Watford sink Everton, pile pressure on Silva

Iwobi, Lacazette lead Arsenal to win at Huddersfield

LONDON, Feb 9, (RTRS): Substitute Andre Gray scored a secondhalf winner as Watford beat Marco Silva’s Everton 1-0 in the Premier League on Saturday to heap the pressure on their former manager.

Everton boss Silva’s first visit to Vicarage Road since being sacked by Watford last January ended with the home fans singing that he would suffer a similar fate at the Merseyside club after a run of three defeats in a stuttering campaign.

Forward Gray, who came on for midfielder Ken Sema after the break, latched on to Will Hughes’ cross from the right following a delicate layoff from Craig Cathcart to tap the ball into the net on 65 minutes.

Stunned by the goal, Everton struggled to create clear chances in the second half of the scrappy contest as Watford held firm to secure the victory and move up to 37 points.

Watford had nearly gone ahead in the 11th minute after Troy Deeney chested a hopeful cross into the path of Etienne Capoue, whose rising volley from point blank range glanced off goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s head and over the crossbar.

Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster saved Cenk Tosun’s stinging shot from distance in the 34th minute before Gylfi Sigurdsson’s lobbed effort

Sead Kolasinac put through his own net in stoppage time to give Huddersfield late hope, scoring Huddersfield’s first goal in over nine hours of football in all competitions, but the visitors held on for the win.

Victory moved Arsenal level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea, who play Manchester City on Sunday, while Huddersfield stayed bottom, 13 points from safety.

Cardiff City’s Kenneth Zohore struck deep into stoppage time to secure a crucial 2-1 win on Saturday away to fellow Premier League strugglers Southampton, who thought they had snatched a point with a 91st-minute leveller.

Southampton’s Jack Stephens bundled the ball into the net in stoppage time, but Cardiff went back up the other end and substitute Zohore scuffed home a shot to give Cardiff only their second away win of the season.

After a slow start, Southampton upped the tempo in the second half but they were hit by a sucker punch when centre back Sol Bamba pounced, volleying home Callum Paterson’s knockdown from Cardiff’s first corner of the game in the 69th minute.

The win lifted Cardiff out of the relegation zone and into 15th place, while Southampton will slip into the bottom three if Burnley get at least a point in Saturday’s late kickoff against Brighton and Hove Albion.

It was another emotional day for Cardiff following the recovery earlier in the week of the body of striker Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane that crashed taking him to join up with the Welsh club after he signed from French Ligue 1 side Nantes.

The game was preceded by a minute’s silence for the 28-year-old Argentinian, who was Cardiff’s record signing, and the players of both teams wore black armbands.

Wilfried Zaha’s deflected goal earned Crystal Palace a 1-1 draw at home to fellow Londoners West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday.

It had looked as though Mark Noble’s 27th-minute penalty and Palace’s profligacy in front of goal would condemn Palace to a damaging loss in their bid to climb away from relegation trouble.

But Zaha eventually beat West Ham’s keeper Lucasz Fabianski with a shot that looped up off the boot of Issa Diop.

West Ham had been the better side before the break with Noble calmly putting them ahead from the spot after Palace keeper Vincente Guita hauled down Michail Antonio.

Palace, who began the day four points and four places above the bottom three, were much improved in the second half and created numerous chances to equalise.

Substitute Michy Batshuayi should have scored before James McArthur struck the post with only Fabianski to beat.

The draw left Palace with 27 points from 26 games, three points above the relegation zone while West Ham, in 10th place, have now gone five games without a win all competitions.

Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse, (left), and Cardiff City’s Joe Ralls battle for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Southampton and Cardiff City at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton, England, Feb 9. (AP)