Premier League
Fourth placed Tottenham Hotspur suffered a surprise 1-0 home defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion and Arsenal lost at Southampton allowing Manchester United back into the race for a Premier League top four place.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick for United in an unconvincing 3-2 win over Norwich City as fan protests against the club’s owners returned to Old Trafford.
With the title-chasing top two of Manchester City and Liverpool in FA Cup semi-final duty — with Juergen Klopp’s side winning 3-2 at Wembley – the focus in the league turned to the battle for the fourth Champions League spot behind third placed Chelsea.
The results leave Spurs in fourth, on 57 points from 32 games. Fifth-placed United are level on 54 points with Arsenal, who have a game in hand.
Antonio Conte’s Spurs produced a lacklustre display and looked set for a frustrating stalemate before Leandro Trossard made things even worse with a 90th-minute winner.
Trossard cut in from the left and beat Hugo Lloris with a low angled shot with the outside of his foot to end Spurs’ run of four straight wins.
Conte was disappointed but said his team needed to embrace the pressure of holding on to fourth place.
“Now there are six games to go. This race is a big opportunity for us to start to try to cope with the pressure, because when you play without targets… instead, we deserve to stay in this race and go for a place in the Champions League,” he said.
Arsenal looked to be favourites for that place at the start of the month but they have now suffered three straight losses with the latest reverse coming against a Southampton side who had been winless in five.
Jan Bednarek got the decisive goal, one minute before halftime after Mohamed Elyounoussi evaded the offside trap and crossed for the defender to finish past goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal were on top for large parts of the game but came up against Southampton keeper Fraser Forster in inspired form.
“It’s a really difficult one to take. The way we controlled the game makes it difficult to understand how we lost the game,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
“We performed but didn’t get a result. We need both. You have to put the ball in the net. You have to make the decisive moments count to win football matches and at the moment we’re not doing that,” added the Spaniard.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 50th club career hat-trick earned below-par United three vital points.
A first-half double from veteran striker Ronaldo seemingly put the hosts on course for a comfortable win in the sunshine, with Norwich struggling to keep pace.
However, Kieran Dowell’s goal out of nowhere in first-half stoppage time got the visitors back in the contest, before Finnish forward Teemu Pukki completed the Norwich comeback to stun Old Trafford into silence seven minutes after the break.
Fans who protested against the club’s owners ahead of the match were singing “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” in the second half as their team were second best to a team seven points adrift of the Premier League safety zone.
United’s France midfielder Paul Pogba was booed by his own fans as he was substituted before Ronaldo stole the show once again with a superbly taken winner 14 minutes from time.
“The results elsewhere were good. But it doesn’t make sense to look to other results. We need to raise our game,” said United’s interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
19th placed Watford slipped further towards the drop with a 2-1 home defeat to Brentford leaving them on 22 points, six behind 17th placed Everton having played two games more.
West Ham came from behind to dent managerless Burnley’s hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League in a match tainted by a serious injury to Ashley Westwood.
Tomas Soucek equalised from close range to cancel out Wout Weghorst’s opener as West Ham extended their unbeaten home run to eight games in all competitions.
The Hammers could have snatched victory late on but they found an inspired Nick Pope, who produced three big saves in the final stages, standing in their way.
Both sides started with attacking intent but the game took a turn for the worse when Westwood was stretchered off with a worrying ankle injury after what looked like a innocuous challenge with Nikola Vlasic.
Play was stopped for eight minutes with medical staff from both clubs attending to the Burnley midfielder.
Burnley interim boss Mike Jackson said: “He’s gone to hospital and we’re waiting for an update. We’re hoping he’s OK – our thoughts are with him.
“You could see it wasn’t good from the reaction of the players. He looked distraught, but fingers crossed.
“When you see Declan Rice come over and say it’s not good, you know it’s not. The lad himself put his hand up, and he doesn’t usually go down.
“It could be the end of his season, but there is a squad here ready to play. Josh Brownhill came in and has done really well.”
Bruno Guimaraes said he wants to be a Newcastle legend after scoring both goals as the Magpies came from behind to beat Leicester and edge closer to Premier League survival.
The Brazilian midfielder cancelled out Ademola Lookman’s opener on the half-hour mark before the two sides played out a strangely subdued second half.
But in the fifth minute of stoppage time, a low cross by substitute Joe Willock deflected kindly for Guimaraes to snatch the winner with a diving header, which he said is the first headed goal of his career.
“What a feeling, what a game, the group deserved it,” he said. “To score two goals was brilliant.
“It was always my dream to play in the Premier League and I’m so happy for today. I want to be a legend here.”
Guimaraes was Newcastle’s first big signing under their new owners, joining from Lyon in the January transfer window for an initial £35m.
He has helped provide the impetus to push the Magpies towards safety and despite arriving as a defensive midfielder, the 24-year-old now has three goals from five Premier League starts.
Newcastle United 2-1 Leicester City: Eddie Howe pleased with stoppage-time winner
“Goals weren’t necessarily one of the areas where we felt he would enhance us as a team, but he’s scored some key goals for us,” said Newcastle manager Eddie Howe.
“I’m really pleased with him today. I thought he was magnificent in every aspect, especially out of possession, because we struggled to get control of the ball for any large periods of the game.”
Guimaraes’ winner made it five straight home victories for Newcastle and he was booked for taking his shirt off in celebration.
The Magpies now have 37 points – 12 clear of the relegation zone and three behind ninth-placed Leicester, whose five-game unbeaten run came to a dramatic end.
“He’s an incredibly passionate individual,” Howe added. “He cares deeply whether we win or lose.
“I love that about him because you need players that wear their heart on their sleeve and are prepared to give you everything on the pitch. He’s certainly one of those.”
Leave a Reply