Rampant West Brom beat Southampton to ignite survival hopes

West Brom, who beat Chelsea 5-2 last weekend, have won back-to-back games for the first time this season and the 19th-placed side are within eight points of the safety zone with seven games to go.

“It was really important to back last week’s result up and make it two wins in a row,” West Brom forward Callum Robinson told BBC Sport.

“The boss stressed we needed to go out tonight and get a win, the results didn’t go our way at the weekend. It (safety) is still far off but we will keep going until the end.”

West Brom had an early goal controversially ruled out after Mbaye Diagne headed home before celebrations were cut short when the offside flag went up. However, VAR was unable to draw a conclusion and stuck with the on-field decision.

But West Brom were not to be denied in the first half and when Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster brought down Matheus Pereira in the box, the Brazilian midfielder made no mistake in dispatching the penalty.

West Brom doubled the lead three minutes later when Danny Ings’ sloppy back pass under pressure was intercepted by Diagne and the Senegalese striker crossed the ball to the back post where Phillips came sliding in find the back of the net.

Southampton started to ask questions of West Brom in the second half but the home side scored a third goal against the run of play when Okay Yokuslu released Robinson down the middle and the Ireland international beat Forster with ease.

The Saints had a chance to score a consolation goal in stoppage time when Moussa Djenepo was fouled in the box but Sam Johnstone denied James Ward-Prowse to keep his clean sheet intact.

Brighton & Hove Albion and Everton fought out a 0-0 draw in a dour Premier League clash on Monday after neither side managed to create any clear-cut chances with defences dominating at the Amex stadium.

The result left Everton eighth on 48 points from 30 games while Brighton moved one place up to 15th on 33 points from 31 games, seven ahead of the relegation zone with 18th-placed Fulham on 26 points from 32 matches.

Brighton had the upper hand in the first half and twice came close as Neal Maupay had a low shot deflected by Yerry Mina while Yves Bissouma fired over the bar with an acrobatic overhead kick from a tight angle.

Jakub Moder blazed a first-time shot off target after a corner midway through the second half as Brighton continued to press before Maupay volleyed wide from inside the penalty area.

Everton were forced to defend desperately as their keeper Robin Olsen tipped over a Lewis Dunk header in the 78th minute and the visitors also needed several frantic clearances in the closing stages to scrape a draw.

Everton, who were looking to set a club record of 10 away Premier League wins in a season, nearly snatched victory out of the blue in stoppage time as substitute Alex Iwobi shot inches over the crossbar.

REUTERS