Fleck’s double fires brilliant Blades to fifth
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder insists he will not be looking at the table, despite seeing his side move up to fifth place after a 2-0 home win against Aston Villa.
Remaining in the top flight is the objective for both clubs, after coming up from the Championship last season, and after a couple of second-half goals by John Fleck, the Blades are well on their way to achieving that aim.
A dire first half was followed by a very watchable second period in which the Scot’s double saw Wilder’s team move within four points of Chelsea, who currently occupy the final Champions League spot.
For Villa, whose captain Jack Grealish crashed a penalty against the crossbar when attempting to halve his side’s deficit, survival is proving to be more of a battle.
Wilder said: “I won’t look at the table. I’ve looked at the points we have after 17 games and that’s quite healthy, we’ve just got to keep adding to it,” he added.
A frustrated Frank Lampard has challenged Chelsea to “have the balls” to carve open teams that set out to shut them down.
Dan Gosling’s overthe-head flick let Bournemouth stun a turgid Chelsea and win 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, condemning boss Lampard’s men to a fourth league loss in five matches.
Former Blues midfielder Lampard criticised his players for lacking the urgency to beat Bournemouth’s impressive low block, in the same way Chelsea struggled in recent losses to West Ham and at Everton.
“In front of our home fans it’s clear now that we’re not playing well enough, not getting enough results,” said Lampard.
“We just didn’t get the fans excited enough. The fans shouldn’t be excited if we’re going to play 10 balls across the back four, they shouldn’t be. And that’s not the team I want to manage,” he added.
Sebastien Haller ended an eight-game goal drought as West Ham moved four points clear of the relegation zone with a much-needed 1-0 win at struggling Southampton.
The Hammers’ £45million record signing capitalised on his recall by striking for the first time since early October in the 37th minute.
West Ham could have won by a more comfortable margin after seeing strong penalty appeals dismissed and a 52nd-minute strike from Michail Antonio disallowed by VAR for handball.
The deserved south coast victory for Manuel Pellegrini’s men was only a second in 11 top-flight fixtures dating back to September 28, and it lifts a bit of pressure off the under-fire manager.
Saints remain inside the bottom three, below 17th-placed Aston Villa on goal difference ahead of next weekend’s tasty trip to Villa Park.