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Spurs stumble again as Chelsea and Leicester win

Tottenham narrowly avoid embarrassi­ng home defeat to bottom club Watford

- AFP London

Tottenham narrowly avoided an embarrassi­ng home defeat to bottom club Watford on Saturday as Chelsea and Leicester leapfrogge­d champions Manchester City in the Premier League.

With leaders Liverpool not in action until Sunday, it was a chance for the chasing pack to press their credential­s for top-four spots.

Chelsea's Marcus Alonso broke the deadlock for Frank Lampard's side at Stamford Bridge against Newcastle for a 1-0 win while Youri Tielemans sealed a 2-1 victory for Leicester at the King Power Stadium.

But Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino saw his side labor to a 1-1 draw at home to Watford, following a 3-0 thrashing at Brighton and a humiliatin­g 7-2 defeat at home to Bayern Munich.

Spurs, who reached the Champions League final in June, have now won just three of their opening 12 games in all competitio­ns and appear unable to halt their slide.

Tottenham got off to an awful start as they fell behind in the sixth minute, Abdoulaye Doucoure finishing superbly from Daryl Janmaat's assist.

Dele Alli grabbed a late leveller for Spurs with his first goal since January. There was major confusion as it appeared as if VAR had ruled out the effort, but it was allowed to stand. Leicester held a minute's silence before kick-off to remember their late owner Vichai Srivaddhan­aprabha, who was killed in a helicopter crash at the stadium last October. Chris Wood put Burnley in front but Leicester's in-form forward Jamie Vardy headed an equaliser just before half-time and Tielemans completed the turnaround with just over 15 minutes to go.

Ahead of City's match at Crystal Palace later on Saturday, Leicester were second in the Premier League table, seven points behind leaders Liverpool, while Chelsea, also on 17 points, were third.

Matt Targett scored a goal deep into injury time as Aston Villa came back from 1-0 down to beat Brighton 2-1.

Southampto­n took the lead against Wolves at Molineux, courtesy of a Danny Ings goal but Raul Jimenez hit back from the penalty spot just eight minutes later after Matt Doherty was brought down. Bournemout­h drew 0-0 at home to Norwich.

In the early kick-off on Saturday, Everton climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a welldeserv­ed 2-0 victory against West Ham that eased the pressure on Marco Silva.

 ?? AFP ?? Newcastle United’s Dutch defender Jetro Willems vies with Chelsea’s Canadian-born English defender Fikayo Tomori during Saturday’s in London.
AFP Newcastle United’s Dutch defender Jetro Willems vies with Chelsea’s Canadian-born English defender Fikayo Tomori during Saturday’s in London.

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