Ten-man Watford continued their fine run of form under new manager Nigel Pearson and boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League with a 2-1 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday.
Gerard Delofeu and Abdoulaye Doucoure fired Watford ahead before Pedro Neto pulled one back for Wolves, who failed to capitalise on a numerical advantage in the last 20 minutes after defender Christian Kabasele was sent off for the hosts.
Deulofeu opened the scoring with a neat 30th-minute finish when he beat goalkeeper Rui Patricio with a crisp low shot into the far corner after good work by Ismaila Sarr.
Doucoure made it 2-0 in the 49th when he cut inside from the left and found the top corner with a firm drive which clipped Wolves defender Conor Coady and left Patricio stranded.
Neto reduced the arrears on the hour with a heavily deflected effort which sailed over Ben Foster and Wolves piled the pressure after Kabasele was shown a straight red card following a VAR review.
The centre back was originally booked for hauling down Diogo Jota just outside the penalty area but Watford held on in the closing stages to celebrate their third league win coupled with one draw under Pearson.
Leicester sink Newcastle
Leicester City striker Ayoze Perez came back to haunt his former team Newcastle United on Wednesday with a goal and an assist for midfielder James Maddison, as the Foxes eased to a 3-0 victory and cut the gap to runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool.
The win meant that Brendan Rodgers’ second-placed side have 45 points from 21 matches, 10 points behind Liverpool who have two games in hand and host Sheffield United on Thursday.
Leicester made light of Jamie Vardy’s absence due to a calf injury as Perez pounced on a poor pass across the back line from Newcastle defender Florian Lejeune and rode a tackle from Fabian Schar before slotting past Martin Dubravka in the 36th minute.
Lejeune was in the spotlight for the wrong reasons again as his poor clearance found its way to Perez who fed Maddison, and the England international blasted in a left-footed shot from distance three minutes later.
The double blow came shortly after Newcastle had missed the chance to take the lead through Brazilian forward Joelinton, who sprinted onto a pass over the top of the Leicester defence but failed to beat goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel with two attempts.
With Newcastle reduced to 10 men after using up their three substitutions and Schar unable to play due to injury, Leicester made it 3-0 in the 87th minute through Hamza Choudhury who curled in a shot from outside the penalty area.
Ings on target as Southampton beat Tottenham
Southampton completed a rejuvenating holiday schedule with a superb Danny Ings goal earning them a 1-0 win over stuttering Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
Ings fooled former Southampton defender Toby Alderweireld with a great piece of skill to fire the hosts in front in the 17th minute and a laboured Tottenham rarely threatened.
A hamstring injury to Harry Kane that forced the England striker off in the second half ensured it was a miserable start to the new year for Tottenham, whose manager Jose Mourinho was booked for an altercation with the home coaching staff.
Kane was injured scoring a goal that was disallowed for offside, the decision confirmed by VAR.
Southampton have collected 10 points from 12 in their last four games to climb out of the relegation zone and up to the relative safety of 12th with 25 points.
Tottenham remain in sixth place, six points behind Chelsea who occupy fourth spot.
Jahanbakhsh stunner helps Brighton seal 1-1 draw with Chelsea
Brighton & Hove Albion forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored with a brilliant bicycle kick in the second half to cancel out Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta’s opener in an entertaining 1-1 draw in the Premier League on Wednesday.
The result at the Amex Stadium helped Brighton end a run of nine straight league defeats by Chelsea stretching back to 1983 while Frank Lampard’s side missed the chance to seal back-to-back league wins for the first time since November.
Left back Azpilicueta celebrated his 100th start as Chelsea captain with the opening goal, guiding the ball home from close range in the 10th minute after Tammy Abraham’s shot was blocked near the goal line by Brighton’s Aaron Mooy following a corner.
Substitute Jahanbakhsh then produced an early contender for goal of the year in the 84th minute, with a superb overhead kick that flew into the bottom left corner giving Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga no chance.
“It is an amazing feeling. When I was about to go on, I had a feeling I could have an impact on the game,” Jahanbakhsh, who scored his first Brighton goal in last week’s 2-0 victory over Bournemouth, told the BBC.
“When I saw the ball, I just tried to hit it as hard as I could and the bicycle kick was the only option. I’m going to watch it a couple more times.
“I’m very glad to help the team win points. I couldn’t start the year any better… we did a great job.”
Spaniard Arrizabalaga had earlier kept out substitute Aaron Connolly’s strike from close range and came to Chelsea’s rescue again after the equaliser when he saved Neal Maupay’s first-time shot from Martin Montoya’s cross.
Chelsea also had opportunities to take all three points with their best chance falling to substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi, but his curled effort from distance narrowly missed the target in the 88th minute.
Lampard said he was frustrated by Chelsea’s inability to kill off the game in the opening period.
“In the first half, the game was there to be won. We weren’t ruthless enough. We got the goal and we had the possession. But we just didn’t kill the game off,” Lampard said.
“We allowed them to stay in the game. In the end it was a wonder goal but we were lucky not to lose. The tactics matched up for both teams but they were better than us. We have to take that on the chin.”
Grealish inspires Villa to rare away win at Burnley
Struggling Aston Villa picked up just their second away win of the Premier League season, securing three vital points in a 2-1 win at Burnley on New Year’s Day, their first league win at Turf Moor since 1936.
Villa thought they had taken an 11th minute lead through a diving header from Jack Grealish but a VAR review found that Wesley’s heel was marginally offside during the move and the goal was overturned.
It was exactly the kind of ‘forensic’ use of VAR that has been criticised over the festive period and which has been questioned by the game’s rule-makers IFAB.
But the lengthy break and eventual decision did nothing to interrupt Villa’s momentum as they continued to play positively while Burnley looked to be feeling the pace of the hectic schedule with limited changes to their starting line-up.
It was Wesley who opened the scoring in the 23rd minute — the impressive Grealish finding him in the box and the Brazilian swivelled and fired past Nick Pope to give Villa a deserved lead.
Burnley were unusually sloppy in defence and lacking their usual spirit of work-rate and it was no shock when Grealish doubled Villa’s lead four minutes before the break, finishing off a lovely passing move with a confident curling finish.
Sean Dyche made a double substitution at the break with Jay Rodriguez and Johann Berg Gudmundsson introduced and that had the desired effect with the Clarets much more positive.
Rodriguez and Chris Wood both missed good chances before Wood finally found the target with a back post header from an Ashley Westwood cross in the 80th minute but Burnley were unable to force an equaliser.
Villa’s former Burnley keeper, England international Tom Heaton injured himself during Wood’s goal and was carried off on a stretcher.
Burnley have now lost six of their last eight games and head into a tough run of games where they will face Chelsea, Manchester United, Leicester City and Arsenal.
The win takes Villa, who had lost eight of their last eleven games, out of the bottom three and Grealish, whose class shone throughout, said they had responded to facing up to their situation.
“We had a long meeting during the week and there were some home truths said and it showed today. Burnley is one of the toughest places to come in the league and thankfully we got the win,” he said.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche was nonplussed by his team’s first half display.
“Disappointing result but the frustration is we didn’t turn up today until halftime. You can’t give any team a two-goal headstart and it wasn’t through excellent play, it was from our mistakes,” he said.
“With the quality of chances we created we could’ve nicked something out of the game but you can’t give teams that head start.”
REUTERS