Hornets take over at the top of the table
WATFORD leapfrogged Brentford into second spot in the Sky Bet Championship after a 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at Vicarage Road.
With the Bees inactive following coronavirus cases at Rotherham, the Hornets took full advantage courtesy of Adam Masina’s 17th-minute goal to stay 10 points behind runaway leaders Norwich.
Norwich showed no signs of slowing down in their quest to secure an immediate return to the Premier League after beating Luton 3-0 at Carrow Road, thanks to two from Pukki and a Todd Cantwell goal.
Reading maintained their position in the play-off places with a 3-0 victory over 10-man Sheffield Wednesday at the Madejski Stadium, with goals from Michael Olise, Lucas Joao and Andy Yiadom.
Barnsley’s seventh consecutive triumph catapulted them into sixth.
Daryl Dike’s thunderbolt four minutes after half-time brushed aside relegation-threatened Birmingham 1-0 at Oakwell.
Bournemouth slipped out of the top six after drawing 1-1 with Preston at Deepdale.
Arnaut Danjuma put the Cherries ahead eight minutes before halftime, but Daniel Johnson equalised.
Blackburn claimed a first win in eight matches after goals from Bradley Dack and Sam Gallagher secured a 2-0 victory over Millwall.
Stoke ended a three-match losing streak with a 2-0 success Wycombe, with goals from Rhys Norringtondavies and Harry Souttar.
Bristol City lost 2-0 to QPR at Ashton Gate, after Ilias Chair and Rob Dickie struck inside the opening 22 minutes.
Maxime Biamou scored an early winner as Coventry beat Derby 1-0 to move six points above the relegation zone.
ARSENAL’S European hopes suffered a self-inflicted blow in a 1-1 Premier League draw with Burnley at Turf Moor.
The Gunners were dominant and led through Pierre-emerick Aubameyang’s sixth-minute opener but contrived to gift the Clarets an equaliser in the 38th minute.
Granit Xhaka picked up a short pass in his own area from goalkeeper Bernd Leno and inexplicably kicked the ball against Burnley forward Chris Wood, watching in horror as it flew into the net.
Arsenal were awarded a late penalty for handball when Nicolas Pepe’s volley hit Erik Pieters and struck the crossbar.
The Burnley defender was also shown a red card but both decisions were overturned after replays showed the ball struck Pieters’ shoulder.
Goals from James Ward-prowse and Che Adams gave Southampton a long-awaited and muchneeded 2-0 victory and plunged Sheffield United nearer to relegation.
A first win in 10 matches stopped Saints’ alarming slide and moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three, but the rock-bottom Blades look more unlikely by the week to pull off the greatest of escapes.
The defeat leaves Chris Wilder’s side 12 points adrift of safety with just 10 matches remaining to save themselves.
Ward-prowse netted from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute after Nathan Tella was brought down and Adams’ superb strike four minutes after half-time gave Saints breathing space.
Romain Saiss’ extraordinary miss forced Wolves to settle for a 0-0 derby draw at Aston Villa.
The defender fired over an open goal from a yard out after Conor Coady hit the post.
Emi Martinez also denied Coady in the second half at Villa Park as the hosts drew for just the fourth time this season.
Ollie Watkins and Ezri Konsa hit the woodwork for Villa during a dominant first half but they lost their way after the break and relied on Saiss’ howler to claim a point.
Leicester ended their winless Premier League run as Daniel Amartey’s late goal saw them come from behind to beat Brighton 2-1.
The Foxes were looking to avoid making it four games without a win but went behind in the 10th minute through Adam Lallana’s first goal for the Seagulls.
Neal Maupay saw a second chalked off for offside and Leicester improved in the second half, with Kelechi Iheanacho finishing off Youri Tielemans’ fine pass to equalise.
The points looked set to be shared until the 87th minute, when goalkeeper Robert Sanchez came for a corner, completely missed it and Amartey nodded in.