer that zooms past John Victor. Forest's resistance comes undone finally, as the hosts head into the mid-game interval with a one-goal lead.

The players return from the lemon break, and Aston Villa have their second soon enough! They follow up Watkins' corker at the fag end of the second half with a fantastic finish from John McGinn in the 48th minute. The Villans now sitting pretty against Forest.

Morgan Gibbs-White scores to herald a Forest response! The English attacking midfielder surges into the danger area before slotting it nicely past Martinez in the 61st minute. Villa's lead is back to one goal.

Oh, gosh. An absolutely torrid error from Victor gifts Villa a third goal. The Forest custodian misjudges Youri Tielemans's chip completely, charging forward despite John McGinn on the prowl. Victor is beaten and McGinn gleefully shoots it in, netting his second goal. Villa go 3-1 up in the 72nd minute and Victor injures his calf in the process of that blunder. Matz Sels replaces him in goal.

After seven minutes of added time, the referee blows the final whistle and Aston Villa ease to a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest. This now is Villa's 11th consecutive victory at home across competitions, and sixth straight one over Forest at Villa Park.

Attention now shifts to the two simultaneous matches of the evening. First up, here are the line-ups for Wolves vs West Ham:

Wolves starting XI: Sa, H Bueno, S Bueno, J Gomes, Arias, Hwang, Arokodare, Mosquera, Mane, Krejci, Tchatchoua.

Subs: Johnstone, Doherty, Wolfe, Andre, Strand Larsen, Chirewa, Hoever, Lopez, Gonzalez.

West Ham starting XI: Areola, Walker-Peters, Mavropanos, Kilman, Scarles, Potts, Magassa, Fernandes, Bowen, Summerville, Wilson

Subs: Hermansen, Igor, Golambeckis, Mayers, Rodriguez, Kante, Earthy, Soucek, Pablo

And here are the line-ups for the other game that's about to kick off:

Brighton starting XI: Verbruggen, Kadioglu, Dunk, Veltman, Van Hecke, Gruda, Rutter, Mitoma, Ayari, Gomez, Kostoulas.

Subs: Steele, De Cuyper, Boscagli, Coppola, Gros, Hinshelwood, Milner, Watson, Welbeck

Burnley starting XI: Dubravka; Humphreys, Ekdal, Laurent, Pires, Walker; Anthony, Florentino, Ugochukwu; Bruun Larsen, Broja.

Subs: Edwards, Weiss, Tchaouna, Sonne, Banel, Barnes, Brierley, Agyei, Pimlott.

Both matches are underway. Wolves make a terrific start against West Ham, as Jhon Arias slides in to finish Hwang Hee-Chan's cross perfectly in the fourth minute.

At the Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier, Morocco, Senegal take on Sudan in the Africa Cup Of Nations round of 16. The Teranga Lions ended on top of Group D with seven points from three games, while their opponents finished third in Group E and advanced to the knockout round as one of the best third-placed teams in the tournament.

Brighton open scoring against the visiting Burnley in the 29th minute. Georginio Rutter drills it in from close range after Yasin Ayari's shot deflects into the box. Rutter thus nets his second goal of the season.

West Ham are having a terrible evening at Molineux Stadium and Wolves are taking full toll. First, Hwang Hee-Chan comfortably converts a penalty, kicking it low down the centre to put Wolves 2-0 up in the 31st minute. The 18-year-old Mateus Mane then nets his first-ever professional goal in the 41st to make the scoreline 3-0.

The home teams are both in the driver's seat in the concurrent PL games at half-time. Wolves are up by a resounding 3-0 margin against West Ham, while Brighton have a slender one-goal lead versus Burnley.

Play resumes in both games, and Brighton have already scored their second goal in a minute's time. Yasin Ayari clinically shoots it past Burnley goalie Martin Dubravka to double the hosts' advantage against Burnley.

The last Premier League game of the evening pits Bournemouth against league leaders Arsenal. The match kicks off at 11pm IST, and here are the line-ups of both teams:

Bournemouth starting XI: Petrovic, Jimenez, Hill, Senesi, Truffert, Scott, Tavernier, Brooks, Kluivert, Semenyo, Evanilson.

Subs: Forster, Cook, Soler, Smith, Diakite, Adli, Kroupi, Unal, Rees-Dottin.

Arsenal starting XI: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Madueke, Martinelli, Gyokeres.

Subs: Kepa, White, Saka, Jesus, Eze, Norgaard, Trossard. Merino, Lewis-Skelly.

Neither Wolves nor West Ham have scored in the first 24 minutes of the second half, but the fact that the hosts already possess a 3-0 lead means they don't need to do anything fancy. As long as they defend sensibly, considering the Hammers' woeful show so far, victory is Wolves'.

Brighton's early second-half goal powers them to a 2-0 victory over Burnley at home. The Seagulls thus climb to eighth in the standings with their seventh win of the season, while The Clarets stay 19th.

After five minutes of injury time, the referee blows the final whistle at Molineux Stadium. Wolves complete a thumping 3-0 win over a lacklustre West Ham to register their first top-flight victory of the season. For the Hammers, this simply was a night to forget.