Utd pip Everton
LEICESTER, United Kingdom, April 3, Leicester City captain Wes Morgan scored his first goal in almost a year as the Premier League title-chasers edged Southampton 1-0 on Sunday to establish a potentially decisive seven-point lead.
Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-1 draw at Liverpool on Saturday had given Claudio Ranieri’s men an opportunity to strengthen their grip on first place and they duly took it courtesy of Morgan’s 38th-minute header.
It was Leicester’s fifth 1-0 victory in six matches and left the east Midlands club needing 12 points from their final six games to claim the first top-flight title in their 132-year history.
“Everyone is expecting something more for us and we are in the cloud, but we have to keep concentrating,” said Leicester manager Ranieri.
“I don’t want to think about champions. I want to focus on the match. There is a chance for us to be champions this season, but we have to be professional.”
Leicester were bottom of the table a year ago, but are now within sight of one of the most sensational underdog triumphs in world football history.
Meanwhile, Southampton manager Ronald Koeman, whose side remain seventh, was left to rue two penalty appeals for handball in each half that were turned away by referee Michael Oliver.
“This is a big match,” Koeman said. “It is about the Premier League title and our ambitions to play in Europe.
“I don’t say they don’t deserve the victory, that they don’t fight and have amazing spirit, but if it is a penalty and a red card, they don’t win.”
With chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha laying on free doughnuts and bottles of beer for home fans to mark his birthday and ‘Leicester City Champions 2016’ scarves for sale on the walk to the ground, the atmosphere could barely have been more festive at a sun-soaked King Power Stadium.
In a bid to counter Leicester’s twopronged strike-force of Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki, Southampton deployed a back three and while the home side made the early running, the clearest opportunities of the first half fell to the visitors.
Their best chance saw Graziano Pelle free Sadio Mane, who rounded Kasper Schmeichel and shot, only for the ball to strike Danny Simpson’s right forearm as he came across to cover the vacant goal. United 1, Everton 0 Anthony Martial scored the only goal of the game as Manchester United beat Everton 1-0 in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Sunday to climb within a point of fourth-placed local rivals Man- chester City.
Martial’s 54th-minute strike gave the French striker his 13th goal of the season and helped United celebrate the fact that Old Trafford’s south stand had been renamed in honour of club great Bobby Charlton in fine fashion.
Victory kept alive United boss Louis van Gaal’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League -- the top four clubs in England get a spot -- and thus satisfying the minimum demand on an Old Trafford manager. This was United’s fourth successive home win, a feat they managed for the first time since a six-match streak in April last year.
United have now won four of their last five league games, including the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium.
Everton, as befits a side with a better away record than at Goodison Park, began with clear attacking intent and the United defence had to be on its toes to deal with Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku.
Barkley was a lively influence and in the 12th minute he found Gerard Deulofeu on the right, the Belgian cutting into the penalty area past two tackles without being able to have a clear shot before Matteo Darmian cleared the danger.
Everton continued to delight their travelling contingent with their attacking style, and Leighton Baines saw one of his trademark free kicks diverted for a corner as the first half approached the halfway mark.
Lukaku finally had a glimpse of a chance when England centre-half Chris Smalling slipped but United goalkeeper David de Gea had anticipated the danger and won the race to hack clear. Daley Blind once more won a one-on-one duel with Lukaku as the Belgian threatened to break away, while at the other end right back Seamus Coleman had to be precision-perfect with a challenge to deny the raiding Marcos Rojo in Everton’s penalty area.