Tottenham welcomes new manager Mourinho with a win

TOTTENHAM’S decision to switch managers has reaped instant rewards as Jose Mourinho got off to a winning start in his highly anticipated fourth coaching stint in the English Premier League.

At the top of the table, leader Liverpool won for the 12th time in 13 games, overcoming Crystal Palace 2-1 to maintain an eight-point lead. There were also wins for Leicester City, 2-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion, and champion Manchester City, which defeated Chelsea 2-1 to climb above its opponent into third.

Wolverhampton Wanderers beat 10-man Bournemouth 2-1 to climb to fifth place while Burnley won 3-0 at Watford, which returns to the bottom of the standings.

Hours after Tottenham beat West Ham 3-2 in Mourinho’s first match in charge since replacing Mauricio Pochettino, Arsenal needed an injury-time goal to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to relegation candidate Southampton. It’s just one victory in seven league matches for the Gunners and boos rang around Emirates Stadium at the final whistle, directed as much at manager Unai Emery as his underperforming players.

Then there’s Everton manager Marco Silva, who is also under mounting pressure after his 15th-placed team lost 2-0 at home to Norwich City, which started the game in last place.

And what about Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini, vanquished by Mourinho and overseeing a team that has collected just two points from the last seven games to plummet to 16th place?

For Spurs, Mourinho hugged his players and celebrated a win earned by goals from Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura, and Harry Kane in a 13-minute spell around halftime.

Roberto Firmino was the late matchwinner for Liverpool, the Brazil striker lashing home a close-range finish in the 85th minute to secure a victory that extended its unbeaten streak in the league to 30 games.

Sadio Mane had given the Reds the lead before Wilfried Zaha equalised for Palace.

Jamie Vardy scored for a fifth-straight game for Leicester but his goal had a hint of controversy about it.

The Foxes were already a goal up through Ayoze Perez when VAR helped to decide substitute Demarai Gray was been fouled in the area on 80 minutes. Vardy’s attempt was saved and James Maddison headed in the rebound but VAR intervened again with the Leicester midfielder and Brighton players judged to have encroached into the box.

The decision was made to retake the penalty and Vardy made no mistake for his league-leading 12th goal. AP