Tottenham Hotspur, apparently affected early in the season by playing their home games at Wembley, achieved a sixth successive victory there by beating Huddersfield Town 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.
It was their 17th game unbeaten in all competitions and moved them up to provisional third place, a point ahead of Liverpool, who were playing later at home to Newcastle United.
South Korean Son Heung-min gave Spurs a halftime lead and added the second with a header from Harry Kane’s superb cross before being substituted to an ovation.
The London side, who did not win any of their first three league games at the national stadium, are now one point behind second-placed Manchester United, who play at Crystal Palace on Monday and five in front of fifth-placed Chelsea, who visit runaway leaders Manchester City on Sunday.
Defeat pushed Huddersfield right back into the relegation mix, only three points above the bottom three, after winning their two previous games.
Swansea City were the big winners at the bottom, moving above five teams to 13th, including West Ham United who they beat 4-1.
The first half was extended by 10 minutes after a bad injury to West Ham’s New Zealand defender Winston Reid and by the interval the visitors were two goals down.
Ki Sung-yeung scored the first after nine minutes and the unmarked Mike van der Hoon added a second in the 32nd.
Andy King’s goal and Jordan Ayew’s penalty ensured victory before a consolation by Michail Antonio.
Victory continued the Welsh club’s improved form under Portuguese manager Carlos Carvalhal.
Since he joined the club at the end of December with Swansea bottom they have won five league games and lost only two.
PARDEW DESPAIR
In contrast, West Bromwich Albion’s change of manager in the same month has not paid off.
Alan Pardew’s job appears to be under greater threat than ever after a 1-0 defeat at Watford.
Albion have now won one of 15 league games since Pardew took over at the start of December and are seven points adrift at the bottom of the table.2
Watford captain Troy Deeney was sent clear by Will Hughes to score the only goal.
Stoke City stayed second-bottom but earned a valuable point in a 0-0 draw at Southampton.
Burnley supporters must have despaired when their team went a goal down at home to Everton. Sean Dyche’s team have never won a Premier League game after falling behind.
This time they did, however, celebrating Dyche’s 250th game as manager by winning 2-1 with goals from Ashley Barnes and substitute Chris Wood.
The visitors, with one away win this season, went ahead in the 20th minute through Turkish striker Cenk Tosun’s first goal for the club after he joined them in January.
Their day got worse when captain Ashley Williams was sent off four minutes from the end for a wild swipe at Barnes.
They dropped one place to 10th while Burnley’s first league victory since mid-December kept them in seventh position.
In Sunday’s other match, Arsene Wenger’s struggling sixth-placed Arsenal visit mid-table Brighton & Hove Albion.